Waterside 2009 - Mon Jun 22

Man oh man. Where to start? This weekend might even have been one of the highest points of the entire Monkey Kettle story so far – and just think, it’s only taken us ten years to get to this dizzying level of aptitude! What staggering feats might we achieve by 2019??? :-D

Now incorporating the former “Poetry”, “Acoustic” and “Youth” Stages all in one dainty package, “Waterside Stage 2” (aka ‘the Monkey Kettle Stage’) seems to have grown steadily into the coolest corner of the Waterside Festival: the place to chill out with great music and artistic entertainments. That’s what people kept telling us, anyway. Or maybe it’s cos there’s more space to lay on the grass down our end, who knows? Still… for us, this was the dream made real.

If you missed it, For Shame. This was the final line up - with links to MySpaces etc where they exist – so you can create your own re-enactment at home with finger puppets. There’ll be photos coming soon. Or alternatively, there’s even YouTube footage already – this from the beginning of Rooh’s masterful Sunday set, filmed literally from inside his guitar case.

I think the only way to go really is for me to do my traditional list of the Top Waterside Moments – this year swollen to a whole 10!

(in no particular order)

1. The Monkey Kettle Mural. I didn’t envisage it ending up like it looked, for some reason I’d assumed it would be more visual and colourful, rather than a heaving mass of liberal graffiti and slogans - but I was blown away by how popular it was! It’s so good in fact we’re going to exhibit it at the Monkey Kettle Exhibition this Autumn!

2. A sea of hand-waving in the crowd (and it was a crowd – easily over 100 people by then, our biggest ever at the Waterside) during the Sunday afternoon sunshine indie-pop set from whippersnappers Equinox. Smiles on everyone’s faces. Possibly the high point of the entire weekend.

3. The only brief spell of rain during the whole weekend occurring during the special “Poetry Hour”, but then hitting on the idea of getting everyone into our tent. A cramped impromptu poetry jam ensuing.

4. Various singers interacting with the procession of passers-by walking just in front of the stage: Rooh, Jef and Big Laundry Bill all flexing their stagecraft. I can’t decide if I’d rather the path wasn’t right in front of the stage or not. Somehow it works!

5. Grahame taking cover requests from the audience, and captivating them every bit as much as he did at The Cannon last Thursday. The dude is a true pro. I can’t remember 100% from previous festivals but I think the girls dancing to his Bob Marley cover were the first girls ever dancing at one of our stages! Momentous!

6. The moment a few notes into The Stylaphonics’ third song when the crowd realised “The Style” AKA Simon was blipping the intro riff to “Take On Me”. An epic set, taking their fantasticness to a far wider audience than last year’s Dudefest. Plus they had the only pyrotechnics of the weekend!

7. Laying back on the grass (after a hectic Sunday morning set-up with a few technical problems) and just listening to the blissed-out dance jams of Dusque. The ideal way to kick off day two. As I said in compere mode afterwards, the only thing better would have been gently waking up to sound of their grooves in my own tent nearby.

8. Spotting Pete Winkelman up by the wall at the top of the hill, smiling and nodding his head along to the raucous sounds of Big Laundry Bill. Also in the same set, seeing the faces of the families sat in up by the canal in deckchairs trying to work out what exactly it was they were seeing and hearing.

9. The slickness of my sound teams: Grahame & MBS on Saturday, Phil & Brian on the Sunday. Man, is it me or are we getting better at this? Heartfelt thanks to ‘em all, not to mention my various stallholders, and… well… anyone who came really. God willing we’ll meet again in 2010.

10. The baking sunshine. The whole thing. Or is that cheating? Anyway. Time for bed. Again.