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Saturday 17th September 2022

This weekend marks our last two festivals of the summer. Tomorrow we play in Skegness as part of the Replay Music Weekend and today we’re off to Yorkshire to play in the grounds of Wentworth Woodhouse, a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham.

We were due at the venue at 5.30 so we planned to leave around 1.30.

Our film for the day was…

We travelled through some lovely countryside on the way…

In the film, the Beatles were having a pint.

This reminded us that we needed to find a nice local pub for lunch.

The King & Miller, Deepcar, Sheffield.

Our driver dropped us off outside and we hurried in for a pint!

Keith and I had the Farmers Pale Ale

The others went for the Farmers Blonde!

The food was very tasty.

Two pints later, we set off to find the bus…

After that, it didn’t seem to take too long to get to our destination.

We were ushered in to our boutique dressing room…

then went straight out to have a look around the festival site.

We watched a few songs from Bulsara & His Queenies…

Then headed over to the New Music Stage to watch The Rosadocs!

They were great and we were also spotted in the audience!

We headed backstage for a quick tour of the house.

The Christians were up next…

They went down brilliantly and later on we met up with Gary.

Not long now till we were on stage so we cracked on with todays rider beer which was Peroni Red…

The crowd were building up nicely!

At last we’re on!

Videos provided by Farm fan Gary

The crowd were great and we went down a storm!

‘All together now’ ❤️ How incredible was that from @TheFarm_!? #wentworth2022 pic.twitter.com/wlXdmlcSts

— Wentworth Festival (@WentworthLive) September 17, 2022

We were all starving so we headed out to get some food.

Then we watched Heather Small from front and side of stage.

After a while it was time to get to our hotel in Rotherham so we left the festival site.

Just time for a nightcap before our journey to Skegness in the morning.

What a great day out it was!

Sunday 18th September 2022

Today we’re off to the Replay Music Weekender at Butlin’s, Skegness.

But first… breakfast!

Great breakfast at the hotel and everyone was ready to leave at 11 for the journey to Skegness.

The journey would take about 2 hours but once we’d got off the motorways it was a pleasant drive. Alex was telling us that her grandparents live not too far away from Skegness.

Eventually we arrived at our destination

Inside the big top it was enormous!

We thought we’d have a look around…

It was a bit cold so we headed back

Everton were playing West Ham so we thought we’d meet up with Keith and Peter who were watching the game in Hotshots…

After the game we fancied something to eat and drink so we went back to the dressing room.

We needed to find our apartment to drop our bags off and get changed.

It wasn’t too bad actually but time was getting on and we needed to get back.

Eventually we found the dressing room.

Time to head for the stage!

Crowd were fantastic!

What a gig!

Fantastic reaction from the crowd!!!

We all really enjoyed the gig and went out into the complex to have a drink.

Alex was dancing with a cow!

We heard Aswad were playing so we headed over to Reds bar…

They were great and after that we watched Trevor Nelson…

It ended up a great night and we spoke to loads of fans but as time wore on we were getting more knackered so we decided it best to navigate our way back to the apartment before it was too late.

Another great day out though!

Monday 19th September 2022

After a good nights sleep in our camp, we got ourselves ready and headed out to find breakfast.

Fortunately for us we stumbled upon a lovely couple who had really enjoyed the weekend. They told us the breakfast was only available until 10.30 because of the bank holiday.

We found the canteen just in time as the staff were about to clear everything away!

We needed to clear our heads and walk the breakfast off so we headed out towards the beach.

Eventually we arrived back at the apartments where our bus was waiting for us.

We got on the bus and decided to go straight back to Liverpool as we thought a lot of pubs would be shut because of the bank holiday.

Instead we watched the complete series of Blackadder II which is still incredibly funny.

After that we made ourselves comfortable, closed our eyes and reflected on what had been a great couple of days. A fitting end to our season of festivals.

Saturday September 3rd 2022

Over a month since our last festival so we were very excited to be travelling to Jersey for the Weekender Festival at the Royal Jersey Show-ground.

We were flying from Liverpool John Lennon Airport so we arranged to get there for about 8.30 as our flight was at 10.50.

Keith and I arrived early at 8.07 so we decided to check in and get some breakfast.

