80's Rewind Festival Review

Overall Rating

I was only able to attend the 2nd day of this two day festival so I can't comment on the camping or the acts on the Saturday. However, after enjoying a fantastic day on Sunday I will without a doubt be buying weekend tickets next year. This was the first ever festival of it's kind - a veritable 80's feast of electro, disco, and good old cheese. The Saturday was sold out, an indication of the renewed popularity of the acts performing that day (Rick Astley, Kim Wilde, Bananarama, Belinda Carlisle to name a few). Sunday wasn't quite sold out so it was fairly crowded but still enough room to sit comfortably 20 metres from the stage. Although by the time Go West came on arond 8pm, everyone was standing up singing along. Singer Peter Cox's voice has only improved with age and he belted out classics like "We Close Our Eyes" and "King Of Wishful Thinking".
T'Pau's Carol Decker is another one that can still hold a note - you could close your eyes while she sang and it was just like being back in 1987. T'Pau do many many of these 80's nostalgia tours but there's no sign than Carol has tired of singing THAT song...what a buzz 22 years later to have 15,000 people singing along to "China In Your Hand". Often thought of as a one hit wonder because of it's huge success, the Rewind concert reminded people of T'Pau's other chart smashes, "Valentine" and "Heart & Soul". A faultless, enthusiastic and passionate performance.
The years have not been so kind to ABC's Martin Fry as he appeared to struggle a little while singing but the crowd didn't seem to mind as they sang and danced along to "The Look Of Love" and "When Smokey Sings" - not sure if slowing things down for "All Of My Heart" was a wise decision though.
Nik Kershaw did his hits around 4.30pm but even though the field was really filling up by this time, only his hardcore fans were up dancing. As Nik would sing in "Wouldn't It Be Good", the heat WAS stifling, but he got the crowd going and tapped in to the slightly younger people in the audience who perhaps wouldn't have remembered him first time around, with his version of "The One And Only" - the song he wrote for Chesney Hawkes in 1990.
I personally preferred Nik's old 80's chart rival on Sunday, Howard Jones who did what he did best- play his huge Roland keyboard, get the crowd clapping in time and dancing, and sing hits such as "What Is Love" and "Like To Get To Know You Well" - just a better performance than Nik and more of a crowd pleaser on the day.
The stage show culminated with 2 acts which are more associated with the 70's than the 80's which was a little disappointing (or maybe I am nit picking as disco isn't my bag). One quarter of the original Sister Sledge strut onto the stage with her daughter and two cousins - it was more like a tribute act to the hardcore fan but to be fair the majority of the crowd were more than happy to bop along to "Thinking Of You", "Lost In Music" and the obligatory "We Are Family". Then came along Gloria Gaynor, and there were murmurs in the crord of 'What is she going to sing, she only did "I Will Survive"!' but Gloria really came up trumps and belted out "I Am What I Am" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1974) followed by the karaoke classic "I Will Survive" (1978) to end the concert around 11pm.

To summerise, the acts were fantastic, the atmosphere was electric and the weather was perfect, The only complaint about the festival would be the drinks prices - 6 pounds 50p for a glass of Pimms, or 23 quid for a jug containing 3 glasses worth. A hamburger was 6 pound and an extra pound for a slice of Kraft cheese in it. But being part of a captive audience one must expect this when attending this sort of event, and it was a lovely day out with friends or family (lots of activities for kids) by the river with stalls, fairground rides, a disco, and most importantly, great music. I will definitely be attending next year.