A good friend of mine, Bethany, pointed me to an article about a Cramps concert in 1978 where they played Napa State Mental Hospital . The article is here . While I laud the band for doing that , and many have done similar things before and since . Take Johnny Cash at San Quentin for instance , bands playing for people who normally would not be treated to live music . One of the best examples of that I have seen was at The Chase Park Festival at Whickham where the whole set up was geared towards total social integration (see review here)
My issue with the "I'm Punkier Than You" thing is that as soon as you adjectivise the word it becomes it's own establishment , and Punk is meant to be anti establishment. I remember hearing that Bob Marley had a song called Punky Reggae Party ... just the title made me cringe , as though Bob was trying to jump on a bandwagon . If a band described themselves as punky I would expect something like The Knack singing My Sharona.
A punk is an undesirable , a delinquent , something that doesn't care so for a real punk gig or record , it should challenge , it should be unexpected , and really The Cramps gig was something you would expect The Cramps to do. It wasn't what Fleetwood Mac would do , but then again , when they followed up Rumours with Tusk wasn't that a total punk thing to do , they risked destroying everything with Tusk , although it's probably my favourite album of theirs.
And what about The KLF / Extreme Noise Terror at The Brits , that was a shock to the mainstream, showing punk attitude 15 years after the British Explosion.
Then you had teh Sex Pistols a manufactured bad boy band who's album was heavy metal with a sneer. I bought "New Rose" by The Damned when it came out , "I'm Stranded" by The Saints and then when I heard Anarchy In The UK I was really disappointed because it was metal not punk.
So really if you want the most in your face example of punk attitude it has to be The KLF at the Brits , because the Cramps were just doing what The Cramps did, The KLF actually shocked.
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.