Thought it best to get a good meal inside us in case we decide to have a pint before departure.

Eventually we caught up with the others in the departure lounge and had a look at what was on offer.

Carl and I had a couple of pints to settle the nerves before the flight.

Took no time at all to get to our destination as we were travelling on a brand new Airbus!

We were met by drivers hired by the festival to take us to our hotel – The Merton.

The Derby was on TV so while the others watched it in the hotel, Carl and I made our way to a pub – The White Horse.

Unfortunately they weren’t showing the football but they had a beer garden next to a beach so we ordered a couple of pints of Liberation Ale from the bar.

They also had a brilliant food menu so we ordered salt & pepper calamari which was fantastic!

We had one more pint of Liberation each then walked back to the hotel as we needed to head up to the venue.

The festival was busy and we were quickly shown to our dressing room.

Keith came round with the food order, I went for the foot long hot dog!

Our good mate Mick Potter had come away with us…

and Carl’s lad Chay was our guitar tech for the day!

Time to limber up as we could hear The Pirates finish their set!

Just a medium vodka for me for nerves…

The crowd were building up nicely as we arrived on stage.

The following great pictures courtesy of photographer Matt Noel.

The crowd were brilliant and we got a great reception.

After the show we all met up with my lovely guests from Jersey.

Then disaster! The beer ran out😕

Cold hot dog it is then?

At least we had nice neighbours…

Great to see these guys again!

Then!

We decided to go out front and watch The Proclaimers, they were great!

We then enjoyed a drink in the crowd listening to Hot Dub Time Machine.

Then to finish the night we all had a good laugh at Barrioke!

It was now getting late though and about 9.30 we got the message that the bus was leaving so we all headed back stage one last time.

We got the driver to drop us off at the White Horse…

and we spent a couple of hours watching the waves and the moonlight.

We then spent the best part of an hour trying to find an Indian restaurant…

and a further hour trying to find the hotel😫

Considering we’d been drinking for the best part of 15 hours, we all still rejoiced at the sight of the hotel bar still open😀

One more drink for the road and then we staggered off to our rooms. Not an easy task in a hotel where the ground floor reception is marked as the 4th floor.

Anyway, what a great day out we all had!

Sunday September 4th 2022

Check out was 11.00, I think most of us made it to the breakfast buffet. Alex had a very healthy one…

The flight was scheduled for 2.50 pm so we all set off to the White Horse to be picked up at 12.15 for the airport.

The pub wasn’t serving food till 12.30 so the others missed the chance to sample the salt & pepper calamari.

We had another pint of Liberation Ale and enjoyed the views…

With heavy hearts we set off on the 20 minute journey to the airport.

We found out that there was a delay!

So some of us jumped a cab to a surfers beach bar…

while the others checked in and played cards…

The waves and views were fantastic…

All refreshed, we jumped another cab back to the airport.

We still had to wait an hour or so for our flight so we ordered something to eat and drink…

Eventually our flight was called and we all wearily trudged to our gate reflecting on the great couple of days we had just had.

Thank you Jersey

Saturday July 30th 2022

Today we’re playing our second Let’s Rock festival, this one in our home town of Liverpool.

We’re at Wavertree Playing Fields, a 104 acre park which was given to Liverpool Corporation in 1895 by an anonymous city well-wisher — the reason why it is affectionately known as ‘The Mystery’.

We set off around 12:30 to load in although we weren’t on stage till 4:45.

As it was a local gig, we had no time to stop off at a pub for some good food and drink so a few weeks ago we decided to brew our own cask beer!

The production team very kindly let us place the beer with it’s hand pump at the entrance to the artists area.

The hand pump or ‘beer engine’ is attached to the cask via a line and left to settle for an hour or so.

We had a bite to eat in the artists area and a bottle of Peroni each to chill out.

Carl & Roy then went out front to watch Scritti Politti…

and Tenpole Tudor!

We decided that 3pm was a good enough time to pour the first pint so Chris (my beer making partner) had the honour.

At this point the artists area was pretty full as the acts were coming and going. Then our good mate Dave Benson Phillips grabbed everyone’s attention and announced that the beer was now being served.

