Today's adventure saw us travel down to the National Bowl in Milton Keynes for the inaugural Forever Now Festival. He was described as being a festival celebrating the style, fashion and music of the post punk years of the early 80s onwards.
There were two stages to choose from and choose you had to do as there were many overlaps of the bands, which wasn’t helped by the technical problems on the second stage (The Other Stage) throughout the days causing delays and sets being cut short!
But onto the bands we did manage to see and first up was Kirk Brandon and his Theatre Of Hate band opening up The Other Stage. This stage was set up on what I can only assume is normally a car park, the hard packed chalky flint surface was not easy to traverse if you had mobility issues and it was incredibly dry and dusty, not helped by the very windy conditions! That aside we got to enjoy a half hour of classics, Original Sin and Westworld the pick of the bunch.
First decision of the day, stick around for John McKay (Siouxsie And The Banshees) and his band Reactor or walk over to the Forever Now stage for Berlin. We chose to stick around, which was unfortunate because this was where things started going wrong! They were extremely late going on and only got to play 20 minutes. The sound for the first song was awful, but it did get better as they went on, they did three Banshees songs, Mirage, Staircase Mystery and Hong Kong Garden along with a couple of Reactor songs. I saw enough to make me want to go and see them again.
We then moved over to The Forever Now stage for the next couple of bands. First of these were The Chameleons. These were a band that passed me by back in the 80’s, I think I saw them as a bit of a rip off of Joy Division/Echo And The Bunnymen at the time with Swamp Thing the only song I ever really got on with. But I did them an injustice, Mark Burgess has a great voice and the songs are dark and intense. They played a couple off the upcoming new album and I quite enjoyed them so will check that out and probably dive into their back catalogue, I’m not averse to putting my hand up and admitting I was wrong about a band!
Staying on the main stage and the main draw for me, one of my all time favourite bands and the one I was most looking forward to seeing, The Psychedelic Furs. They didn’t disappoint. Opening up with the appropriately topical President Gas taken from 1982s Forever Now (get the festival name now?), I was suddenly 18 again and it was quite emotional if I’m honest. Brothers Richard (vocals) and Tim (bass) Butler have still got the swagger and intensity that made them such an enigmatic and powerful band back in the day.
We then moved over to The Forever Now stage for the next couple of bands. First of these were The Chameleons. These were a band that passed me by back in the 80’s, I think I saw them as a bit of a rip off of Joy Division/Echo And The Bunnymen at the time with Swamp Thing the only song I ever really got on with. But I did them an injustice, Mark Burgess has a great voice and the songs are dark and intense. They played a couple off the upcoming new album and I quite enjoyed them so will check that out and probably dive into their back catalogue, I’m not averse to putting my hand up and admitting I was wrong about a band!
Staying on the main stage and the main draw for me, one of my all time favourite bands and the one I was most looking forward to seeing, The Psychedelic Furs. They didn’t disappoint. Opening up with the appropriately topical President Gas taken from 1982s Forever Now (get the festival name now?), I was suddenly 18 again and it was quite emotional if I’m honest. Brothers Richard (vocals) and Tim (bass) Butler have still got the swagger and intensity that made them such an enigmatic and powerful band back in the day.
They could have played all day for all I cared, but alas they only got a 45 minute slot, but they packed it full of some of my favourites, Heaven, Mr Jones Love My Way Pretty In Pink but it was the intro to the last song of the set that really got me in the feels! Those slowly building chords, shimmering cymbals and single drum beat suddenly exploding into the tribal drums and jangly guitars could only mean one thing, India What a way to finish, the crowd were ecstatic and it really felt like we were at a festival at last.
We were still only halfway through the day, but I was exhausted after that set, but we had to make a dash back over to The Other Stage to see Mr Lydon and PiL. If ever a band was put on the wrong stage, then this was it, the area in front of the stage was rammed all the way back to pretty much the entrance into this area. Lydon was in fine form in his trademark oversize suit and spiky orange hair. Another victim of the gremlins of stage two, we still managed to get a raucous set from them.
We were still only halfway through the day, but I was exhausted after that set, but we had to make a dash back over to The Other Stage to see Mr Lydon and PiL. If ever a band was put on the wrong stage, then this was it, the area in front of the stage was rammed all the way back to pretty much the entrance into this area. Lydon was in fine form in his trademark oversize suit and spiky orange hair. Another victim of the gremlins of stage two, we still managed to get a raucous set from them.
We arrived during the second song Know Now which was followed by the collaboration with Time Zone World Destruction. We also had the surprise addition of his version of the Leftfield track Open Up with the bass making the ground shake! There was a suitably angry end to the set with the crowd getting into the spirit with Rise and Chant. Love him or loathe him, the man can put on a show.
Strangely, The Happy Mondays had been added to this bill, but they do love to party and the crowd were well and truly ready for one after Pil’s set. From the anger of Lydon to the happy rave vibes of Ryder and Co, it was an inspired billing to be honest, the crowd loved it singing along to Loose Fit and Hallelujah and Step On Again they were cut short, although this didn’t stop them from trying to carry on!
Leaving the chaos of stage two behind we made our way back to main stage for Debby’s highlight of the day, Billy Idol. He may be of pensionable age but he still has boundless energy and loves nothing more than being on stage. He kicks off with his tongue in cheek new song Still Dancing very trade mark Billy rock ‘n’ roll. The set is a mix of new/recent stuff with a few classics thrown in to keep the die hards happy. The new stuff actually sits nicely alongside the big hits, latest song Too Much Fun echoes 1983’s Blue Highway with its biographical elements whilst the anthemic 77 resonates with the much loved Rebel Yell but of course it’s the encore of White Wedding that everyone was waiting for!
