Freshfields 2012

A Few Hours at.....

Freshfields Festival

Fawcetts Field New Milton Hants August 18th 2012

Ah, Milton, New Milton-what a story! From the little history I know , I`ve always assumed that the “new” bit of the name was probably added after the second world war when much rebuilding had to be done to firstly recover buildings destroyed by bombings , then further to cope with the “Baby Boom” and so on as the town grew into the largest town in  the New Forest which it is today. There has always been towns in Britain with an individuality stamp and New Milton has been one of these for quite a while, but the feeling displayed by the sheer enthusiasm in the putting on and  ear-to-ear smiling enjoyment of the Freshfields Festival event by the towns people displayed a town with an attitude towards really gearing itself up and forward into a whole new stature of arts and entertaining for the area.

You see, just about every town of similar stature has its varying degree of local singers and bands, but NM has recently gained the elusive golden Olympiad prize in this and has one that has, actually,  “made it!” And how.  RUMER, or Sara as she is still to many ,returned to her hometown for the second time in recent months to headline the Freshfields Festival this year easily launching the event into the Premier listings and giving the organisers the daunting task of living up to this which they not only did with apparent ease and dignity, but with a wonderful sense of pride and above all, thorough enjoyment.

Arriving a little later than I had intended, I caught the beginning of DARREN  HODSONs SOUTHERN COMPANION`s set just in time for the day to start to swelter. Mr H has an excellent US west coast vocal delivery that sounds just so radio friendly that you honestly expect to hear it immediately in the car when you pull away, and yet his subject matter as a songwriter is just so wonderfully southern England, all correct for the day too in that respect. Image wise, he is also pretty much a one off and you just have to take your hat off to that although he would it seems prefer to keep his own on. A drum and bass section featuring Milton`s own Danny Pearson and the legendary Pat Davy are tight and perfect really-simple as that. The Southern Companion also use the odd cover version in their set with a great deal of expertise , just “in case” they lose the odd ear on their own songs-in this environment-in this town-on this DAY! ...This is not going to happen!

All other activities in the field were stopped at 3pm for the appearance of RUMER on the main-stage, who was to be backed by the same top line band mentioned above , augmented with Julz, Esther, Liddy and ....... on backing vocals and Ian Ellis on sax. This is probably one of the only times that an audienece has seen the person who is to introduce the act be actually introduced himself to the audience when the occasion is not an awards ceremony, but I guess in many ways, its much more than that as Martin Dunford introduces us once again to the New Milton Town Mayor, probably the only political figure in the UK that you could call a Deadhead to his face and he would smile and say thank you, but this town is rocking this year and its proud of its heritage even if it hadn’t always admitted it before.

For RUMER fans, these returning home performances , (of which I believe this is the third one live) have to be the most unobtainable collectors items about, if only to collect in the fans own memory stream. One can only wonder what a songwriter imagines a song to sound like live in full production or in a live format at its birth, but it is a fair argument that it would have a sound akin to the local flavours and the Homecoming Band certainly have THAT south of England sound and it adds a very slight rawness to RUMER`s songs that, is not at all missing or missed on the multi selling albums, but is certainly another set of listening buttons to shine whilst enjoying the music. The stand out moment for me and I`m sure many others, was the wonderful duet performed with Darren Hodson himself , I do hope that this sees the light of day in as close a recorded format to that which was heard at Freshfields 2012.

Moving over to the acoustic tent, we caught up with a very trim and fit looking JINDER, who having emerged from a routine which has not only made him look brand new but a banter that was as fast as any comedian/storyteller working live currently. Fully aware of repeat venues, the man has continued changing and adapting his set and surprised all with his closing number as well as faithfully recreating his loved album tracks and hits-that WILL come. The name of the closing number you ask? I, not telling-go and see him yourself-I guarantee you will sing along.;)

Stalls, beer tents, THE BLUES MACHINE (watch out for them),  a hog roast and I  sign off to catch you a little later and leave you with this brief report which I clearly hope is a clear idea of a spark which is turning into a flame that will burn and burn for years to come in August of every year.

Freshfields Festival is the result of hard work by  the Common Ground Charity and the town council, and it`s great to see them enjoy the work that they have put into it all.

 Mk (c) mkm 2012