Into Live Music Review: Rockaway Beach Day One
Festival: Rockaway Beach
Venue: Bognor Regis, Butlins
Date: 3 January 2025
Rockaway Beach turned ten years old, a special anniversary and the festival has certainly grown (up) during the past decade. It is now bigger, better and bolder. There was much chatter on various fan forums in the lead up to the weekend with people questioning whether the new purpose built auditorium within the Butlins site – Studio 36 – would add or take away from the vibe. They needn’t have worried. Holding up to 3,000 punters, the sound was spot on, the view from audience to stage unhindered and the visuals behind each act substantially added to the experience. A clear and welcome upgrade on the Reds room.
It has been quite the journey for Hamish Hawk. Just over three years ago, I saw him play in Glasgow’s McChuills, a cool pub/venue which holds around one hundred people. Since then, Hawk has been lauded by the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music, recently supported Travis and has toured extensively, each time in bigger venues. This was a return for the mercurial band having made their RB debut a couple of years ago and it was great to see them play as the first act in the new Studio 36 venue.
Stage presence is something Hawk has in abundance and the expansive space allowed him to be even more expressive, throwing shapes and gestures, a truly enthralling aspect of their live show. The set leant heavily on the recently released album, A Firmer Hand and it wasn’t long before their signature sound was whirling around, Machiavelli’s Room showcasing Andrew Pearson’s dark and menacing guitar sound while Oliver Brown’s bass was as heavy as the thick, foggy air outside. The album’s lead single, Big Cat Tattoos was both lively and lovely, the funk undertones hitting the bass groove as the band locked in.
Disingenuous was where Stefan Maurice came into his element, his full-on drumming reminiscent of Terry Lee/Merrick a la Adam & the Ants. Matters slowed down a bit with Bridget St.John and Rest & Veneers before Hawk told the crowd it was time to go back to the hard stuff, so zip up!!! The marvellous Money followed, a song that has one of the best lyrics in recent years “legs in those jeans like you were born to ride a Clydesdale” before The Mauritian Doubles Champion, 1973 (a song that has one of the best titles in recent years!) was delivered with consummate ease.
Hamish Hawk, a musician, a chameleon, a performer. All of them and then some. Sensational!
Annoyingly, Hawk’s set clashed somewhat with that of Pete Wylie and the Mighty Wah! but a quick run over to the Centre Stage meant I caught the tail end of the Liverpudlian’s set. Sinful was one of the epic tunes of the 1980s and the thing that struck me right away is how good, how pure and how strong Wylie’s voice remains. It had to be to do these songs justice. They demanded an epic, soaring and cinematic vocal and that was there in abundance.
Heart as Big as Liverpool was introduced as a song written for those families who lost loved ones at the Hillsborough disaster but more than that too, a song about community. Genuinely poignant, a paean to Wylie’s home city, both beautiful and heartbreaking. How to follow that? Well, how about The Story of the Blues? The five piece band were note perfect and Wylie, resplendent in a pink Sex Pistols top and leather trousers was the ultimate front man. I only caught four songs but those fifteen minutes or so will live long in the memory. When they next tour, get yourself along to see Pete Wylie and the Mighty Wah.
Spiritualized appeared at the very first Rockaway Beach so it was apt that they brought matters to a close at Studio 36 on day one. This was the gospel according to J Spaceman 1.10. Kicking off with Hey Jane was an intoxicating treat. A song of chaotic mayhem the equivalent of nails splintering in your brain, an embolism bursting into a sonic, celestial rainbow.
There was no let up and She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit) quickly followed with front man Jason Pierce urging “c’mon“, like an ecstasy rush of psychedelic punk rock. On stage, the band were six strong and accompanied by three gospel singers who added so much to the Spiritualized sound. Shine A Light was almost serene, achingly beautiful and melancholic, rich in textures. The slide guitar and heavy bass underpinned the track perfectly. This was the music of the angels and when I leave this mortal coil I could easily envisage hearing this as I take my final breath.
I’m Your Man was perhaps the highlight of the set (so many), in particular the guitar solo which sounded and felt like an erupting volcano, musical lava spewing out of the speakers while the vocals are beyond the heavens, majestic. So Long You Pretty Things ended a sublime set, Pierce remained sitting throughout the whole show, facing the guitarists rather than the crowd. There was a different stage presence with a Spiritualized show, this was purely about the sound, the musicianship, the motorik drums, the drone guitars, the gospel choir and the fragility of J Spaceman. Spellbinding.
Back over at Centre Stage, Arab Strap were as good (if not better) than ever. Aidan Moffat’s drawl Scottish vocal on recent single Bliss was the ideal foil for the computer/keyboard led sound, the lyrics stark. Indeed, most songs are like short stories and are worth checking out. Band mate Malcom Middleton acted as the midfield general, quietly going about his business, setting up musical tap-ins and executing his guitar manoeuvres like the assassin in The Day of the Jackal, none more so than on Sociometer Blues and on the relentless The Turning of Our Bones. The latter saw Moffat spit out the lyric “I don’t give a fuck about the past” with the venom it deserved.
There’s not too many bands to have come out of Falkirk over the years but those that have caught the ear have always had an edge or a lyrical twist. The Two Helens, Vulture Party, The Media Whores and of course at the forefront, Arab Strap. New Birds was conversational in its approach before Fable of the Urban Fox was delivered, a track to stop you in your tracks. Back to those incredibly clever lyrics, it’s a song about immigration, right wing media and misplaced prejudices. Immigrants are welcome, Fuck the Tories!
John Welsh
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