SIMON SAYS (FESTIVAL) LEICESTER YOU ARE AMAZING!

De Montfort Hall & Gardens

Leicester

Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th July

Its hard not to love Simon Says which is an ever

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growing music festival in Leicester that takes place every year, this being the 5th year, its one of those great unique and homegrown festivals that doesn’t appear to be credited, even though in my opinion its one of the best ones around. It’s a small festival and the lineup is chosen by well known music bods, who are in the know because of their involvement with various music venues across the city. Gaz Birtles (The Donkey), Matt Kirk (The Firebug) and Darren Nockles (The Musician) who collectively work very hard, every year, to ensure the festival runs smoothly of course along with the enlisted help of the many guys who work tirelessly on the sound, lighting, staging, moving equipment etc (behind the scenes).

I didn’t actually set out to write this review, but felt really compelled after seeing the work, the music, and the wonderful atmosphere that surrounds this festival (of which I have visited twice before). Can’t really write anything negative about the time spent there of course unless you want to count the weather on Saturday evening, but no one can control the heavens opening!

Leicester’s music scene is of course known mainly for the bigger bands such as Showaddywaddy and Kasabian, but there is so much more to the music coming out of Leicester at the moment. The De Montfort Hall itself was the point for the main centre stage, and had a great lineup for the 2 days, I saw on this stage Aztec Temples, Skam, Aziz and Dal, Ash Mammal & Smoove and Turrell. The outdoor stage in the gardens had some fantastic acts including King Brasstards, The Whiskey Rebellion, Rice N Peas and Stone Foundation. The Marquee stage was in a good spot next to the beer tent and it housed the majority of festival goers, with a party extravaganza which was kicked off by Uncle Frank at the end of the evening. During the day in the marquee you could catch Anoa, The Dedbeats, Echolocation, Cohesion and Mountain Junkshop. The band stand is a unique area next to the Garden room of De Montfort Hall and had some local and some not so local talent performing such as Brandon Neal, Tony Alles, Luke Broughton, Chris Duckett, Paul Mclure and Hymn and Her.

I had to miss the Sunday unfortunately due to personal reasons, but the lineup yet again was amazing and I was sorry to have missed acts such as Kenneth J Nash, Dust & Debris, DrX, The Della Grants, Gu-Ru, The Millmen, The Tin Pigeons, Eden, Lets Play 2016, Charlotte Carpenter, Her Name is Calla, Jah Wobble, and lots of others. However the reviews I keep seeing from others who attended Sunday were equally as good though and all appeared to have a fantastic time.

So here is a brief overview of just some of the acts that I saw on the Saturday…

Aztec Temples a Leicester indie band who have come a long way in the last couple of years, now appearing on their first big stage in Leicester in their home city. The band are formed of Conor Simpson (vocals), Shay McDermott (guitar), Lewis Brown (drums) and Tom Dewsbery (bass). Their set was tight and they certainly went down extremely well with the crowd, they perform wonderfully their own written material, and perform a fantastic cover of Cornershop’s “Brimful of Asha!” within their set which is a must listen. These are definitely a band to watch check them out here www.soundcloud.com/aztectemples or www.aztectemples.co.uk

Luke Broughton is an amazing singer from London, now based in Leicester, he has such a beautiful voice, and he takes you off to a different place when he sings. His original songs are very poetic, with such hidden depth of emotion, I would challenge anyone that isn’t moved when he sings particularly his cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill!” . He has only been out there on the circuit for just 2 years and he has worked extremely hard to this point. To catch his music see here https://soundcloud.com/lukebroughton5

Now I had heard a lot about Rice N Peas, but hadn’t yet caught them live, they are an authentic reggae live act, who perform their own original material but lots of great covers as well. The lead vocals in the band by Taylor Crosby, Ruby Tucker & Jordan Birtles sounded sensational and the other band members on keys, trumpet, sax, percussion, drums, guitar and bass certainly make the band into a big reggae sound. These are a band I could watch over and over check out their sound here on Spotify “Am I The Same Girl!” https://goo.gl/gTYaG8 To find out where they are performing next see www.facebook.com/ricenpeasuk

Hymn For Her were recommended for me to watch, a duo from the US they are a really entertaining act, with a mixture of folk-come-punk-come-country-come-blues, its hard to determine a particular music genre with this duo, as they have made their very own genre. The audience were enthralled with them and were dancing in the rain, they are truly an amazing must see act for anyone. Wayne and Lucy certainly know how to entertain a crowd that’s for sure… check them out www.facebook.com/hymnforher

I knew that this act, Aziz and Dal, were going to be pretty special, and I was certainly not wrong there, they blew not only me, but everyone in the De Montfort Hall away with their performance. Such a creative and inspiring duo, their set had bounds of energy and was truly mesmerising. The “Lord of the Strings” takes you off to a wonderful place with his guitar, and Dal is so talented when he plays the Tabla you just want to get up and dance. The only disappointing thing with their set is that they weren’t on long enough, this was just a snippet of their work so looking forward to them coming to Leicester again to perform in the hopefully not too distant future, to play a more fuller set. Check out when and where they are playing next see www.facebook.com/AzizAndDal or www.aziz.co.uk

Leicester band Ash Mammal have their own unique distinctive sound, and are absolutely exceptional. In the flavour of their music you can experience the sounds of punk, grunge and alt rock all seeping out with a deep and meaningful theatrical performance onstage by Cass Rowe. The band members are Cass Rowe (guitar and vocals), Anya Greengrass (drums and vocals), George Shaw (guitar) and Jeeves Kanth (bass). They have had some credible airplay already with BBC Introducing, Radio 1 and 6 Music, so are now gaining lots of new fans outside of Leicester. Have a listen to their sound here www.soundcloud.com/ash-mammal and www.youtube.com/user/AshMammal

If you want to party Uncle Frank is certainly the band to go to watch, it was raining hard outside just before they came on stage (in the evening), but the band drew in a huge crowd into the marquee tent. Frank Benbini (vocals/percussion) Naim Cortazzi (lead guitar), Luke Bryan (bass) and Darryl Reid (drums) form this fantastic band from Leicester. They certainly get the crowd fired up by performing tracks from their album “Love Lion”, as well as some of their older tracks, everyone in the tent had got their feet tapping that’s for sure. Frank is very entertaining to watch and embraces the fans with lots of respect and free goodies, before showering them in a bottle of champers. If you have never heard this band live get yourselves out there to see them as they are truly amazing check www.unclefrankband.com for details on where they are playing next.

All the acts who played at this festival are unique and pretty special, and all deserve a mention, it’s a shame I didn’t get to see all of them, but there is always next year, when I hope some of these acts will be back at Simon Says.

What I truly love about this festival though is there is something for all, with the eclectic music on offer, whether you are young, or more mature or have a family everyone can enjoy what is on offer. With some of the other festivals out there getting bigger, and perhaps greedier in some peoples’ opinion, Simon Says have got it right and other festival organisers could learn a lot from these guys.

Looking forward to next year’s Simon Says already!

Bands and musicians work exceptionally hard, along with the music venue managers and owners to keep the music scene alive in Leicester, and at other towns, and cities across the UK and beyond. So don’t wait to catch these acts just once a year at a festival get out there and support local live music when and where you can.

www.simonsaysleicester.com

The wonderful images shown here are by Nile K McGregor who has captured the festival in all its glory!