Close your eyes and go back to the 80s
Peter and Go West partner Richard Drummie Go West frontman Peter Cox reckons it’s Rewind’s compact scale that makes it stand out.
The Scone Palace extravaganza’s capacity was bumped up to 30,000 four years ago, but organisers Impresario Festivals have steadfastly refused to make it any bigger.
And the We Close Our Eyes and Call Me hit-maker says that’s the right call.
“It’s a glorious setting and the organisers have been very careful not to let the scale of the event get out of hand, so while it’s a big crowd it still feels intimate,” Cox declared.
“My understanding is that the brand’s owners want to keep the size of the festival controlled. They don’t want to put a huge number of tickets out there and undersell a big empty space.
“And from a selfish standpoint, we don’t get to Scotland as often as we’d like so it’s nice to be there and be part of a big well-organised event where we can see all of those wonderful Scots fans who’re interested in hearing what we’ve got to play. I think it works really well and Scone is a gorgeous spot.”
Cox (61) says he’s proud to be associated with the Eighties but reckons there’s still plenty of new talent to shout about.
“As a singer I was really excited that we managed to have a hit record when Paul Young, Alison Moyet, Phil Collins, all great singers, were having success,” the Londoner said.
“I felt very proud to be a singer in a time when there were great singers around and it’d have to be something that I was really passionate about now to get me off my backside and go to a major festival.
“My taste in music tends to be away from the pop mainstream these days. It’s not to say that I don’t enjoy that music but if I was going to see someone at a festival it’d probably be a blues rock kind of thing.
“That’s the music that I connected with when I was a teenager before I’d even started writing songs.
“There are acts out there like Rival Sons and Vintage Trouble who have elements of that kind but who aren’t necessarily making chart records.
“There’s a lot more competition out there.
“YouTube makes it possible to get your music available for the public to hear but it’s that much more difficult to stand out from what is now a very big crowd.” Cox and his Go West partner Richard Drummie are still releasing new music 32 years after their debut single.
The duo made a mark at Rewind 2014 with a leftfield cover of King Of Leon’s Sex On Fire, and he says they plan to surprise fans again tomorrow.
“I’m not sure how much different it will be from other Rewind performances, simply because our slot is quite short,” he said.
“An event like this isn’t the moment to introduce nine songs from your new album. It’s a live jukebox of songs from a particular era, although it’s sometimes frustrating to be pigeonholed as an Eighties pop band, which of course we are.
“I’ve got no problem with that, I just think there’s a lot more to us.
“So it’s nice to throw in something the crowd might not necessarily expect from us and to see us hopefully deliver that in a good way.
“It keeps our sets fresh. I understand an audience wants to come and hear the hits and we try to give them that, but we’ve got a fantastic band and there are other things we can do without necessarily saying we’re going to play side one of our new album and everyone disappears
Peter Cox is looking forward to the Perthshire gig to the loos.”With past and present collaborators like 10cc’s Lol Creme, Nik Kershaw and T’Pau’s Carol Decker also on tomorrow’s bill, Cox and Drummie will be among friends on their record fifth appearance at the Big County retro fest.
“It’s always an amicable atmosphere backstage but as you can imagine there’s a certain healthy competitiveness,” the singer insisted.
“Everyone wants to be the best thing on the day and that’s good for the audience because they see everyone trying to bring their A game and do the best they can.
“I ran into Lol for the first time in decades at one of the other festivals we did. Given that he’s done so much in his career it was quite flattering that he even remembered who I was.
“He’s directed dozens and dozens of videos and it was a nice reunion and it was really good to see him.
“We’ve also done a joint show with Nik where each of us plays our hits but we’re also on stage together some of the time.”
Rewind is Friday-Sunday this week at Scone Palace. A few tickets are still available via the website www. rewindfestival.com