The Return Of Bingley Weekender

There are not that many opportunities for music fans to hear top acts pronounce “Hello Bingley” unless that is, you are at Bingley Weekender. Making a welcome return after a three year pandemic induced break the festival returned with an eclectic three days of music.

With a range of acts from those on the top of stardom to those just starting, the family friendly festival proved yet again that as each year goes by, the Bingley Weekender gets bigger and better.

With three stages spread across the site the opportunities to see a new act or an established one were numerous, including many from Yorkshire, such as Bang Bang Romeo. They are one of those acts that makes you wonder why they are not playing the bigger stages - such is the power and majesty of their music. Shame On You along with Bag of Bones should have been blasting out of every car stereo when originally released. Hopefully they will be rewarded with mainstream success soon.

Embrace might not be known by a wider audience though their songs will be familiar such as Ashes and All You Good Good People. Every time lead singer Danny McNamara lifted up his arms to rouse the fans it felt like he was leading a sermon. Choosing to showcase new tracks We Are It sounded like a future hit that sat proudly alongside existing hits like Gravity and Nature’s Law.

Apollo Junction look destined to appear on the bigger stages soon if their Friday night performance on the New Music Stage was anything to judge by. They have songs such as Light Up The Sky and a frontman who reminded me in style and voice of Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker. A very impressive set.

Rag ‘n’ Bone man is not someone you would expect at the Bingley Weekender. In a Festival awash with indie guitar bands the soulful singer stood out - and gave probably one of the best sets of the weekend. Looks can be deceiving- looking at him you might not expect his voice to sound as passionate and soulful as it does.

All You Ever Wanted was the perfect remedy to lift any waning spirt. Anywhere Away From Here will still be played in the radio in years to come whilst new song Circles proved that there is more to come from Rag ‘n’ Bone Man. Who cares about curfews when you still have to play another hit such as Giant as the evening went way past the scheduled closing time.

Shed Seven stormed the main stage on Saturday with an assured and confident set. Lead singer Rick Witter was as observant as ever picking out the young fans in the audience “ Is this your first concert?” he asked a ten year old. After opening up with the 2017 track Room In My House it was back to the mid nineties with the hits such as Going For Gold, Dolphin and naturally Chasing Rainbows. As the fans sang with the band the sound was so loud it felt like it could have reached York, the bands home town.

Pixey had the confidence and stage presence of an established artist though I think that she might be better being a solo artist as opposed to being in an indies guitar band. I can imagine her destiny lies in being a solo pop star. Free To Live In Colour showed that she has great promise.

The Libertines reputation goes before them as their shows can either be very bad or very good, thankfully Bingley received the latter version. The sight of seeing Carl Barât and Pete Doherty sharing a microphone stand is something that you would not expect to see in Bingley. In attitude they reminded me of The Clash, in mythology the Rolling Stones.

As Doherty welcomed the Bingley fans he joked that “perhaps next year Arctic Monkeys might play Bingley as the Festival gets bigger each year”. Who needs them though when you can hear tracks such as You’re My Waterloo and Can’t Stand Me Down.

The festival closed with a set from Pixies who delivered a twenty eight song set. It might be well over thirty years since the band first appeared on the music scene though the influential group were still a force to be reckoned with. There is no Kim Deal in the band these days - her place is taken by Paz Leschantin who fills the role with ease.

There were a few surprise covers such as Head On (Jesus and Mary Chain) and Winterlong (Neil Young) but it was their own songs such as Bone Machine and Monkey Gone To Heaven that resonated the most.

An outstanding end to what had been three great days of music.