30.03.2019 The Station, Cannock: Dementia Aware Fest


Dementia Aware Fest is a nationwide hard rock extravaganza for a good cause and the aware fest usually features a multitude of bands who play in different venues on different dates to raise awareness for the crippling disease called ‘dementia’, although the word itself is an umbrella term as dementia can be caused by numerous things including Alzheimer’s disease and strokes.

The event at the Station, by far the most exciting rock club in the Cannock area, raised a total of £1020 for dementia charities and hosted a total of seven bands.

I had time to stay for the first four and they were all enthusiastic and musically really great.

‘Saints of Arcadia’ performed for roughly 45 minutes and they were rocking yet somewhat gentle as opposed to hard and heavy. Singer Nick Jennison effortlessly ‘switched’ between falsetto and probably barbiton and the band had a great chemistry on stage and were very well received.





Manchester based ‘MouthIn The South’ were next and it was great to see band members supporting their vision impaired front man Piers Gebbia and it goes to show that no disability any of us face has to mean the end of a dream.  


The vocals were awesome and so was the music, very enjoyable and with the band mentioning acts like Mr.Big and Whitesnake as their musical influences on their facebook page, they too were quite melodic in their approach to their compositions.




The band that really stood out for me was ‘Ryders Creed’ who had a lot of fun on stage and performed amazingly tight and punchy rock music that got the venue going.
Last minute replacement for the Sykko dolls, ‘Witch tripper’ from Mansfield were next and the three-piece sounded heavier than perhaps the bands that played before them but that’s not a bad thing.

By the looks of it the stage is their favourite place and they themselves described themselves as ‘gig whores’ and they were energetic and down to earth.




In between band setups all sorts of tickets and prizes were raffled off for dementia awareness and it was a great afternoon/evening.
Another dementia aware fest with entirely different acts happens on Sunday May 26th at the Giffard Arms in Wolverhampton


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1991 - Kraftwerk

Image
01.11.1991, Kongresshalle Frankfurt: KRAFTWERK „The robots“, „Autobahn“, „Tour de France“, „The model“, „Computerworld“ „Music non Stopp“ ... the list of hits of the cult band from Düsseldorf is really remarkable and after nine years of stage absence the “Robots” once more embark on a tour. The Kongresshalle (Congress hall) Frankfurt was sold out. The show was scheduled for 8 p.m. and the tickets cost DM 38,50,- (quite a lot back then) Shortly after 8 p.m. strange electronic noises echoed from the speakers still with the lights fully on. The sounds lasted for almost 15 minutes. Then they stopped: Showtime: “Ladies and Gentleman, Madame’s et Monsieur’s, Meine Damen und Herren: Die Mensch Maschine (The man machine)” ... After this introduction from the „Voice of energy“ Kraftwerk started the gig. Hutter, Schneider und co. „lifeless“ as usual. The futuristic stage featured the whole Kling Klang Studio as well as four 5meter wide screens on which a video sequence was shown simultaneously
Read more

1996 - KISS

Image
11.12.1996 Festhalle Frankfurt: KISS Support: Die Ärzte A huge banner on one of the balconies states: „KISS and die Ärzte - a dream comes true“ and in all these years I have never seen the Festhalle that packed. Yes, a dream came true – this KISS concert was the best concert ever. Another banner simply said: ”KISS – welcome back”. 7 p.m. on the dot – the five hour spectacle kicked off with a band so horrible that I cant even remember their name. I didn’t like even one song and their 30minutes set was half an hour too long for what I care. Only a few minutes later the mood changed completely as Frankfurt welcomed Berlins punk band number one: Die Ärzte! The guys picked up speed straight away and for the next hour they played a lot of music and laughed about themselves and KISS. Their bold and funny lyrics really made their gig enjoyable. No doubt that die Ärzte are the number one band in Germany and songs like “Fette Elke”, “Mitten in die Fresse rein”, “Drei Tage Bart” or “Arschloch” w
Read more

25.03.2017 Electronic Music Conference: Chris Wave, Richard Barbieri, Chris Payne, Rusty Egan, Martyn Ware

Image
The Birmingham & Midlands Institute, Birmingham With masterclasses, performances and talks including Q&A, the electronic music conference in Birmingham had interesting and influential musicians to offer. While organiser Chris Wave said very little and showed a 26 minute 1980’s film called ‘Knights electric’ with a great soundtrack and a crappy storyline during his 30 minutes set the event really became meaningful when the various conveyors of electronic music gave their talks and allowed plenty of time for audience members to ask questions. First up was synthesist Richard Barbieri whose band ‘Japan’ enjoyed success in the mid 1970s into the early 1980’s and especially their album ‘Tin Drum’ is seen as ground-breaking. Not as big in their home country as they should have been, Japan still had a large following in the UK. Barbieri was a down to earth guy who openly talked about the trappings of working on projects alone and the joys of collaborating and recalled some
Read more