WLDFLWRS at Kenilworth Old Town Festival
Review
I'd like to begin this article with a focus on an aspect of live performance opportunities which I don't usually foreground: festival organisers.
While my respect and admiration for the professional events such as the Godiva Festival and Warwick Folk Festival is beyond question, over the last few years I have been forced to introduce the only negative comments I've had to include in reviews in relation to the slew of poorly organised "lifestyle" events where music is booked purely as a generic attraction & artists treated to poor support in terms of sound, facilities, safety & promotion: I felt I ought to speak out. This summer, the same issues (and I'm afraid worse) have plagued these to the point where I have eased off reviewing them at all for my own sanity.
Therefore I'm delighted to redress the balance by being able to praise the team who put together Kenilworth Old Town Festival where I went to see WLDFLWRS. The organisation is called ‘Old Town Community Events' (https://www.instagram.com/oldhighstreetevents/) and they put on a cracking & totally professional celebration although they themselves are volunteers.
Though a relatively small event, they had two stages facing each other in Kenilworth's High Street enabling bands to soundcheck while others were in action and while I was there, handovers were accurate to the minute. They also reverted to the old tradition of investing in professional sound engineers of the calibre of Ian Whitehead who was in charge on the stage I spent my time at. The sound from the other one sounded excellent too. I chatted with one of the team & found so much common ground with their vision of how to support musicians, respect them & provide audiences with the best quality of music including original material. Why can't other organisers follow this template?
I'll be honest & admit that with my experience of enduring the frustrations of other events, I had come to the conclusion that I should attend for specific bands like WLDFLWRS but I anticipate going to Kenilworth Old Town Festival for longer in 2026.
It was apt that WLDFLWRS was the band in question at their treatment at the bizarre and random "Warwick Pursuits" event (whatever that was intended to be), back in June has left a nasty taste in the mouth due to the undermining of their performance by the organisers not allowing time for any soundcheck.
This time, you got to hear what they can do, as they intended through Ian's pristine curation (tweaked incessantly for maximum fidelity).
I've lost count of how many permutations of WLDFLWRS I've seen live: they are an endlessly flexible unit with the ability to rejig sets & arrangements depending on who is playing any given gig. This time it was four person lineup of Jono, Jack, Wes & Chris but that probably won't be the case next time out (hopefully Katherine will be back) & certainly won't be for their big showcase at Birmingham Town Hall on November 27th (tickets via: https://bmusic.co.uk/events/a-celebration-of-the-last-waltz)
The crowd certainly responded enthusiastically to them despite the bulk of the set being originals which the festival goers probably did not know: just goes to show that you don't need to patronise audiences with packing lineups with covers bands only.