First up was our old mate Chesney Hawkes, fresh from his stage performance ten minutes earlier…

Then Green Gartside and his band Scritti Politti were next in the queue…

Next up was Edward Tudor-Pole…

and various band members

Outside the bands were getting through their sets quickly…

Later on Roy caught up with Ottowan…

who later joined us inside with the lovely Julie McKnight, a fantastic singer and beer connoisseur!

Then the legendary Ce Ce Rogers joined the queue…

At this point it was nearly time for us to go on stage so I left the bar in the very capable hands of Rachel from the production team.

Meanwhile out front – what a crowd!

Some fantastic photo’s from Warren Millar, Billy Vitch and Martin Shaw!

What a fantastic reaction we got!

Next on was Nick Hayward so we went out front to watch him…

then invited him to our bar for a pint!

Our families and friends were in the audience watching us so we decided to spend a bit of time with them out front…

After a while we went back stage to look after the bar but disaster!

The beer had run out!

Oh well, nothing lasts forever so we packed away our beer equipment and went out front to watch the remaining bands.

What a fantastic day out it was!

Saturday July 9th 2022

This week we’re off to Dunstable, Bedfordshire for the council funded ‘Party in the Park’ festival.

It’s a later start than usual as we’re not on stage till about 7pm so we all met up at 11:30.

It came as a great relief to us that the video player was working and we decided to watch the film we couldn’t watch last week, ‘Waiting For Guffman’.

We enjoyed the film very much and as we were still half an hour away from our lunch destination we thought we’d watch a couple of classic episodes of the Likely Lads…

It was a lovely sunny day and we were heading to Sutton Stop, Coventry…

Sutton Stop is the name for the ‘Stop Lock’ at Hawkesbury Junction. This is the Junction of the Coventry Canal and the Oxford Canal.

Alongside the canal was our chosen lunch spot, The Greyhound Inn!

Let there be frolics and bunting!

Time to order a beer, first off is Kerala by Distant Hills of Glossop.

It was gorgeous and went down so well we’d ordered another round before the food came

We had a great spec to eat our food watching the canal

Finally our food arrived…

It all tasted great and to congratulate ourselves on having such a good time we ordered another round of drinks!

This time it was Purity Session IPA

At this point life couldn’t get any better but we had to get to Dunstable. Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Hawkesbury Junction…

and hello again to the van!

At least we had the Likely Lads to keep us amused!

We watched the episode where they’re avoiding the England football score and in no time we arrived in Dunstable!

Great atmosphere inside the park…

We caught the last five minutes of Bhangra Smash Up!

Our dressing room was inside the council offices.

The mayor and her deputy came to greet us…

They were still buzzin’ after just being on stage with Bhangra Smash Up!

We went outside to check the bar…

and met up with some Farm fans who’d brought their records with them for us to sign.

Next act on was a Bob Marley Tribute…

He was great and had the crowd singing along…

Meanwhile, partly due to that extra pint in Coventry…

Not long after, the stage was being set up for us to go on…

The vodka had arrived early this week so time to get ready as the crowd were becoming restless!

Finally it was time to go on!

The lads from Bhangra Smash Up invaded the stage…

Watch the brilliant video here filmed by TheFarmLive gary.

https://youtu.be/Kl34k-7KqEM

The crowd went mad!

What a gig!

Curfew was 8pm so it was back to the dressing room to pick up our stuff.

We headed off and watched a couple more films…

before stopping off at a service station for more buffoonery.

Back in the van for one last time with a few extra cans.

Eventually we arrived back very late at the rehearsal rooms, Carl’s body language says it all!

but what a great day out yet again!

Friday July 1st 2022

Third festival of the summer and it’s back down south to Church End near Little Hadham in Hertfordshire for the ‘Sign of the Times’ festival.

10:00 start but we couldn’t find the gold bus.

It had been booked out to somebody else so we had to settle for silver.

Half an hour into the journey and we chose our first film…

but no one could get the video to work.

Carl produced various leads from his bag…

but nothing seemed to work.

Even our manager Peasy tried to phone for assistance from our other vehicle…

but to no avail.

We had to accept that there would be no films on today and we would have to entertain ourselves by making conversation!

There were lots of hold ups on the motorway and we weren’t making very good progress. On top of that Keith had too many cups of tea that morning and needed the toilet!

