On a crest of a WAVE at HI Fest
With a couple of hours to kill I wandered past West Town Inn, Hayling Island and heard some lovely sounds from their garden area. The pub’s reputation five years ago was very negative but has been totally turned round into a friendly family-oriented place by landlady, Maxine Demetriou
The sounds were from Hi Fest, a weekend of music raising funds for Wave (www.wavehayling.co.uk), supporting young people in need so I went into the spacious garden, a lovey setting, with a sizeable crown coming and going
The one artist I had time to see was Karen Barnett, an excellent singer performing an easy listening set of 14 songs varying from Nina Simone blues (Sugar in my Bowl) to Fleetwood Mac (Dreams), a varied eclectic set beautifully performed
Other artists I missed included Tamsin Escott, Pompey Pluckers, Country Ken, Force 10 Shanty, The Hedge Inspectors, No Strings Attached and CC Machine
So I returned the following day and managed to catch four of the six performers (apologies to Cazayley and the Capos, and Jana Austin) on a warm afternoon with a pretty large crowd of families and friends all having a good time; indeed, some dancing broke out several times
The Rambling Dooberies, a guitar quartet, provided a set of gentle folk/blues, led by Chas, perfect for the early afternoon. Songs included two favourites of mine, Bus Stop (Hollies) and Death of a Clown (Dave Davies, formerly of the Kinks), the guitars intertwining really well
The Plastic Shamrocks next up, Irish and folk music but also other genres, led by Gary O’Connor. My favourites this time round were Fisherman’s Blues (Waterboys), Dirty Old Town (Pogues) and One Day Like This (Elbow), despite Gary having a flying insect go into his mouth mid song but he carried on regardless, ever the professional
Friday Street, a 3-piece, performed acoustically , just the right change in tempo from the Shamrocks, with some well-known songs from David Bowie but I really enjoyed hearing Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd), Psycho Killer (Talking Heads) but especially Fight For the Right to Party (Beastie Boys, I have never heard live before
Prostate Gland Band included Gary but also, for the third band in a row, Dave Lawrence, on percussion (stamina or what!), with Richard Andrews taking the chance to remind men of the absolute necessity to check for prostate cancer as early as possible (well said!). A well honed mix of styles with my favourites Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash) and Hotel California (Eagles)
All in all, a lovely way to spend a weekend, for a great cause (raising lots of money, figure unknown at time of writing this review) in a well-run friendly pub, whose staff provided excellent service throughout. If you are a looking for a good pub, try West Town Inn. If you are looking for talented performers you can find each of the named artists via the internet
Ken Ebbens, The Flash (on DAB and theflashonair.co.uk) radio presenter