GIG REVIEW: Northern Kin Festival, Ushaw College, Durham,
Friday 28 to Sunday 30 April 2023
Trust the great old British weather. A long period of rain over the previous weeks turned much of the site into mud, causing delays getting into the site and access difficulties around it.
Full credit to the organisers of Northern Kin for their herculean efforts to keep the festival running in the face of such adversity.
As previous years there was a diverse bill to suit many tastes, with plenty of old favourites and new talent mixed with big names and cool cats from the underground. There was literally something for everyone.
It’s hard to think of a better band to get a festival going that glam rock legends Sweet. With a back catalogue crammed with crowd-pleasing hits like Ballroom Blitz, Blockbuster, Teenage Rampage and Wig Wam Bam, they simply couldn’t fail.
Original guitarist Andy Scott has assembled arguably the strongest line-up since the original Sweet smashed the charts, with vocalist Paul Manzi delivering a towering performance and bassist Lee Small adding some quality to the stunning vocal harmonies on Love Is Like Oxygen and Fox On The Run.
While Sweet may be known for their hits, their album tracks also pack a punch, with Action showing that Sweet can rock as hard as anyone.
Motorhead’s Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons brought some supercharged biker rock to Durham, with Campbell aided and abetted by three of his sons together with imposing vocalist Joel Peters.
It was dirty, grimy and gloriously heavy, with Big Mouth and These Old Boots hitting hard, while the slow, grinding blues of Dark Days brought a varied dimension to the set.
Of course Motorhead’s Ace Of Spades was always going to be a highlight, and such was its ferocity that it threatened to bring down the tent.
With only a couple of UK dates booked for this year, this was something of a rare opportunity to catch prog rock legends Jethro Tull, and with new album RökFlöte out a matter of days ago, there was a lot to look forward to from Ian Anderson and his band.
They did not disappoint, with a set crammed full of flute-fired classics including Aqualung, Locomotive Breath and Heavy Horses nestling alongside the more recent The Zealot Gene and The Navigators.
Gerry Jablonski closed Friday night with a supercharged, high-energy blues romp, with some eye-watering guitar wizardry and rasping blues harmonica on Koss and Tiny Thoughts.
Day two got off to a rambunctious start with cheeky Scottish rascals Mucky Scoundrel making their first smash and grab visit south of the border – and what an impact they made.
Tanita Tikaram, back in the region for the first time in 10 years, brought a more laid back feel to the day with tales of unrequited love on Cathedral Song and I Don’t Wanna Lose At Love before she had even the security waving their arms to Love Is In The Air.
Over on the Second Stage, psychedelic blues veterans The Groundhogs cranked it up with an inspired set including Soldier and crowd favourite Cherry Red all anchored by drummer Ken Pustelnik from the classic Split-era line-up, before Wille and the Bandits drew on Led Zeppelin influences for a dynamic Bad Moves featuring some wonderful lap-steel guitar from Wille Edwards.
Back over on the Main Stage, Tom Robinson delivered a surprising number of hits to a hugely appreciative crowd, with War Baby, Glad To Be Gay and 2-4-6-8 Motorway scoring highly on the clapometer. His in-between song banter and political chat really added a different dimension to his set, which finished strongly with Power In The Darkness.
Bill Bailey brought his biting wit and political satire to Durham, combined with some smart instrumentation including I-Phone Symphony played on Garageband, as well as adapting the Skype ring tone into a dance anthem. Clever stuff.
Ferocious Dog more than lived up to their name with a firestorm of punk-infused folk driven by fiddle and banjo, with Broken Soldier and Punk Police whipping up a storm. It’s easy to see why they are favourites on the festival circuit.
Brit-rock heroes Reef, with the rasping vocals of Gary Stringer, simply couldn’t fail; the funky groove of Naked and the anthemic Place Your Hands, combined with Stringer’s laddish charm, were the perfect mix.
Hothouse Flowers brought their own soulful brand of Irish folk-flavoured rock with You Can Love Me Now and Movies, while lead singer Liam O`Maonlai delivered a classy soul-drenched Christchurch Bells before a deliciously funky See Line Woman had the crowd grooving.
Folk-punk rabble rousers The Levellers had the honour of closing the second night on the Main Stage and delivered a set befitting of a headline act, with a high octane romp through This Means Nothing To Me and Sell Out which had a tiring crowd whipped up on a second wind of energy.
Heavy overnight rain added to the mud, but hey, this is England and those enjoying the music soon forgot about weather as Turin Brakes brought some breezy pop with dreamy harmonies to Day Three with Isolation and Future Boy packing in the melodies.
Over on the Second Stage, The Anchoress won many new fans with the upbeat synth-pop led by Catherine Anne Davies creating something of a New Order vibe before the jangling guitars and towering melodies of Diesel Park West returned to the north for the first time in almost 25 years with Opportunity Crazy and the glorious shuffle of Bombs Away.
Back over on the Main Stage, Wishbone Ash continued to celebrate the half century of their magnum opus Argus with jawdropping dual guitar harmonies from founder Andy Powell and Mark Abrahams, and the classics The King Will Come, Warrior, Blowin’ Free and Phoenix sounded suitably epic.
How could they fail playing in front of their home crowd? Well, they simply couldn’t, and Lindisfarne rolled out the big guns in Lady Eleanor, Run For Home and Fog On The Tyne for possibly the biggest sing-a-long of the weekend.
Bradford’s very own Tasmanian Devil, Tony Wright, bounded on stage with Terrorvision and never stood still for a second as they delivered a greatest hits set including their No 1 smash Tequila along with the classics Josephine and Oblivion.
Beth Orton came as a welcome respite with her laidback melancholy on the likes of Friday Night, but this was the calm before the Hawkwind storm.
Dave Brock and his tribe of psychedelic space rockers brought the festival to a suitably scuzzed-out finale with enough lasers to bring down the Galactic Empire, along with a ton of smoke setting the perfect scene for Levitation and Arrival in Utopia.
Of course Silver Machine came last, which ensured that even the most tired bodies were rejuvenated and bringing the festival to a triumphant close.
