A Very Special Festival - Chase Park Whickham 2015

This is probably not going to be a normal music review, because it's more about the concept of this amazing festival. It's supported by Keiro (you can find out about them here) who cater for the needs of young people with disabilities. Keiro in Japanese for  "Pathway and/or Journey". Hence the festival featured Aukestra brought together by Autism and their love of music. I spoke with the lovely female singer who was wearing a great T-Shirt with the words "My Superpower Is Autism - What's Yours" on the front.

A Special Day

The thing about this festival is that it was designed so that people in wheelchairs could easily get about , with tracks laid on the grass. I spoke with people with various "disabilities" and it was just normal. This is how it should be in everyday life, everyone I spoke to was absolutely brilliant. I will be going again next year as it was totally amazing. Oh and the other thing they had someone signing all the songs for anyone who couldn't here. This festival really did bring everyone together.

Also it was family friendly so lots of children heard some brilliant music , so I'll run though the music now with the odd thing that stood out for me. When I first saw the poster I thought Turin Brakes were the headliners, then I looked at the snazzy graphic and realised they were second on the bill!

My next shock was the ticket prices £6 for an adult , £10 for a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children).

Anyway there was a lot of music on there so I will just point out a few as I said before.

First band that struck me were Hot Soles  , who I did get close up to but produce some excellent rock sounds and any bill with them on is woorth going to see.

Then next were Gallery Circus who get better every time I see them, Theres only two of them but they make an amazing noise and have come on in leaps and bounds since I first saw them in Bar Loco .. and they were good then.

Aukestra were again excellent and I talked about them at the start of this post, just great to see them enjoying themselves and entertaining the crowd and I did catch 15 seconds of them on my Instagram feed , which is here.

Hulkenburg looked and sounded as you would expect from the name , a monster challenging two piece who might have frightened the children but I certainly liked them.

Monogram came on around five and sounded awesome and epic , I suggest you check them out although only a three piece the sound that cam e just filled the area , in a very exciting way. Check them out .

Slug were next up , part of the Sunderland family that has brought us The Futureheads , Field Music and Beak, dressed to the nines and impressing the crowd with some amazing and sophisticated sounds.

Turin Brakes still have it and their songs hit the right chords with everybody, and amazingly rich sound provided by two acoustic guitars . There songs , once heard are never forgotten.

Finally Ash hit the stage and the crowd went sedately wild , there were children and and peopel with disabilities all having a great time. I included the filmed finale which blurs at times , but you can see the song being signed and the crowd having an amazing time. They played lots of hits , some new stuff including "Free" and  "Cuckoo" from Kablammo  finishing up with Burn Baby Burn.

An amazing and perfect day

I'm now looking forward to the next one.