Strangely, The Happy Mondays had been added to this bill, but they do love to party and the crowd were well and truly ready for one after Pil’s set. From the anger of Lydon to the happy rave vibes of Ryder and Co, it was an inspired billing to be honest, the crowd loved it singing along to Loose Fit and Hallelujah and Step On Again they were cut short, although this didn’t stop them from trying to carry on!
Leaving the chaos of stage two behind we made our way back to main stage for Debby’s highlight of the day, Billy Idol. He may be of pensionable age but he still has boundless energy and loves nothing more than being on stage. He kicks off with his tongue in cheek new song Still Dancing very trade mark Billy rock ‘n’ roll. The set is a mix of new/recent stuff with a few classics thrown in to keep the die hards happy. The new stuff actually sits nicely alongside the big hits, latest song Too Much Fun echoes 1983’s Blue Highway with its biographical elements whilst the anthemic 77 resonates with the much loved Rebel Yell but of course it’s the encore of White Wedding that everyone was waiting for!
With the second stage running so late, we were hoping to catch more of The Damned than we thought we would. Well, we were hoping to but we got there just in time to see New Rose before they were rudely cut off as they started Neat Neat Neat. Ah well, at least we’ve got tickets to see them at their 50th anniversary gig in London next year!
I don’t really like to sound negative and to keep harping on about the second stage shenanigans but decided to give The The a miss and hang around for The Jesus And Mary Chain. This was a mistake as it took an interminably long time to get them on stage.
Jim Reid was obviously not happy with the situation, explaining it would be a very short set through no fault of their own (which is ironic in a way because those of us who remember those early JaMC gigs will know that they were often chaotic and as short as 15 mins!)
That being said they did manage to pack in eight songs, including April Skies, Some Candy Talking and Just Like Honey And for the first time that day, the sound was actually pretty good!
The other band I was excited to see today (and yet another that should have been on the main stage imo) was Death Cult. Astbury came on with a hammer saying he’s been fixing stuff! Fortunately as they were the last band on, they pretty much had a full time slot despite going on over half an hour later than the original scheduled time. Thankfully the sound continued to be good, they kicked off Ghost Dance followed by Christians and Gods Zoo before dipping into the later Cult stuff with Resurrection Joe and Spirit Walker. Astbury was sublime, he’s always been a brilliant frontman and his buddy, Billy Duffy can play that gorgeous white Gretsch Falcon like no one else. His tone is unmistakable.
Death Cult was a short lived project before morphing into The Cult, but the small body of work from this period is my personal favourite so it was great to hear all these songs after so long. Horse Nation made the hairs stand up and Moya is as relevant today as it was then. Throw in those early Cult tracks and we had a near perfect set. They had to finish with She Sells Sanctuary of course, the only omission for me was A Flower In The Desert but what a fantastic nostalgia trip!
Unfortunately due to the late start to Death Cult’s set, we pretty much missed all of Kraftwerk on the main stage, a bitter sweet end to the day as we got to see the full set of Death Cult, but I’d have like to have caught at least half of Kraftwerks set.
An all day event that has got lots of potential to be an annual event, but they do need to sort out the second stage.
On the plus side, we were looked after, it was easy to get our passes and all the security and staff we encountered were very helpful and friendly. I do hope it goes ahead next year with all the feedback taken on board. Overall a 7/10
Jim Reid was obviously not happy with the situation, explaining it would be a very short set through no fault of their own (which is ironic in a way because those of us who remember those early JaMC gigs will know that they were often chaotic and as short as 15 mins!)
That being said they did manage to pack in eight songs, including April Skies, Some Candy Talking and Just Like Honey And for the first time that day, the sound was actually pretty good!
The other band I was excited to see today (and yet another that should have been on the main stage imo) was Death Cult. Astbury came on with a hammer saying he’s been fixing stuff! Fortunately as they were the last band on, they pretty much had a full time slot despite going on over half an hour later than the original scheduled time. Thankfully the sound continued to be good, they kicked off Ghost Dance followed by Christians and Gods Zoo before dipping into the later Cult stuff with Resurrection Joe and Spirit Walker. Astbury was sublime, he’s always been a brilliant frontman and his buddy, Billy Duffy can play that gorgeous white Gretsch Falcon like no one else. His tone is unmistakable.
Death Cult was a short lived project before morphing into The Cult, but the small body of work from this period is my personal favourite so it was great to hear all these songs after so long. Horse Nation made the hairs stand up and Moya is as relevant today as it was then. Throw in those early Cult tracks and we had a near perfect set. They had to finish with She Sells Sanctuary of course, the only omission for me was A Flower In The Desert but what a fantastic nostalgia trip!
Unfortunately due to the late start to Death Cult’s set, we pretty much missed all of Kraftwerk on the main stage, a bitter sweet end to the day as we got to see the full set of Death Cult, but I’d have like to have caught at least half of Kraftwerks set.
An all day event that has got lots of potential to be an annual event, but they do need to sort out the second stage.
On the plus side, we were looked after, it was easy to get our passes and all the security and staff we encountered were very helpful and friendly. I do hope it goes ahead next year with all the feedback taken on board. Overall a 7/10
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