Harvest from the Deep

So on the weekend of 13th and 14th August, North Shields showed just what can be done when you put your mind to it! Take note North Tyneside, this would have been a fabulous event to hold in the Dome. A two day festival celebrating local talent and finishing with headliners British Sea Power, more of that later.

We only bought tickets for the second day, though in retrospect I'd have liked to see Richard Dawson and The Lake Poets do a full set. Still there was plenty to enjoy on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Arriving early (we like to get our monies worth!) we caught the first two performances, sadly I don't recall their names. At this point we decided to grab something to eat and headed to the Maggie Bank, very surprised to find they no longer do food but the guy behind the bar recommended we try the Bell and Bucket, so off we headed.

The Bell and Bucket was packed, interestingly there was no one in the Maggie Bank at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon! We ordered the Sunday dinner and when it arrived we were faced with a mountain of food, 5 different veg alongside roast and mashed potato great value but way too much, even I couldn't finish it!

Feeling full we went back to The Exchange for the rest of the days performances, arriving in time to catch Shrug who were great to watch, Nev Clay followed with a meandering song and chat set, things were running late and up next were High Tide 15.47 who were energetic, but for me at least just didn't work. I'm now a little unsure of the running order but Ryan - Bugman - Siddle delivered a really good set full of songs from his album, if you see it give it a listen.

Matt Abbott followed with some interesting poetry, commenting on what is left of working class life, out of touch politicians and apathy he received some of the warmest applause of the day and it was well deserved. Following came Jazz Riot another spoken word performance with some noodling guitar as an accompaniment.

The highlight for me was British Sea Power performing the soundtrack to 'From the Sea to the Land Beyond'. As a documentary film it trawls through the history of the United Kingdoms relationship with the sea, from the fishing industry to bathing belles. All accompanied by BSP's rising and falling tide of sound, The soundtrack followed every twist and turn, every sadness and joy the high's and lows of life as an island nation.

The whole performance was simply excellent, I'm not sure how many times they've performed this piece but if you ever get the chance, go see it. Sunday's performance was something a bit special and the standing ovation the band received at the end was heartfelt appreciation of a great evening.