In these uncertain times it would be remiss not to address a very obvious issue around the Godiva Festival: there were fewer stages & fewer local artists than in previous years. Which is sad. However the underlying dynamic is existential and a reduced festival which the organisers have fought to keep is far better than none at all which remains a distinct possibility. Therefore I for one offer them my support to keep things going & offer my appreciation for their efforts.
I reconciled any sense of sadness by considering that the number of artists I'd be focusing on may have gone down but the quality of those I saw was of great height. And as you'll see by reading on, there are many things to celebrate & feel hopeful for. Also with fewer to report on, those I do write about should get more from me.
Firstly, to quantify a little, I was pleased that half a dozen of the artists we feature were onstage: Project Overload, The Session, Chasing Deer, What About Eric?, The New Obsession & Danny Ansell. So that's great.
I also saw Nathan Wade of Creaking Twitch performing improvisational comedy so maybe that counts as seven.
What really lifted me however was the Coventry Music takeover of the Cov Stage on Sunday. I really believe that these takeovers breath real life and diversity into the lineup (and Boudica presented Du Blonde as their takeover which is now an annual occurrence).
You know my thoughts about what Coventry Music and their partners are doing: there have been many articles over the past year or more. To give them this high a profile was superb and I was glad to see both BBC Coventry & Warwickshire radio and BBC Midlands Today pick up on this aspect of the festival. To see so many young, enthusiastic and talented musicians at very many stages of their careers up there enjoying themselves & being applauded was for me a big highlight. I also was delighted to see the Coventry Music young journalists to whom I spoke for their podcast early in the year busy at work covering everything: they covered an awful lot of ground & I suspect if you check out their work you'll get a better picture than I can provide.
The artists they featured included not only vast ensembles which stretched the capacity of the stage but were so fresh that they didn't really have precise band names in the traditional manner I report in usually. A mighty lineup from Sidney Stringer Academy seemed to be (from what I was told, certainly not from what I heard and saw) the least experienced: none had been playing any instrument very long at all so Mason Le Long joined them on guitar to help anchor the sound: goodness knows how confident and experienced they will all be in a year's time. I look forwards to seeing them in other settings.
These were billed under the umbrella of the "Positive Choices" project as was an energetic pair of rappers from another school who I thought brought a freshness to the genre. They certainly didn't lack the moves.
From Coventry Music's work with Coventry University came another vast ensemble under the "SoundLab" banner. Now these must have been further down the road of instrumental experience. How do I know? Because after every number, most of them changed instruments & roles. It was dazzling I must say. Again, plenty of stars in the making must have been up there. I wonder which bands I'll see them in next?
Confidence is clearly what these programmes help build & this is set in their approaches. Project Overload, What About Eric? and The New Obsession are all graduates of the "Live On Stage" project in collaboration with The Tin & I've reported on them a lot. Yet they continue to have the capacity to amaze.
Firstly is the song quality: they all write totally idiosyncratic tracks & these are so exciting in their originality. I popped over to The Main Stage a few times during the Festival & I am in no doubt whatsoever that these bands are producing material which excited me more than anything I heard over there bar of course the major headliners who are all of a different generation anyway.
The other aspect is movement: this tends to grow with confidence. I've photographed Project Overload plenty of times and I've never had a more difficult time as they are now in constant flow (unless sitting behind the drums). There was ever jumping up and down which I'd not seen before. Their current single "Wildfire" sees them in pugnacious mood & this is now a reflection of their stage act.
What About Eric? have caught a similar bug and look as dynamic as they sound. The most obvious example is bassist Noah: if you were lucky enough (as I was) to see Paul Simonon when The Clash were at their peak, it's like he was reincarnated (though thankfully he's still with us so that's not possible). It wasn't just me either: compere David Marshall Barrett of BBC CWR who's seen a band or two in his time praised his stage moves the moment the set ended. And the music is possibly the most forward moving in all our area currently as the band bring such different styles together from individual preferences & forge a magnificent alloy.
It's been a great few weeks for The New Obsession too: their track "Their Eyes" is getting many streams via being on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Fifteen' and his love of it caused Keith Fabrique to invite them onto his HillzFM show. They have an imminent new single, they won the Battle of the Bands at ZoesFest and Midlands Today interviewed Lauren after the set.
So the future for local original music is looking bright, Coventry Music are at the heart of making this so & Godiva Festival offers a showcase of what's going on in this respect to a more general public: those who realistically are less likely to check out a new band by buying a ticket & so come to them via public festivals.
It's all about sustainability as well as diversity.
My focus as always is on our local bands but I do like to get a takeaway from Godiva of artists I hadn't necessarily planned to see but am glad I had.
One such were Nyotta + Credo whom I had seen before: I made a real resolution to try & engage more with them in future as they are excellent.
Make of me what you will, but I really enjoyed YolanDa's Band Jam - "as seen on CBeebies". Now they aren't local nor aimed at any audience including me but I found their genuine (she was exactly the same off stage as on) love & enthusiasm for what they were doing a real tonic. Probably shan't see them again but that was a real bonus for me. Their real audience certainly enjoyed them a lot too.