We stopped at services for 10 minutes but by the time we got out, the van had moved to get petrol. At this point we’d all separated…

eventually everyone showed up by the van but Keith had gone missing!

John King put out an APB and eventually Keith showed up.

He’d been in a sandwich queue and the lady in front of him couldn’t work out how to use the barcode machine on checkout!

At last at 1:30 we arrived in Thornby where we had chosen our lunch venue, The Red Lion.

Just 5 minutes drive from Naseby, the scene of the great battle of 1645 where Cromwell destroyed the Royalist army under Charles I.

Lovely pub with good recommendations for food and drink.

We ordered 5 pints of Purity Gold

Keen followers will remember that we had Purity Gold in the Royal Oak in Crick coming back from Knebworth in August 2019.

They directed us to a room upstairs…

The beer tasted great!

So did the food!

We left as satisfied customers

We set off again, the journey to the festival would take us another hour and forty five minutes!

Before too long we realised that we would be on stage in less than an hour!

Time for Alex to start her make-up!

Eventually we arrived at the festival

We were on after Jo Boxers, we’d supported them in Liverpool in the eighties but relations were soured after Dig Wayne’s leather hat mysteriously went missing.

We were in a rush to prepare for the gig so went straight to the dressing room where we bumped into Richard Jobson from the legendary Skids!

We then found a fridge full of Kronenbourg

Alas the vodka was slow to arrive so we had to revert to plan b!

At last, time for us to go on stage!

The crowd were brilliant!

The gig was fantastic!

Alex’s mum had come to see us and we met her back stage.

Meanwhile Peasy met our mate Alan McGee who was DJ ing the event and Richard Jobson again.

We found a craft bar out front and bumped into our mate Guy Gillo

The bar had Beavertown Neck Oil which went down a treat!

Alex’s mum Liz and auntie Emma joined us.

We had a fantastic day but after checking our phone messages we decided it was best to leave.

What a great day out!

Saturday 18th June 2022

The second festival this year is again with Madness as part of the Forest Live series of concerts. This week we’re going to High Lodge, Thetford Forest, Suffolk

9:30 start this week at Sort rehearsal studios for the long journey to Suffolk.

Video’s on board this week included….

and an old favourite

We decided to head to Hartford for our lunch – a pub called The King of the Belgians!

We ordered the Bruha English Bitter…

and the Drayman’s Draught

Carl’s sausage & mash looked good

Food was very good and we had a couple of nice pints before setting off again to the venue.

We had a bit of time to spare so decide to try archery!

Great fun!

Carl, Roy & I went out front of stage to find the Madness Brewery Beer, it was great!

Took our beer back to watch Emily Capell

Now, time for The Farm

The crowd were great and we went down well!

Oh what fun we had with Madness and Emily Capell!

Saturday 11th June 2022

A great way to start off the festival season with two gigs as special guests of Madness as part of the Forestry England dates postponed from 2020.

10:30 am start at Sort rehearsal studio as we’re heading to the Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire.

Good choice of film as we watch JoJo Rabbit on the bus.

Danny Boyle’s ‘Yesterday’ was next up but we only got half way through it as we arrived at our pub stop.

The Three Horseshoes, Frampton-on-Severn!

Straight in to order 12 lunches with pints to the horror of the only bar maid in the village!

(Golden Beer)A full flavoured and hoppy palate balanced by underlying fruit. This copper coloured beer is smooth, long and very refreshing.

They also prepared 12 fantastic pies…

Each filling had a choice of meat or fish with mashed potatoes and cauliflower cheese inside the pie crust!

The Village Green in Frampton is said to be the longest village green in England, and is about 22 acres in size. Cricket is played on The Green outside the Bell Inn, one of the two Pubs on The Green, the other being The Three Horseshoes at the opposite end of The Green.

We needed a long rest to digest our traditional English fayre.

Which resulted in us being very late for the sound check😟

Meanwhile back stage the weather was glorious.

…and the beer fridge full

Thought we’d explore…

Emily Capell was the first act on, she was very good.

Next up….the Farm

The crowd were brilliant!

Next up….Madness

All too soon we had to pull the plug on the evening as we had to get back home.