|
|
Pudstock 2007
Ever since the dubious delights of Sir Bob and his Live Aid bonanza back in the eighties celebrities have been falling over themselves to jump on the charity bandwagon while banking a few quid themselves. However Pudstock, an intimate gig in aid of Crisis seemed to bypass the usual gushing offering up little gems of live music for Indie fans.
The venue was the very rock
and roll Proud gallery in Camden Stables market with the irony being that it was
one of the few festivals where most of the performers were so local they could walk home. Entrance to the gig was
by either by winning a lucky sixpence in a Crisis Christmas pudding or by
bidding on eBay. Three cheers for Dirty Pretty Things
fan Stephen Merchant who attended not by blagging a VIP
wristband but by buying his very own ticket for charity. The crowd was littered with rock glitterati and
various offspring and most of the acts made reference to the fact they had to
play in front of ‘their mates’. With the bar furnished
as someone’s living room, complete with log fire videos
and stuffed animals on the wall, you could sit back and almost imagine you were
attending a particularly cool house party.
The afternoon started off with
a very dapper looking Ed Harcourt looking swarthy in a suit and took the
‘one man band’ idea to the next level playing each
instrument in turn while moving through a set that went from romantic and
melancholic to raucous without losing any of his gentlemanly charm. The
highlight of the set was a rendition of ‘I've Become
Misguided’ for which he invited the crowd in as backing
singers, the most enthusiastic of these being Danny from Supergrass who was also
showing his support with a Ed Harcourt T shirt.
Ed was followed by a
fragile Graham Coxon who started by warning the crowd of his terror of
performing in front of some of his mates and also following on from
Ed who he described as “an angels voice in an Anglo Saxon body”. Graham worked
his way through a selection of his tracks but also bought in various folk songs
some of which by his own admission he hadn’t given
proper rehearsal time to. He started his set with a rendition of Nina Simone's
classic 'Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair' before playing the likes of
'Are You Lonely' and 'In This House'. Endearingly he kept the words on a chair
in front of him apparently as a security blanket. Through the
set you never really lost the feeling that he would have preferred to play this
gig in his own front room, he even admitted that he missed playing without the
telly on. He was surprisingly tolerant to the few hecklers who
shouted out Blur requests even playing a few chords of Parklife in
jest.
With the first two sets being acoustic the bar had a real indoor
festival feel to it with people sitting cross-legged on the floor and plenty of
interaction with the audience. However Dirty Pretty things
then played and got people on their feet.
In his trademark trilby and black uniform Carl Barat was every inch the rock
star. He seems to have finally stepped out of the shadows of being an ex-
libertines member and all that
meant. It turns out that Carl was also on the streets for a time, which he
blamed on the unstable lifestyle that comes with being a musician adding weight
to his support of Crisis. The sets climax was the crowd-pleasing, ‘Bang bang you’re dead’.
The bands short set was a slick performance and it was obvious that all members
get their kicks from playing live together no matter how small the audience.
They also attracted the most obvious groupies of the day with Carl being
leapt upon by a group of unlikely looking middle aged
autograph hunters as soon as he slipped
off the stage.
The
headliners were Supergrass who had been both in the crowd and on the stage
intermittently for the duration, no doubt due in part to the heavy
involvement of drummer
Danny’s missus Pearl Lowe who is heading up the crisis Pudstock
campaign. She herself is a long time supporter of the charity after having a
heavily publicised heroin addiction for a number of years, which resulted in
brushes with homelessness. She was approached by the charity to
help organise the gig and apparently did a quick call round and managed to get
most of her musical friends signed up. Despite having a quiet couple of years
it was clear this was the band that many had bought their pudstock
tickets or puddings for. The set was infused with energy and enthusiasm,
with the stage alive with plenty
of movement and noise. The band
stuck with some early anthems including the legendary ‘Caught by the
Fuzz’ but a lot of favourites were omitted. Despite
impassioned pleas by the
crowd ‘Alright’ and ‘Pumping on your stereo’ were
not offered up. The audience were treated to
a new track ‘bad blood’ which went down well with
the hardened fans and the band promised they are back in the studio this year.
This was the set that had everyone
up dancing and mouthing every word, including the various kids that were there
watching their parents or family friends perform. A happy crowd left Proud with
many prize winners and eBay bidders having had the experience of brushing
shoulders with a few legends at a gig that was so intimate you could
literally touch most of the performers.
Jenni
Regan
|
|
