Wonderful Margate Wonderland
Oh we do like to rock n roll beside the sea side. Words: Alan Thompson, Images: Sandy K. Moz
Margate memories; The Kills (above; Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince), Carl Barât and The Jackals, Paves, Faers, Little Barrie, Man And The Echo, Electric Child House and so much more.
Sunday 28th May 2017;
We weren’t too sure of what to expect from Margate, having never been there before myself - as well as this being the first wonderland festival put on there - but the line-up looked immense from start to finish. That, combined with a well-timed greeting from the sun and being situated on the beach front, we knew everyone was going to be well up for it. We (myself, Alan and photographer, Sandy) set off on our journey, bright and early, aiming to soak up the sun and the atmosphere before the festival kicked off at 3pm.
The moment you stepped out of the train station you could tell that Margate was going to be something memorable; this could be due to our first sights being a bus from what looked like the 1940’s, and a stunning overview of the ocean as a back drop. We were ready to find more.
We learnt to expect the unexpected, after finding more weird and wonderful sights: Parades of scooters like something out of Quadrophenia, fortune tellers, and dog clothing shops, to name a few.
Drinks in hands and a feeling of excitement, love, and laughter in the air, gig goers and locals enjoyed Margate’s treasures in high spirits, itching for the live music to start.
Once you entered the venue, movement was non-stop; families bustling about the theme park that surrounded the live music, people rushing between the two stages, finding friends from all over the place! There was always something happening.
Music from the first band of the day, Faers, could be heard across the whole park, getting people even outside of the venue moving, luring people in closer and closer with each passing song, and filling the roller disco room, which seemed somewhat reminiscent of an old ballroom in both beauty and grandeur. (‘Faers’ can be found playing the Camden Rocks festival at The Lyttleton Arms).
FAERS
It was then time for us to try and find our way to the main stage to meet up with one of our favourites, Paves. During this journey we managed to end up back stage.
After taking a few wrong turns, locked doors and asking some kind people some questions we found our way to the stage, where Paves were still waiting to sound check.
Running about 30 minutes behind, the boys were ready to go; visibly buzzing to get on the stage and show the Margate crowd who they are - they definitely delivered.
As with Faers, it’s never easy being the first band on at a festival. It takes something special to pull people into a darkened room - that looked like it could’ve been an aircraft hangar - away from the beaming sunlight, but Paves managed this from the very first note. People were bobbing along and tapping their feet within seconds, front man Luke had truly captured them.
Their forthcoming single, ‘Baby’, has clearly gone down a storm to everyone - not just us here - the volume that the chorus was sung from the audience was a bit of a giveaway on that. (Keep an eye on this site for more about Paves in the near future. Below, TheZineUK interviewing the band. Their next stop is Isle Of Wight Festival, Jack Rocks This Feeling Stage).
The day from then become somewhat of a blur, rushing from room to room to catch amazing stand out performances from ‘Man & the Echo’, ‘Electric Child House’ and ‘Scanners’, all of which we had never seen before, but I can say with confidence that we will be going to see again.
(above and below; Man And The Echo)
Below; Electric Child House
Sitting backstage with some of the bands, some impromptu collaboration occurred, as is to be expected when you leave musicians in a room with a piano and a scooter (still don’t fully understand how the scooter got there but thank you to whoever put it there).
Stand out performance of the piano sessions has to go to the collab between ‘Videocean’ and ‘Electric Child House’, with their rendition of ‘Dr. Dre - Still D.R.E.’
It wouldn’t be right to go to a festival in a theme park and not go on at least one ride. The sign read ‘Never Grow Up’, and as long there is amazing music to get stuck into, we never will.
So off we set on the rollercoaster. Since then we have been told that it was the oldest rollercoaster in the UK, but feels like it was a bit like Trigger’s broomstick from ‘Only Fools and Horses’, probably being restored a few times, whilst maintaining all of the charm from 1920.
By now the festival was in full swing, with fans eagerly pushing to the front to see Little Barrie who, as usual, smashed it with their psychedelic surf rock sound, teasing some of the songs from their new album ‘Death Express’ (out in July) that seem set to please. With another gig in London that night, Little Barrie (below) has no time to relax, but still made time to talk to everyone, before dashing off for their next performance.
When The Kills arrived you could feel the excitement back stage, everyone was ready and waiting to see them perform. One of the bands who inspired many of the bands who were playing that day was there before our very eyes. The gathering crowds inside the venue growing ever louder.
Then. It was time.
As they made their way out on stage, the sheer volume of the screams was intense: this was the moment they had been waiting for.
Once on that stage, you knew they were in control. Alison and Jamie dominated the stage like nothing I have seen before; everyone inside the venue, backstage or in the audience, was absolutely fixated. Jaws well and truly dropped. Whilst The Kills blew everyone away, from the quality of their musical performance to Alison’s fluid movements and all around stage presence, you could not fault a thing besides the fact that it had to end, with people eagerly chanting for more.
If we had our way, they would most likely still be carrying on their set now. We needed some time to take in what we had just witnessed, taking a moment to cool off and process everything: lives were changed that night.
Some people had to rush to catch the last train back home at that point, but the large majority were staying to see Carl Barat & the Jackals.
With a fair bit of time between the end of The Kills set on the main stage and the start of Carl Barat & The Jackals set on the other stage, we decided to take a much needed breather back stage, chatting to the lads from Paves.
I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but we ended up in a conversation with Alison of The Kills, talking about anything and everything: UK vs US tours and radio stations, new bands that we all listen to (or the other should listen to), her talking about her love of making music videos, how - in the video for ‘Heart of a Dog’ - one of her only requests was that she got to do a back flip in it but, once at the trampoline, just thinking “fuck can I even still do this?” but then absolutely smashing it like, “fuck yeah, still got it!”.
Seeing someone come off a stage in front of that sort of crowd, with that level of performance, and being so down to earth, passionate and sincere with every word, is truly heart-warming and inspiring to up and coming musicians. Sharing stories and looking out for each other: It’s what music is about, bringing people together! One big beautiful extended family.
To wrap up the whole festival, it was time to get properly stuck in with Carl Barat, bursting onto stage with the sort of energy that we all expect from him and the Jackals. The room was absolutely electric, although sweaty to say the least. Everybody was jumping and crashing into each other whilst Carl led by example, conducting the room as if he was in control of their actions.
Topless and covered in sweat, the band absolutely obliterated their set - as well as the crowd - both loving every second. Signing off the whole set with ‘I get Along’ by ‘The Libertines’, every single word was screamed back at the band as every last drop of energy was used in an absolute explosion of sonic energy and passion. They walked off stage guitars still singing.
Nobody was ready to leave yet, so the party carried on into the early hours of the morning, with the sort of tunes that you have to dance and sing along to, arm in arm, trying to work out whether the day they had just had was real or just some amazing dream. Only when you get to the next day and feel the pain do you know it truly happened and was completely worth everything.
It was at this point that we realised we had missed our last train back to London; caught up in the events that were taking place, we weren’t exactly bothered and were almost ready to spend the night in Margate at this point, even with a nasty looking storm rolling in overhead. Then our heroes came along in the form of Paves, who offered a lift back with them. Saying our goodbyes to everyone we had met, we grabbed some drinks for the road, stuck on some tunes, and made our way back home to London Town.
Margate Wonderland, you were definitely an amazing experience - weird and wonderful - and one we won’t be forgetting any time soon. All we can say is, see you at the next one!
Alan Thomson & Sandy K. Moz
Huge thank you to Jo and Alan for sorting this ace day out. For more of Sandy's photography: sandykmoz.com
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