A NEW DAY FESTIVAL
VENUE Mount EphraiM GardEns, KEnt DATE 03/08/2019
Smack in the heart of the garden of England – Faversham in Kent – and surrounded by working pear and plum tree orchards bordering an Edwardian estate, A New Day Festival welcomes bands and fans to commune together in this oasis of earthly delights and enjoy a bounty of musical pleasures.
FRIDAY
Solstice ready the ears with a beguiling set of prog folk. The clear-eyed and joyous enthusiasm of founder Andy Glass is as infectious as the music created. It’s a wellreceived show heralding the much-anticipated return of a British experimental entity.
With a waft of Theo Travis’ saxophone, Hidden Details by Soft Machine de-fuzzes the more addled of nocturnal brains. Hugely talented guitarist Jon Etheridge plays a masterclass of Allan Holdsworth proportions throughout with his fret-defying finger acrobatics to the fore on The Tale Of Taliesin and Broken Hill.
Then one of progressive music’s more unique groups Focus attract a large crowd away from the many superb food, clothing, local cider and vinyl stalls as All Hens On Deck flies from the speaker towers. Thijs van Leer’s helium-sized vocals create a Pied Piper effect as everyone teems forward to gather together. Eruption and a ground-shaking finale of Hocus Pocus find van Leer’s operatic vocal still echoing loud back down the years.
As the driving force behind this musical wheel of wonder, Martin Barre presents his 50 years of Jethro Tull show. Barre is joined by some very special alumnus guests, as Clive Bunker and the delightful Dee Palmer pitch in on rarely played songs. Opening a 17 song set with the wistful Back To The Family, this definitive performance overflows with many breathtaking moments.
Teacher then finds
Dee Palmer bursting out to add a touch of class and panache with heavy piano bursts. Rare outings of Hymn 43, War Child and Bungle In
The Jungle further bring original drummer Clive Bunker into play as the whole band brew up a storm of sound.
Entering the stage with a stride as large as his musical footprint, headliner Fish scales up his set of top drawer solo works to play a politically-charged set. Enabled by John Mitchell on guitar and Foster Paterson on keyboards, Fish announces, “This is progressive music and I can do anything I want with it.
I can go anywhere, musically.” It’s a statement
of intent he backs up with a captivating display as Big Wedge and Brother 52 lead proceedings.
Newer song Man With A Stick arguably steals the show however, although Lavender elicits a mighty cheer and an even mightier guitar solo from Mitchell to fittingly end the first day of festivities in this now dusky garden of sweet-sounding delights.
sATURDAY
As the on-site campers uncoil themselves from their slumbers and venture into Saturday, Lapis Lazuli open the early birds’ ears as they breathe contrapuntal life into the middle day of this friendliest of festivals. A bewitching spacey psych-out of twiddly ethereal sounds by Gong offshoot Sacred Geometry Band ensures the ambient vibe flows.
With their esoteric sonics capturing a swelling audience, the hotly anticipated Hawklords close out Saturday playing a spellbinding masterclass of space rock. A set drenched in echo and reverb adds to the timetravel feel as their finely tuned space shanties sail forth from the speakers and upwards to the flowery terraced gardens to the stately house at the top of the hill. Veteran sonic warriors Jerry Richards, Harvey Bainbridge and Dead Fred entrance the throng with their wormhole collage of space rock soundscapes.
Hats off to organiser Dave Rees who has nurtured one of the friendliest, well-attended and lovingly curated festivals located in a beautiful bucolic fairy tale setting.