Strong wind; rain; hundreds of party people who were wearing layers of clothing to keep warm but were raring to go and dance the day away; that pretty much sums up Saturday of Beach Break Live. It started off with patchy spells of rain that had people running back to their tents to grab ponchos and wellington boots. The weather really hit you though the moment you arrived at Fistral Beach, everyone was styling a very nice up do of wind swept hair and soggy clothing. As long as you could withstand the wind and actually made it to the main stage it wasn’t too bad; everyone huddled together to form a group near the front of the stage to keep warm; I guess the weather brings people together at times.
Due to the weather many people didn’t really want to leave their tents meaning there wasn’t anyone at the main stage until Lazy Habits came on. Now I’ve been told about these guys before, their brass section was praised by another band that I had been talking to so there was no way I was missing out on them. I quite liked the way they began; you had the lead singer performing as best he could whilst the rest of the band stood waiting; I even managed to glimpse a cheeky smile from the trumpet player as he tried to keep himself composed. Their upbeat sounds were perfectly composed together with the brass line, which gave them a unique performance from the rest of the weekend so far.
Next up were Submotion Orchestra, there was so much buzz around this band and I have to admit I was not let down. What I loved the most about them is that they wanted to be there and you could tell, they all had smiles on their faces even though they had strong winds and rain hitting them. Following were AlunaGeorge, now I first thought it was the entire band or just the singer but I was later informed that it was two people. You had Aluna, the main singer, and George the keyboardist; this is something I would have never guessed. Yes they put on a decent set, they could have been more energetic but I guess they were freezing cold so I will give them that. The downfall was that George just seemed like he didn’t want to be there and left the stage presence to Aluna, I guess that’s what happens when you are just put in the background to play. Despite all this the crowd was dancing and screaming the lyrics along to the songs, they all seemed to be having a great time, which means they’ve done their job correctly.
We finally had Jake Bugg on stage; with his rise to fame from the song Lighting Bolt it was understandable that he had the largest crowd of the weekend. Everyone was there to see this one guy play guitar on the stage and hear the songs they love and know so much. After seeing him perform at a festival called Blissfields (Winchester, Hampshire) last year to 10 people I felt like a proud guidance councillor to see him perform in front of hundreds, maybe even thousands. Unfortunately many people left disappointed because he doesn’t have that stage presence that you need to entertain a large amount of people, he just provided his refreshing voice and country sounds. Saying that he does what he does well and if people want to see him good on you, he is very good live it’s just a shame he doesn’t interact with the crowd that much.
After a long day at the beach I decided tonight was the night to head out and see what was going on around the town. There was something going on every where, you would step outside the pub/club you were just in and there would be another band/DJ playing across the road; it was truly amazing. It meant that everywhere you went there would be people enjoying themselves and spreading a good vibe, even some celebrities (who will remain unnamed) were spotted around the town getting involved. Overall it was a genuinely good day, despite the winds, and it definitely was full of surprises, entertainment and soggy clothing.
Check out the photos here
