I was in the Ol' Blighty, to see a cricket test at Lord's between Enland & Pakistan, on the invitation of a friend. I was scanning all mags n rags to see if there was a concert somewhere that I could afford. There was Billy Joel one day, but a bit too far away for me and too expensive. The mags were all full of the impending GNR, Stones etc concerts in August, but poor me, I was there just for a week.
Suddenly, I chanced upon an item which said Tinpan Alley Festival on Denmark Street. The item said some nine bands and the best part was "ENTRY FREE".

A few words about Tinpan Alley aka Denmark Street. They say its Europe's best music street. It is one small street, full of music shops, guitar shops, drum shops and the like. If the distributed literature is to be believed (I believe), Beatles and Jimi Hendrix recorded in the basement studio here. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to Elton John's Your Song, sitting on the roof top.. if you know the song, you may remember the lines "Sat on the roof, Kicked up the moss..".
Rolling Stones recorded their very first album at the Regent Sound Studios here. David Bowie set up residence in a camper van on this street to be near his studio here. Bob Marley bought his very first guitar from this street. Lou Reed was a regular visitor and Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Andy Kershaw, Eric Clapton and Beatles producer George Martin are all frequent visitors here. The Sex Pistols took up residence on this street in the 70's. Denmark Street is considered to have been more influential than Abbey Road as far as musical history is concerned. (this info is courtesy The Covent Garden Magazine, u can visit www.coventgarden.uk.com) Off I went with my friend.
We reached the venue around 5pm. Only when I reached there did I realize that the festival was all day. I had thought it would begin only in the evening. The place was packed and the security wasn't letting us in. I enquired and was told that since it was free and there was a rush, they were letting people in only batch by batch and that I wud have to wait for at least 30 minutes to be let in. So I stood waiting. I wasn't going to be deterred by a small obstacle as 30-40 minutes. At last, I was let in.
By the time, my friend got fed up and decided that she would wait elsewhere. Anyway, she wasn't into rock. And so I got in and as is the norm, sidled my way up front. Well, almost at the front. I was actually a bit scared to try n make my way all the way upfront coz I had heard that at such rock festivals n such, there were usually racial comments and slurs, which I wanted to avoid.

Anyway, I was there, almost upfront. The very first band I heard was F.O.Machete, short for Fuck off Machette, a 3 piece band fronted by a lady. They say that their influences range from The stooges, Apex21 and Olivia Newton John. They did a metal version of Physical by ONJ, which was rather good. They did their own single Whats the Signal, which was an excellent rocker. Nice stage show by the front woman, Nashil Noramly. The rest of the band are Paul Mellon and Callan Dickson. A good hard rocking band. A bit bare sounding, coz of the 3 piece structure.

The band that really hit me was Vincent Vincent & the Villains . This band had a retro look, with the frontman dressed in a hat and wielding an acoustic guitar. The sound was a mix of ol' rock n roll, a bit of blues, and a bit of the old rock era much before the classic rock era. But an excellent band. I did try to capture them on video thru my digi cam, but as u will c on the site, didn't quite get it perfectly. Digicams have their limitations. Since I don't know their originals, I really can't say which song was which.

I could see that the band had a big following, the most notable among them being the MC of the day, John Kennedy. The vocals, the guitar playing etc were excellent. A real rocking band. My favorite band of the day for sure.

I also saw Bromhead Jacket in action. A 3 piece metal band. They too had a lot of fan following. The stage show and the guitar playing was frenetic, but somehow, I wasn't too impressed. Then the band that caught my eye was British Sea Power, a very young band, exuding power and raw energy. A rocking set from the headlining act of the day. I have a small bit video. The song rendered by their bass guitarist was a class act. Their front guy was excellent too. This band is bound to go a long way.

The other bands that played that day were Louie, The Holloways, Keith, Kalev, Les Incompetents, Untitled Music Project, The Violets, The Ape Drape Escape etc. There was also this band called Led Zepptwo, a Led Zepp cover band, with the front man dressed n looking like Plant, but half way into the song Rock n Roll, his blonde wig came off and suddenly he looked ordinary. Not a real good rendition of Rock n Roll. I have heard George Peter and Nitin Malik do it much better.

There was an air guitaring competition with a Fender Strat and 800 pounds worth of studio time at the Tin Pan Alley Studio. The quality of air guitaring was shoddy to say the least. Most of them were just showing off, the hand movements weren't correct all. But then, I guess it's the spirit that counts. The overall sound quality wasn't top drawer either. Yes, it was OK, but I kept comparing it to Reynolds and it fell far short. But then, I reckon its an unfair comparison as Reynolds are the top professional outfit in a vast country like India. But considering the fact that this was a free gig for unsigned bands n free for spectators, I guess I really can't complain!

The crowd was excellent and very well- behaved. Beer flowed. The security guys were top notch. I saw them diffuse a situation in seconds. I was there for a solid 5 hours. Didn't want to move away from the front. All I could think of was the review for the site, being there 4 a show in London etc. I totally forgot my friend. I paid for it very dearly later on! All in all, an excellent festival. Great ambience. Fantastic crowd. Great bands. Wish I could get some of them down to India. See the pics that I have taken. And also a few that have been specially sent to me by the organizer Kate Greenslade, taken by Neil Stoddart. for more info and more pics please visit www.tinpanalleyfestival.co.uk/