Music > Live Reviews

Lets Rock Norwich

Earlham Park

03/06/19

In what has fast become an annual fixture on the Norwich musical calendar, it was back to Earlham park for another day of shameless nostalgia. Remembering to leave my musical credibility at the door, I, along with 12,000 others, had come for one reason only – to have Fun (note the capital F) and make the most of the glorious weather. Arriving a little later than in previous years I missed the first hour of the day, but I was just about in place by the time Thomas Dolby played his all too brief set. It felt like he deserved longer to showcase his excellent, unusual 80s synth hits but hearing Hyperactive and She blinded Me With Science helped to get me into the 80s zone immediately.

Next up were Cutting Crew, who I perceive as a one hit wonder band, odd then that they were higher up the bill than Dolby. They were ok, nothing too special but when they played (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight it was the first time the crowd properly got involved. Limahl followed them on stage and demonstrated all that is good and bad about these retro festivals. Looking great in a white suit and orange tie combo, he played his big gun immediately; Too Shy being one of the songs of the day, but then he proceeded to play a bunch of covers, before ending his set with his sole solo hit of note, Neverending Story. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a 40 year musical career, but hey – hush hush, eye to eye.

We moved through the decade next with Kim Appleby playing the hits that she’d enjoyed with her sister Mel. Completely at the opposite end of the musical spectrum from where I was at during those days, her set went down really well and saw some awesome examples of Mum & Dad dancing. From The Jam followed, Bruce Foxton still plugging away with his own version of a tribute act. I may be a bit sniffy about them, but here, playing for just 30 minutes, they did their job well and every song they played reminded me of how much I loved The Jam. After them Nik Kershaw did what he did when he played here two years ago, he reminded everyone what a class act he is, showcasing some excellent guitar playing, and we all sang I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me like our lives depended on it.
Go West played the set of the day so far, as far as most of the crowd were concerned at least, and Peter Cox still has a great set of pipes, as he ably demonstrated during King of Wishful Thinking. Next it was time for one of the main draws of the day, Midge Ure. When he was here two years ago he was one of the day’s highlights and so he proved to be again this year. Midge is world class, has a great band backing him and frankly any show which features Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, Fade To Grey and Vienna is only ever going to be brilliant. For a period of around three years the Thompson Twins were one of the biggest acts around, both here in the UK and in the US. As with so many acts of the era, their star burned brightly, but relative briefly, and here former member and frontman Tom Bailey came to remind us of why they were so successful. Making full use of the stage lights and screen, now that the sun had moved behind the stage, I thought he was the surprise package of the day. Love On Your Side, Doctor Doctor and Hold Me Now were all perfect slices of well-crafted 80s pop and Tom absolutely got the response his excellent set deserved.

For many people, myself included, the next act was one of the main reasons for coming to this year’s festival. Marc Almond, frontman of classic synth duo Soft Cell, has lived his life to the full, and here he received a hero’s welcome. Peppering his slot with a mix of his solo hits and some of Soft Cell’s biggest songs, his all too brief 45-minutes flew by. Singing along and dancing to Tainted Love will live long in the memory. I never liked Erasure and therefore wasn’t particularly looking forward to watching frontman Andy Bell play. However, as the day progressed, and the party atmosphere built, I convinced myself that what Andy was going to do was blow us all away with his bagful of incredibly well known songs. Strangely though, I found his performance slightly bizarre. His vocals sounded somewhat flat, his between song chat was rambling and from where I was standing I could feel the attention of the crowd beginning to wander. Sure, some of the bigger songs went down well, but for me I have to say Andy was the most disappointing act of the day. Finally then it was down to Billy Ocean to bring the curtain down on this year’s festival. Sporting a sharp suit and a single MASSIVE dreadlock Billy oozed cool. In a little under an hour he completely justified his headline status. Red Light Spells Danger took the show into overdrive and by the time we’d bellowed ourselves hoarse to When The Going Gets Tough and Caribbean Queen it felt like the perfect end to another brilliant day.

Musically this year’s festival could never live up to 2018’s top drawer line up, but from a pure enjoyment point of view this was the best one yet, and it made me realise that it almost doesn’t matter who’s playing, because fun and good times are 100% guaranteed. We were well looked after, the drinks flowed all day, the sun shone and if you’ve yet to attend a Let’s Rock festival because you think it’s not for you, trust me when I say it’s for everyone and I’ll see you there in 2020.