Since Jan 3rd 2000
Canterbury Fayre 2002 |
Canterbury Fayre 2002, held over the August Bank Holiday weekend at Mount Ephraim Gardens in Hernehill, Faversham, Kent was for the first time a three day festival, having previously only been a one day affair. Promoters Brain Wave Festivals and Second Wave Promotions took the ambitious step of jumping straight to a three day event with an impressive list of bands and from what we saw of things it was a very successful event. The line-up over the three days was as follows:
Lighting for the festival's one Main Stage was provided by Fruit Salad Lights/Coloursound Experiment with Lighting Director Jasper Johns thrashing 6 Golden Scans to within an inch of their lives and displaying his skills on the lighting desk with some excellent chases/crossfades and other wild stunts. The FOH sound engineer was Ian Bond (of Dream Theater fame) who fed wonderful sound around the natural amphitheater that formed the main stage area. Due to unavoidable circumstances we could not get to the festival until early Saturday morning but we had some people reporting on Fridays events for us. Kevin Ayers performed a very blues influenced set in the pouring rain, which did not put off his hardcore fans who stood there and endured the downpour while he played! At one point his daughter came on and performed an acoustic piece and showed considerable talent. pOoTer and Boris arrived very early Saturday fuelled on copious amounts of Red Bull, Pro Plus and Vodka after a breakneck journey around the M25 and plenty of Speed Camera dodging on the M2/A2 (bastards....) and after erecting the monster Pooterland tent went in search of some fun...... We have been in touch with James Lowe from the Electric Prunes for ages and he wanted to meet up with us so first up we went backstage on a 'Prunes hunt. After meeting up with Jasper from Fruit Salad we heard James Lowe shout out "Pooter!" and turned round to see him walking towards us smiling (we had walked straight past him....duh!!). We hung out and chatted with the 'Prunes for while doing an informal interview and snapping some pictures and also ended up meeting Arthur Brown (who didn't know who the 'Prunes were until our buddy Neil introduced them...) |
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Mark Tulin, Arthur Brown and James Lowe |
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James Lowe, Mark Tulin and pOoTer |
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Mark Tulin, Neil Rice, Jasper Johns, James Lowe and Schmoo |
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James Lowe, Mark Tulin, Jasper Johns and Neil Rice (barely visible!!) |
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Jasper Johns, James Lowe, Mark Tulin, Neil Rice |
We stood talking to the 'Prunes for so long that we blew out Mostly Autumn (too Prog for us!) and the Muffin Men (Zappa tribute band..) after which we went looking for some breakfast that didn't involve Red Bull!!. This was found in the shape of some of the best vegetarian burgers EVER seen at a rock festival, these fuckers were so good that we lived off them for the next few days (apart from Boris's love affair with vegetable Tempura.....). We heard the last part of Diesel West Coast before getting down the front for the highlight of the afternoon...........The Electric Prunes, live in the UK for the first time in 35 years!!! After a terrible introduction from Master Of Ceremonies, Arthur Brown they were on and played the following set:
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Apart from some slightly overpowering lead guitar the set was brilliant and it was a truly memorable experience to see one of America's legendary Garage/Psych bands actually playing live here in England!! We heard All About Eve whilst hitting those veggie burgers (again!!) for lunch before going back into the VIP area for another chat with the 'Prunes where we chatted about the years 'between the Prunes', Mark Tulin's disappointment at British weather, he had bought a raincoat over from LA and desperately wanted to wear it (it NEVER rains in California), Cameron Lowe's new found rock 'n' roll lifestyle playing in a 'legendary band' and the future. I suggested a photo shoot and James and Pamela Lowe quickly got the band together for some pictures on the steps of Mount Ephraim House... |
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Prunes with Max 'Myndblown' Waller |
| We arranged to catch up with the band later and went in search of some alcohol and more Pro Plus in preparation for 21st Century Schizoid Band, which are the closest you will ever get to the original King Crimson line up these days. |
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They played a strong set to an appreciate crowd, we nipped down the front for some pictures before sloping back up to the Lighting Tower and watching the rest of the set from there (the BEST sound and best view of the lights...). We stayed there for Jack Bruce and the Cuicoland Express who did a few Cream covers, amongst some strong blues and rock numbers and the crowd went wild. The highlight for us was Jasper's awesome lighting effects which looked excellent from our vantage point. We finished the evening up at the band merchandise tent where we met up with the 'Prunes again, drank more beer, ate more burgers and ended up bumping into Chris Hewitt from Oz-IT Records and ending up in deep discussion about the current 'troubles' in the Hawkwind/Xhawkwind camp (see our News page) then wandering backstage watching some footage shot of Kevin Ayers earlier on Friday before drunkenly attempting to put up some camp beds in the Pooterland tent (without a torch....duh) The Pooterland tent played host to Neil Rice from Optikinetics on Saturday night, but we were not very good hosts, having no food or lights (only Red Bull and Vodka!!) Sunday morning looked like being a washout as it pissed down with rain for an hour or so before suddenly clearing, we took the opportunity and had our first breakfast (2 cans of Red Bull) before sneaking back to the veggie burger stall for more awesome veggie cheeseburgers and bumping into some Pooterland.com visitors who stopped and said "Hi". Man played a good set although I am not sure what they played as I am not really familiar with their material, their guitarist Mickey Jones had been taken seriously ill and his son George had stepped in to take his place, he was AMAZING for a young kid, it has to be said!! |
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We ditched Arthur Brown in favour of more food and came back to watch the Oysterband who played an interesting Folk/Rock set and I think were a little suprised to be on the same bill as The Damned etc.!! Next up was Love with Arthur Lee and we were seriously not expecting the totally mind-blowing performance they we were witness to, this dude was awesome, he was so cool, the songs were so tight and his voice was absolute perfection, he was backed this afternoon by the same band (Baby Lemonade) he has been playing with for the last few years: The set-list was this (thanks to Pooterland visitor David Johnston for sending in this correct version):
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They virtually had to throw him off stage as he was not gonna leave on his own accord, these guys were THE hottest band!! The Damned played an excellent set, with Captain Sensible wearing an Electric Prunes 'Rewired' T-shirt and commenting on 'how many of their heroes' had been playing that weekend, and keyboard player Monty Oxy Moron being possibly the most comically entertaining person of the entire festival......what the fuck is that bloke on? (somebody let me know 'cos if it can make a 41 year old wig out like that then I WANT some!!). Dave Vanian - Vocals Their set list was something along the lines of this:
We did not hang around for The Stranglers, who are minus Hugh Cornwell these days (see Sons Of Shiva for Hugh's new project....) (sorry guys...) and blasted off up the motorway, stopping only for more Red Bull on the way. |
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Words: pooter - 2002 |
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