You buy your ticket in February, you look forward to hazy sunshine, quaffing cold beer in the sunshine and listening to your favourite bands.
Yesterday, some of those things came true. Having seen the Somme-like conditions from Glastonbury on the TV on the Friday night, I smugly thought than god Knowsley Hall wouldn't be as bad.
On Saturday, I attended day one of the inaugural Knowsley Hall festival - which is conveniently only 30 minutes from my home. The main attraction was certainly to see the Who again, 12 months after I last saw them. Also on the bill were personal favourites of mine the Coral, Pete Wylie and Shack.
Pete Wylie was in good form, as usual he treated the crowd to his stunning wit and repartee - as well as a number of bonafide classics, Story of the Blues and Better Scream still sound pretty good today. Next up was Shack, a band that I normally think are fantastic but last time I saw them I was less than enamoured.
This time though they didn't disappoint - despite being handicapped by a clearly inebriated front-man. I thought I would have a couple of pints of what Mick Head had obviously indulged in. Alas there was a seemingly never ending queue, (see picture below)that saw us wait for just under an hour to be served. This put paid to thoughts of catching up yer-man in getting pissed - eventually I managed to get two lukewarm pints of lager, that would have to suffice. I think the festival was obviously sponsored by the temperance society, given the level of service.
While I was in the queue for food and drink, the Thrills and The View came and went - they sounded OK, I don't mind the Thrills, but I could certainly could have done without the View - not my cup of tea at all, derivative shouty bollocks!
The final two acts, were the two I had set out to see when I bought my tickets back in February. The Coral were in good form and after a break to recharge the batteries, they are back with a soon to be released album, from which a number of tunes were given an airing.
One of which In The Rain - brought about the first spots of rain, that thankfully didn't last too long. The rain that is, as the song itself was pretty good.
It is amazing that a band so young have so many recognisable hits that the crowd were familiar with - a greatest hits in the future would be a worthwhile release.
It was too good to ask for I suppose given the weather of late, as the final band the Who took to the stage, the heavens finally opened. The Who played a set reminiscent of the last time I saw them, with only a couple of the songs in the middle changed. It was good to hear the classic songs live again, with my particular favourite Won't Get Fooled Again sounding brilliant as ever. Given the worsening conditions I decided to leave during the final songs of the encore of songs from Tommy.
It was a brilliant festival and certainly one I'll look to attending next year Apart from the lack of bar facilities and the rain, I can't complain, a good day was had by all.
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