The Clash songs Rock the Casbah on final night of 'one off' Strummer of Love

Strummer of Love 2012 review

By Andrew Hogg | Published: Wed 22nd Aug 2012

The Justice Tonight Band

Friday 17th to Sunday 19th August 2012
secret location in Somerset, England
£175 weekend pass, or £50 for day tickets
Daily capacity: 5,000
Last updated: Thu 9th Aug 2012

Sunday started the same as the Saturday with heavy mist and fog. Rain followed this and the day looked as if it was going to be a wet one but we were surprised to see the sun come out within an hour or so and it turned into another scorcher. Before the bands started we had breakfast near the Strummerville campfire and then had a look around Strummer School.

around the festival site (Strummer school)
This was an exhibition which contained many sketches, written pages and thoughts that Strummer had put to paper. We spent an interesting half hour reading these pages which showed he was prolific and at times obscure in his writing. We left to walk back to the main stage which passed us through the Kids Area just in time to see a bout of sock wrestling! The area was small but well managed with a lot going on and plenty of activities for the young ones to do, including developing their musical skills with workshops for things like steel drumming, rap and poetry.

The early afternoon's entertainment started with Conjunto Sabroso. They started playing to a field which only included a handful of people but their vibrant Latin sound soon brought others over to watch. Up next was Scouse band The Farm who quickly got people going, starting with their hit 'Groovy Train'. They joined the theme of many bands over the weekend who dedicated songs to Moscow punk band Pussy Riot who had just been jailed on the previous Friday. They finished off with "All Together Now" and a very happy field seemed to disperse after they finished. The next couple of bands Dog Is Dead, and Emmy the Great played to small crowds and struggled to liven up the lethargic revellers. Slow Club were next and the folk rock duo from Sheffield seemed to rouse the crowd again. Their mix of slow burning with more upbeat songs seemed to do well, and they seemed to leave the stage with quite a few more fans at the festival than they came with.

KT Tunstall
After something to eat and packing we got down just in time to see one woman show KT Tunstall who was brilliant. Playing everything herself including a tamborine with her foot and using her mouth to do a trumpet she played her heart out. She even played White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army' after sampling the tune with a kazoo! The field was pretty quiet still and she commented that she had seen quite a few cars going as she came in.

These early leavers missed a treat which was followed up later by another one - Mick Jones & The Justice Tonight Band featuring The Farm. After a short poetry set by Kate Tempest who played because Badly Drawn Boy had pulled out, Jones's latest ensemble hit the stage. We couldn't understand why anyone who went to a Joe Strummer based festival would leave before they heard the nearest band you could get to The Clash with Mick Jones and Topper Headon both playing. They ended the festival on a great note with The Clash songs interspersed with a slice of The Farm and Peter Wylie songs. They even had Keith Allen join them at one point for Rock the Casbah. The crowd had a ball and danced and bounced throughout.

It was a fitting end to a great one-off festival. It may have had its problems, from churned up mud (straw was put down way too late on the Sunday) to a small attendance. This was likely due to the cost of the festival(£175), when down the road established festival Beautiful Days was a sell-out with tickets priced considerably lower. But this was something that wouldn't happen again and overall the organisers did a brilliant job juggling the task of keeping everyone happy and making money for the charity Strummerville. They did this and more and it was a fitting tribute to the late great Joe Strummer.

around the festival site (1)
review by: Andrew Hogg

photos by: Andrew Hogg


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