Untitled Document

May the 28th came around quick for me as it was part of my intense working pattern after I was asked less than three weeks earlier if I could arrange a charity gig at The Bag and Barrow for the Bank Holiday Monday! I had a bit of a torrid time getting things sorted but the week before the event I had the good fortune to be offered the services of both Optic Nerve and No Quarter, two of the regions most popular bands. By the grace of the Rock Gods, I also was was gifted the help of Marcus Ward and Tony Bianco (Italian Tony) to engineer the sound at the festival. Added to that Julie Chief (RotN PR) and Graham Hollings (logistics), and Tracey the Head Cook at RotN and our son Joe Pastrami came aboard the "Pequod" to join yours truly Cap'n Ahab to put a festival in an excellent venue, The Bag and Barrow.

So to the bands and how did they fare? The bands were fantastic from start to finish. Our young friends 90cc were the band to kick off the first Bagstock and what a great job they did! These lads plugged their guitars into the RotN back line, without a fuss, cool as anything, and played an excellent set of varied covers and for good measure, played a self penned number which I personally was very impressed with. The repertoire included numbers from Audioslave, Chilli Peppers (an excellent Dani California), Guns and Roses, and their own song Going for Broke , was excellent! The crowd cheered and the band played on confidently and skillfully. You'll be seeing a lot more of this band in the future, they're excellent.

The brilliant party/corporate band Export came on next after a very slick changeover on stage. Another band with an eclectic repertoire, and skilled musicians, they entertained the crowd with numbers such as Bowie's Jean Genie to the Ray Charles'/Blues Brothers Shake Your Tail Feather (Baby)! A great inclusion! More blues with Walking by Myself, a Jimmy Rodgers song popularised by Gary Moore, saw "Big Trev" show off a bit on guitar and Banger breeze through the vocals commanding a mighty presence on stage. One highlight of the set was a brilliant Sensational Alex Harvey Band style Delilah, sang with a pseudo Scottish accent! Great stuff! As this band has a keyboard used to great advantage, the finale of The Who's Wont Get Fooled Again ended their set in fine style to the cheers of the swelling audience. Great band -great repertoire, and a very enjoyable set. If you've never seen them, then make a point of doing so.

We took a journey back in time a little further than normal to enjoy the brilliant Rockabilly Rebels, the Castleford band. You can't help but smile as the band hit the stage in drape jackets and crepe soled shoes. What a superb band though! They cantered through a bygone era of music which included The Pirates' Shakin' All Over, The Surfaris' Wipe Out, and other relics such as Mystery Train, (Train, Train, 15 coaches long..)...I can't pretend I don't like this band a lot...because I do like this band a lot, and the era they procure their music from! They look the part, sound the part and are a great set of lads! They got some dancers on the floor jiving and it was a great sight and sound. They are a seriously good band though, with two ex professional musicians, an ex professional rugby star...and a bus driver on rhythm guitar....he is a professional bus driver though, and a very good and disciplined rhythm guitarist. Together they make a top notch outfit. A special mention for Steve Lloyd must be made, as the ex Applejacks, ex Mungo Jerry percussionist has a great voice.

Another slick changeover and it was time to put some weight into the rock. I'd never seen the band before but I trusted my instinct when I asked them to play, and my instinct was spot on. Piston Broke were absolutely fantastic. Guitarist Shane Haigh is an old friend of ours and a guitar builder/repairer of high repute. I knew he could play "like a demon" to paraphrase Shane. So did the band! Playing covers including ZZ Top's Tush, Joe Walsh's Rocky Mountain Way, and Narareth's Razamanazz, the band just gave the renditions a slight "hot rod" feel to them with Shane's incredible guitar playing, a solid bass and drums, and fabulous vocals. I'm sure it wasn't Lemmy up there but he sure looked like him! With Bomber and Ace of Spades in the set, it might have been though! This band really had everyone talking and paved the way for an evening of heavy and enjoyable rock!

Continuing with Optic Nerve, a three piece AC/DC band we were amused to see our old mate Steve "Motormouth" Wilson emerge from the dressing room a few chords into the opening song dressed in an Angus style uniform of the school variety! Comedy apart this band really rock and have been favourites of ours for years. With Northern superstar Tony Parkin on bass and Mr Michael Hoyle on percussion, this band please wherever they go. Specialising in Bon Scott era AC/DC apart from Back in Black, I've said this before but they do a great job being a three piece band doing a five piece bands work. With classics like The Jack, High Voltage, and the evergreen Whole Lotta Rosie they thrilled the audience at Bagstock and Steve's quips and piss takes about anyone and everyone offended no one, but just made us all laugh. The band entertained, thrilled, deafened and made us chuckle. What more can you ask? They are a "forever" band, you'd never get sick of them, that's why the Bagstock audience asked for more, and they got it!

The last band of the day needed no introduction. They are one of the very best bands on the circuit. They are No Quarter. Knowing they had to follow some brilliant bands I knew I had chosen the running order right. No Quarter needn't be phased by anyone. They can follow anyone as their quality and repertoire is spot on, 100% rock'n'roll. Mo Pickles again showed his pedigree as the artist most other bands look up to and respect. Mo is THE King of "RotN Roll", yet as modest as they come. Mo's surrounded by some brilliant musicians, Ian, Rod and Lee, as humble as Mo, yet are just top of their game and it showed this night at Bagstock. Songs from UFO go down well and Rock Bottom certainly did, Anthem from Rush showcased Mo's versatility, and the rarely heard Highway Star rocked our socks off! No Quarter played this so well .Ozzy's No More Tears is an epic with the band playing it to perfection, and with the PA projecting so brilliantly in the capable hands of Marcus and Tony, they made the band sound like they ought to be headlining at Donington. With a name like No Quarter, you would expect some Led Zeppelin in the mix and the medley that included Whole Lotta Love and Kashmir (and others) just blew us all away! Stairway to Heaven again, was fabulous and the band could do no wrong. Around 11:20 the band played their last song but the audience just shouted for more. Even though the band needed to go for a special reason, they came back on the Bag's stage and did an excellent encore of Black Sabbath's Paranoid. What a performance!

What a great day, great bands, a great crowd, and the sum of £500 raised for the Prince of Wales Hospice.

Our thanks go to the bands for donating their time and performances for nothing, free gratis, nowt, except the thanks and gratitude from Mark, the Bag and Barrow's landlord, The Prince of Wales Hospice, and from the RotN community for entertaining us. Special thanks also to Graham Hollings, Joe Pastrami (RotN), Marcus and Julie Ward, and Tony Bianco for their invaluable assistance with the event.

The Bag and Barrow proved to be a superb live venue, with it's own PA and lights, a dressing room, and sumptuous comfort, so we will be organising more festivals in conjunction with Mark. In the meantime, Mark is concentrating on making the pub a realistic venue for live music, which should be encouraged and supported. We at RotN are very keen to see the venue prosper, so lets support the Bag and Barrow.