I was a little surprised at deciding to do the Critic badge - it was when I realised I would actually write reviews covering three of the five requisite clauses that I decided not only was it possible, but that I would indeed get on and do it!
The surprise clause for me has to be a review of a Gig / Music Festival. I don’t do gigs - and I don’t do music festivals. When growing up there was not much spare money, and so I learned to save up for things, and to concentrate on the essentials. This mindset has stayed with me - I don’t go out to shopping centres or town centres every weekend, I don’t have a new wardrobe of clothes every year, and I don’t tend to buy books these days either (that was usually where my money went as a child / teenager - on books, - novels and music books). I’m not in the habit of booking theatre tickets or gig tickets either - so how is it I’m reviewing a gig?
It starts with Facebook. The Big Sheep had a competition to win tickets to their Cider and Real Ale Festival. A friend of mine had done it, and I thought I might as well give it a go - I mean, you never know until you try, and I have been quite fortunate with Facebook competitions (won a Fitbit, a John Lewis voucher, chosen to review books for Search Press Arts and Crafts). The line-up didn’t look too bad, and really I was just interested in the Wurzels - I remember my dad having one of their records.
I wasn’t expecting to win anything - so imagine my surprise when they replied to my comment telling me I had won! I didn’t believe it at first, and checked the email address I had to send my guest list to (it was genuine), and emailed them to check it wasn’t a scam. Being able to take along some friends as well was a real treat too - and I knew the friend who would be happy to join me. As fate would have it, the day I messaged her I happened to see her in the Aldi car park, where they accepted the invitation.
The day arrived, and the forecast looked fairly good. We were able to get in to the venue from 1pm - and as it is an amusement park, parts of it were open for the festival goers to enjoy. We turned up with chairs, chose our perfect viewing spot, and got comfortable. I had brought along my glitter palette (bought for pantomime use mainly), and glittered my face (which is relevant for a bit later), and my friend did the same.
My husband joined us for the first part of the festival but had to go home mid afternoon. Luckily, he was all set to collect me at the end of the evening.
Getting there early was a good plan as we had our choice of where to sit, and we also got started on the cider fairly quickly - before the queue was really long. There were a lot of ciders and real ales on offer - but I had chosen my preferred beverage from the flyer before we got to the venue. Elderflower cider is one of my very favourite things to drink. There was the option to get a 4 pint take away (cider / real ale in a 4 pint milk bottle); we didn’t indulge in this one our first visit to the beer tent. My husband went to get some food and was served quite quickly.
The music started, and we were treated to a variety of different bands. I had listened to some excerpts of the different groups beforehand. The Oggle band are always good, and Bicycle Repair Man was another act that I shall be looking out for. The main act was of course The Wurzels - and they did not disappoint. I would have liked a few more tunes from them, but we did have their most well known songs - Combine Harvester, I am a Cider Drinker to name a few. It would have been great to hear them doing Wuthering Heights - a little bit of research shows me that they have never sung it, but Jah Wurzel did (an easy mistake to make) - it must have been the Jah Wurzel version I heard on Radio 2 one time (a great version of the song where it is easier to hear the lyrics!).
As the day progressed I did notice some things that could have been done a bit better perhaps. Firstly - the plastic glasses - it would have been good to have some deposit plastic cups available, or even souvenir plastic cups, so that the plastic waste would have been reduced. When we went for refills later in the afternoon - around 5pm or so, all the elderflower cider had gone - so no take away for me. My friend went to get some food - and the queues were enormous - she was gone for quite some time, so I didn’t bother going to get anything. It was during this time that I saw a lady looking around very close to me, and it turns out she was looking for me! I didn’t know her, but she had seen the glitter on my friend, and came over looking for me. I got out my glitter palette so she could glitter herself - surprise of all surprises - she wanted me to do the glitter!
You can’t rely on British weather - and we did end up getting wet - but we were not bothered, it didn’t last for long, and it certainly didn’t spoil our enjoyment of the music - it was a shame that people put umbrellas up right in front of us though.
All in all, a great experience, and it has introduced me to some new bands that I shall look out for. I’ll know in future to get the food early, and also to get the takeaway cider earlier if I know I want it. I may even suggest the use of deposit cups to the venue - as our area is committed to being plastic free (well, single use plastic free). The venue has got several other events on over the summer, and I will definitely consider attending another one.
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