Godiva Festival shines with Newton Faulkner, Womack & Womack, and The Twang

For those of you who still aren't aware of the Godiva Festival, it is a free ticketless festival held in Coventry, it is now in its 12th year and shows no signs of stopping. The three days this year seemed to be themed along the lines of Retro 80s on the Friday night, and rock on the Saturday and singer/songwriter theme on the Sunday.

Boasting a diverse and interesting line-up which included Newton Faulkner, Go West, Womack and Womack, Top Loader, and Idlewild to name a few.

As we meandered our way up to the main entrance, which was armed with security with metal detectors, it was a stark contrast to a few years ago when the Godiva Festival was accessible easily and there were very few restrictions.

However this year we were scanned at the main entrance, which was the most excruciating search ever, the machines they were using beeped everytime it passed a coin in my pocket, keep in mind I had six pockets and loose change in all of them. The security person asked me to empty my pockets. So seeing as they were clearly lacking common sense, I felt it necessary to explain that I had coins, the security team then argued I would still need to empty my pockets. So coin by coin I took the money out of my first pocket.

At this point the two security guards started asking to be quick about it, again I explained to them if their detectors were set up correctly, they wouldn't have this problem, at which point they realised that it was going to take at least ten minutes before all of my pockets were empty. Anyway to make matters worse they then tried to search my girlfriend's child, and even frisked her, which is way out of order, and I again explained to them that what they just did was illegal (male security guards shouldn't ever frisk a female), however they still proceeded to frisk her, so legal advice is currently being pursued!

Then to make matters worse security asked what was in my camera bag, funnily enough I kept my camera in there, but security had to take it and open it up, and search every compartment. Finally happy that I wasn't a terrorist they let me through after making me miss the Blow monkeys.

Considering all the other festivals I attend, I can honestly say I have never been searched like that, and the fact that they missed a pair of steel scissors just demonstrates that they weren't doing their job properly.

Once in the arena it was a completely different story. The Security team were helpful, friendly and polite, and the layout was spacious, convenient, and easy to navigate to each place. They had plenty of toilets and the food stalls were reasonably priced.

Womack and Womack strolled on stage to a modest applause, looking around the crowd, I got the impression that half of the children had no idea who Womack and Womack were, however for those of us who can remember them, it was a superb if somewhat nostalgic blast from the past to hear them belt out some of their classic hits, naturally 'Teardrops' won the crowd over and made the punters dance around, there were certainly lots of footsteps on the dance floor so to speak.

After such a great act, it was going to be difficult for the next act to top that, Go West had the harsh task of trying to better than Womack and Womack. Thankfully they managed it, with a set consisting of their big hits 'King Of Wishful Thinking' and 'We Close Our Eyes' as well as packing in lots of cover versions such as 'Black and Gold' and U2's 'Vertigo' all done in such a way that Go West managed to stamp their unique sound on each of the cover versions without ruining the original version. It was clear that even after all of the years they have been performing they still like to put 100 percent effort into each show and are able to sound as passionate as ever. A superb ending to a retro-themed day.

The second day started off with problems with security once again, this time trying to tell me that I was in the wrong car park, even though I had parked in the same car park the day before. Once again I then had to endure another tedious security check.

But once inside I managed to catch the arrival of the Godiva Carnival Procession, which is one of the most wonderful display of dazzling bright colours and costumes, in fact it is worth going just for this alone, and once again the procession did not disappoint. This years theme was Coventry Greats (I know it's hard to think of any!)

After watching the procession, we decided to have a look around the fair that was part of the festival, and found some amazing rides that are guaranteed to give you a white knuckle experience.

Toploader seemed to instantly hit it off with the audience, and left many people with Cheshire cat smiles, their music is still bland and radio friendly but they clearly stick to what they are good at, and in that respect Toploader are a crowd favourite, so who am I to complain?

One of the highlights of Saturday were The Twang, who are like The Streets but with more of a razor sharp edge to give their music a bit more of a punch. There is no denying that the Twang are able to raise the stakes when it comes to performing live. A pleasant, if somewhat unexpected highlight of the day.

Idlewild had the task of headlining, and to be honest, they did it well, but you couldn't help walk away thinking that maybe they should have been swapped around with The Twang. Who knows maybe next year The Twang will headline.

Sunday was headlined by Newton Faulkner and he managed to keep the audience mesmerised with his acoustic prowess, however there was some sound issues due to the tent at the side of the main stage was blasting out and flooding the sound of Newton's acoustic guitar.

Overall, the Godiva Festival is still a fabulous highlight in the festival calendar, and with the exception of the security team on the perimeter being arseholes, it is hard to find anything to complain about. Great atmosphere, great bands, and lots of activities to do and shows to see. What more could you ask for? And probably most importantly in this economical climate, this festival is absolutely free.

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