Godiva 2019
Review
Twice cajoled by my pal Andy Holdcroft to present my experience of Godiva Festival 2019 in a Hot Music Live article, I thought I'd best just get on with it. That said, the last article I wrote from scratch took me about 4 days. So, today is Monday, let's see how I get on ...
This was the first time that Godiva have charged entry, a mere £2 entry + £10 car parking. I have no problem with that and it seems by the audience size, nor did anyone else. Number plate recognition technology meant that, if you had paid in advance, you were simply waved through to the next available parking space and mobile phone technology, scanning of the QR code on your emailed virtual ticket made entry quick too.
So Friday, the first band on our must-see list was Free Galaxy, an exciting young band from Kenilworth scheduled first on in the Rock Tent, but just enough time beforehand to catch a few songs by The Session on the Main Stage. OK, let me point out here and now, every act I saw was brilliant! So I'm not going to try to find a different superlative for each one I mention hereafter. In fact, as a musician myself, I find it quite daunting how good the competition is ... but as Andy implied in his article, it's actually not a competitive environment, it's just one big supportive one! Still intoxicated by Free Galaxy's performance, it was a short race to catch Dodgy on the Main Stage, then up to Sam Mcnulty's Micro Acoustic Stage to catch the legendary Roddy Radiation before finally heading back to the Main Stage for headliners, The Levellers accompanied by a very enthusiastic audience. How come they knew all the lyrics? A sublime night of music, great crowd and perfect weather!
Saturday, only only being able to stay until 5pm meant that I was going to miss 2 of my favourite bands, Reef and Feeder! But I did get to see Riddimstone, Barbdwire, Wes Finch, The Rising, Brass Hip Flask, Rooted 'N' Booted, Ace Ambrose, James Lapworth, Joe Dolman, Ollie Bond, Romeo Sincere, Tippa Irie and Taylor-Louise!
- Saturday's pics: https://www.facebook.com/pg/HotMusicLive/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2741946422502201
Then finally,on Sunday, Levi Washington, Reece Bahia, Crokodile Tears, Angelo Cardone, The Selecter, Izzie Derry, Nicky Ager, The Sugar Hill Gang, The Swaps, Shanade (joined by Clint Bruder aka Brudez), Zkeletonz, Busted and Chasing Deer.
Here's some random info on/from some of the bands:
- Free Galaxy: You can catch them at The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham on Thu 18th July and headlining at The Tin Music and Arts, Coventry on Sat 17th August.
- Wes Finch: has upcoming gigs at Temperance, Leamington with The Mechanicals - https://www.facebook.com/events/405122690071178/. They just managed to reach their target on a Kickstarter Phillip Larkin project planned for completion in Oct. Doc Brown will be at The Edge at Cropredy on Thu 8th Aug - https://www.facebook.com/events/482501985843660/. Wes also has new material for one of his other side-projects, The Silver Wye, with a new song appearing on their Facebook page a couple of days ago.
- The Rising: will be at Temperance, Leamington Spa on Fri 30th Aug - https://www.facebook.com/events/324132535154447/
- Brass Hip Flask: headlining on Sat 28th Sept at The Railway Inn,Leamington Spa and at Temperance on Sat 26th Oct - https://www.facebook.com/events/1227009287457476/
- Rooted 'N' Booted: uploaded a great video of their Godiva experience, https://youtu.be/9kpXnNjt4M0. Upcoming local gigs include The Lamplighter, Stratford on Fri 20th Sept - https://www.facebook.com/events/257322778543573/ and at the Albany Club Earlsdon, Coventry on Sat 28th Sept - https://www.facebook.com/events/2107243749544912/
- Ace Ambrose: Leam In Aid 2 at Leif, Leamington on Mon 15th July - https://www.facebook.com/events/664438874011226/
- Joe Dolman: Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham on Tue 6th Aug - http://tiny.cc/re4n9y
- Taylor-Louise: has 14 events listed from tomorrow, Sun 14th July and Oct, more info here: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/7748326-taylor-louise
- Levi Washington: Sun, 14th and 28th Jul at House, Leamington - https://www.facebook.com/events/446674639519319/ + Sun 21st July at The Cricketers, Leamington - https://www.facebook.com/events/541144189754640/
- Reece Bahia: watch his incredible Godiva set on the Main Stage here: https://youtu.be/K1ANZOsV70c
- Angelo Cardone: Temperance, Leamington on Fri 9th Aug - https://www.facebook.com/events/347293132546780/
- Izzie Derry: Tonight at Temperance
- The Swaps: St Patricks, Leamington on Fri 26th Oct - https://www.facebook.com/events/1821040061329829/
- Chasing Deer: Check out their new release here: http://smarturl.it/24a5az. They're another band with too many upcoming gigs to list so track them down here: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/10926150-chasing-deer
