After we finally reached the services it became apparent that we both had contracted a virus, coughing and spluttering most of the night. I woke up and literally couldn’t breathe, the cold had moved on to my chest, I was gutted. Now usually I can deal with colds pretty well and I just get on with things as you have to. The other symptoms of a cold (achey bones, a face you could rip right off because your nose is streaming so much, the hot and cold sweats) although unpleasant aren’t such a big deal, it’s the sore throat and chest infection that’s the killer. It is a singers complete nightmare, having had a radio interview the day before we knew that singing on a sore throat wouldn’t be the best thing to do, but I had no choice. We had driven all the way to West Sussex and we had promised to do the gig, the show must go on.
We drove around looking for more powerful meds and drugged ourselves up. Today we were booked into to play Woolstock Festival in West Sussex near Chichester. The lovely Nigel who organises the bands spotted us busking in Chichester and thought we were perfect for the festival. When we arrived we were greeted by Nigel who had booked us to play from 3-4pm. We parked up and were helped with our gear up to the stage.
The festival is a pretty low key event, but the vibe there was fantastic. The audience were very supportive towards the musicians and all seemed to be in good spirit. We had just missed a band play called Quinzhee and as we walked into the back of the festival an artist called Ruby Cane was playing a delightful acoustic set. Her voice was beautiful (undiscovered talent amazes me, why do people have to watch the likes of X Factor when you can go to your local pub and support live music)
The stage was well put together and had a corrugated roof and scaffolding that worked really well, keeping the short sharp showers at bay. We have played at some festivals were the stage has been nothing more than a few pallets and a gazebo, which is great in the sunshine, but if the wind and rain picks up its not ideal. With a gazebo in the rain the gazebo quickly starts to collect a small pool of water that is just above your head, waiting for the next gust of wind to cause an outpour to whoever may be standing underneath it. When we took to the stage we had a quick sound check and then we had a warm introduction from Nick who was the compere for today.
We welcomed the crowd to Woolstock 2014 and broke into our first tune. Great my voice held out throughout that one, but my throat was like the bottom of a budgies cage (dry, rough & sandy), it became apparent that my voice was feeling the strain in-between songs. I was trying to talk to the audience and you could hardly hear a word (I sounded like a cross between Darth Vader & Deidre Barlow). The funny thing was; although it was hurting like crazy, my voice sounded fine during the songs. We needed to keep the set short and sweet (I have sang for 4 hours once on a sore throat and it took 2 weeks to recover). We had a 45 minute slot though thankfully they were running late and it was cut to 30 minutes. Playing our last song under the heat of the stage lights (which really confused my bodies need to have hot and cold sweats) we walked off stage and set about having our complimentary drinks courtesy of Nigel & The Woolpack.
The vibe at the festival was amazing and we are hoping to perform again next year, it was very busy and hopefully lots of money was raised for the charities. We managed to distribute a few CDs as the people really enjoyed our set and we were given lots and lots of compliments about our performance.
The festival was in a beautiful, idyllic setting with the huge weeping willow cascading over the gardens against a backdrop of people. For a mini festival like this and with no shortage of bands the schedule was packed full of live music. It was a ticked event with all proceeds going to St Wilfred’s Hospice, The Sussex Snowdrop Trust and Cancer Research.
They had other fundraising ideas from homemade jewellery, to cakes, with the best being a wheel barrow full of ale, and I mean full. You name it it was in there, Vodka, Whisky, Beer, Cider, the lot and you even got to keep the wheel barrow if you were lucky enough to win. We obviously purchased a ticket, but later contemplated; where are we going to keep a wheel barrow in the van if we did win? I suppose we would have had a wheely good time, especially working our way through all that ale.
Unfortunately we didnt winWe stayed around to watch some of the bands and enjoyed a set by the REMbrants (REM tribute band) The Rolling Tones (a Beatles Tribute band, only kidding, its obviously a Stones tribute) complete with wigs and lookalike Ricgards/Jagger impersonations, the lead singer really did move like Jagger and had all the mannerisms down to a tee. The names of tribute bands always tickle me, some are quite imaginative. Although plagued with sound problems the bands had the crowds up dancing. After their set another band turned up who quite simply where one of the best bands we had seen in a long time. They were called Skidaddles and played some great tunes, there sound was tight, original and they really did get the crowd jumping.
Having drunk a consumption of cider to try and ease the virus, it finally took its toll and with my voice having packed in it was clear we weren’t going to be busking any time soon.
Andy had only had a couple of pints and with this in mind we bid farewell to Woolstock Festival and thanked Nigel for booking us, we had no choice but to abandon our challenge and head for home to recuperate. Absolutely gutted we are having to rearrange our London trip and will have to work like mad once this virus has cleared to make up for lost time. Losing my voice is like losing a leg, I’ve had it before and it’s a strict 3 day silence that will hopefully make it better (I’m sure Andy will be grateful of the peace and quiet). I feel like I’ve lost my leg, but all being well, it shall return and the challenge will continue. The show did go on, but the rest of the show is being put on hold for a few days. Thanks all at Woolstock Festival and keep up the good work.