THE GOLOWAN FESTIVAL, PENZANCE (24TH JUNE)

ANDREW BATE, MY ELVIS BLACKOUT AND THE EDUCATION

Three artists amongst many that played throughout the boiling hot weekend across the town of Penzance as the locals celebrated The Feast of John with all styles of music, performance and art. This fantastic cultural event attracts locals and tourists to the area in equal measure and came to climactic close on the last weekend of June with the Mazey Day marquee gigs from the top class local musicians that are making such an impact at the moment.

ANDREW BATE

Sporting his new shorter summer haircut, Andrew Bate took to the stage after a particularly long-winded introduction from the bizarre compere, (think Pamala Stephenson doing Janet Street Porter doing Su Pollard!), and let his magnificent voice take over.

Starting with atmospheric moans coming from somewhere deep in his soul, Andrew created the perfect setting for his emotional performance. Holding the moment and the audience in the palm of his musical hand, he grips your attention instantly and I noticed around me the conversations ceased as he sang. Haunting and enigmatic, Andrew`s songs are the perfect antidote to the fast moving world left outside the marquee when you enter. His voice is exceptional and without a doubt, will soon be spoken of in the same hushed reverence that people hold Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake. His performance showed understandable confidence in both his abilities and his material, proving to be one of the highlights of the day. The applause was long, loud and certainly well earned.

MY ELVIS BLACKOUT

The five piece outfit have no concept of `warming up` or `100%` - My Elvis Blackout start with 200% and just get more intense! One of the most powerful and professional performances of the year, without a shadow of doubt. Backed with excellent sound balance, the lads kicked butt the like of which the Golowan Festival and the people of Penzance have probably never heard before.

Stripped to their vests in the scorching afternoon heat, the band pulled out the stops to roar through a set of classic M.E.B. material and showcased some new songs that are about to appear on their first cd, (finally out in July). I always love to see a double fronted band, with harmony vocals and passion which brings thoughts of the Clash mixing with the Manics to mind. It shows real talent within a band to have so many skills between them and gives them much more strength in both performance and songwriting.

Having seen the band sometime back at the first High Rollers gig (see review earlier in the year), I wasn`t instantly won over at the time, but at the Golowan Festival they got me hook, line and sinker. My Elvis Blackout - nothing less than amazing!

THE EDUCATION

It all looked promising - a white telecaster, blue hair, punky attire... and then he spoke the immortal words, "Hello, what a fucking lovely day!"

Now I`m seriously not a prude, but considering the situation - toddlers and O.A.P.s mixing with the mums, dads and other musicians in the middle of a hot public marquee, this was a totally misplaced introduction to win over an audience. Of course the f-word,(as it likes to be called in polite company!), has strong youth and musical connections, but that old daytime TV show said it all with `The Time and the Place`. Oh what a clanger dropped! Having been oblivious to this, The Education continued swearing loudly at the audience in their lyrics that could be clearly heard thanks again to the great sound balance and low volume guitar.

The duo, clearly more used to a London audience of indie kids, were enthusiastic and enthralled by their performance, but left me cold, (which considering the weather is quite a feat I suppose!). Electronica with low-fi, low volume guitar, didn`t do it for me, but maybe it was the juxtoposition after the great M.E.B.`s performance that really killed it.

I liked the pot plant they placed on stage - nice use of foliage.

(Photos by Mildly Disabled Dave)