BEER R&B FESTIVAL

BEER, EAST DEVON 12/13/14 OCT 2007

When I first visited Beer I was a reluctant visitor! Friends who had been to the festival previously said “You must come, you’ll love it”. I wasn’t sure, because I didn’t really know the music. However, after some persuasion, I agreed to go in 2005. Am I glad I did!

That first time, from the moment The Big Blue came on stage on the Friday night, until the last echoes of the Monster Jam on Sunday evening, it was amazing & I thoroughly enjoyed every note.

So this year, Friday morning, we set off for Beer like excited children. There are quite a few of us who travel down, so we can’t all book into the same hotel, I prefer to stay in The Dolphin because that’s where everybody ends up at the end of the night & it’s not too far to stagger upstairs! Once we have booked in it’s off to The Anchor to meet up with everybody.

Traditionally, Friday evening starts off with a fish & chip supper that lines the stomach nicely for the night’s activities. Then it’s off to the Mariners Hall early to get a table. The entertainment kicks off with Storm Warning, a band with a unique Blues sound. Son Maxwell on vocals was dynamic, Ian Salisbury on keyboard was fantastic and they soon had the audience on their feet. Next up was The King Roosters. These “bad ole boys” were amazing! Tim Royce has a great gravely voice and I loved his guitar playing, “Wild Bob” Burgos on drums was so entertaining to watch! I loved the mixture of R&B and Rock n Roll, everyone else seemed to agree with me, my daughter in particular!

Saturday morning my daughter & I went for a walk and ended up having coffee at Ducky’s Café on the beautiful beach where we saw some faces from the night before. This is one of the great things about the festival weekend, everyone is so friendly, you are always bumping into to someone to say hello to. Next we went up along the cliff path to see the spectacular views before coming back to the Anchor for an excellent lunch in the garden looking over the sea. Saturday was a big day for sports fans, with England involved in football and rugby. The boys wanted to get in the pub early to get good seats, meanwhile the rest of us set off for the Social Club to see The Jives, Jeff Chapman & Al. E. Bye (is that really his name?) playing some “Essex Folk music” and a mixture of old favourites.

Saturday evening in the Mariners Hall wasn’t so much kicked off, but blasted away by Steppin’ Out with a rebel rousing version of Bullfrog Blues. Steve Kiraly is an awesome slide player, and I love Jim Riley on bass, he’s so cool, and his fingers fly over the strings! It wasn’t long before the crowd were up dancing to the likes of Dust My Broom and Boogie Chillun. Then came the Piece de Resistance – THE GREAT BRITISH GUITAR ORCHESTRA! How is it possible to fit so much talent onto one stage? Stuart Bligh; Steve Kiraly: Tim Royce; Albert Stone; Robin Bibi; Jeff Chapman; John O’Reilly; Cliff Gater and Dan Anderson, not forgetting Tony Martin on bass and Dave Innes on drums who did a brilliant job. They each did a song of their choice, with an arranged solo by another player, this showed what amazing breadth of styles they had, and they were all obviously enjoying the experience as much as the crowd. “Steppin’ Out” was performed in honour of Jim & Sheila (the organisers) – all the guitarists played one side against the other with a “question & answer” of parts of the tune. This was incredible! They finished off with an extended version of Sweet Home Alabama that had everyone on their feet dancing wildly & joining in the singing! It was a brilliant 10^th anniversary night in every respect.

Sunday started off with a late breakfast on the beach where we caught up with a few “tired” folk from the night before! It was an absolutely beautiful day, so we sat for a while just enjoying the weather. We made our way up to the Social Club via The Anchor where John O’Reilly was doing a solo slot with an amazing looking (& sounding) chrome guitar. Hungry again (the sea air!) we sampled some of the excellent chilli on offer whilst Albert Stone gently persuaded us into the Monster Jam Session. He has a lovely voice and we really enjoyed him. Other participants included Tim Royce who is very funny as well as musically talented, the equally lovely Steve Kiraly, Giles “Two Hats” Forest on bass and the fantastic Stuart Bligh from Big Blue who not only rocked the room but looked great as well! The star of the show had to be “Redhouse” Roy who played drums for the whole session. I think by the end of it he was pretty tired, but like the rest of us, he had a great time.

At the end of the Jam, people headed back down to The Anchor for the “last supper”. This is the third year I have been, and as usual, had the most amazing weekend. Even though I am not familiar with a lot of the music, I appreciate the mind-blowing talent of the musicians, and the whole package is a fantastic one. Many thanks to Jim & Sheila for making it so, and we look forward to many years to come.

Annie Osborne