BINGLEY MUSIC LIVE 29/08/14, DAY 1 (FRIDAY)

“I say Jason, you say Derulo… Jason?”

“Derulo!” and that sums up my shuttle bus from V Festival, home to rural Leicestershire. But how does this have anything to do with Bingley Music Live, you may be wondering? After Jason not so Derulo wormed his way, topless, along the double decker bus – he decided to teach us all the crucial dance moves that were essential if the occupied bus were to become his backing troop. This troop also consisted of his wife, 3 best mates and a woman questioning where the last of the bottle of vodka had gone. So as the mid 40 year old, bald man continued his impression, my friend and I turned to talking about who we were planning to see at Bingley this year. Thinking nothing of it, everyone exited the decker content with skipping traffic jams at an affordable price. As we began our walk up the hill a distant “Oi” echoed through Wolverhampton. This was followed by Mr not so Derulo’s cheerful gesture “see you at Bingley, girls!”

The Struts

Taking the place of Coasts, who recently dropped out of the festival, were The Struts. Now this band have had quite the dream year, from supporting the legendary Rolling Stones to releasing their hit filled debut album. The Struts are in no doubt a festival band; their music suits large outdoor stages and crowds that are expecting a party like atmosphere. Nevertheless, no matter how big or small the audience they are playing to are, The Struts always perform with such high energy and pizazz that it’s very hard to fault anything within their set. Originally by David Bowie, The Struts performed ‘Rebel Rebel’; a song that really got everyone dancing like Luke Spiller, who may as well be described as Freddie Mercury, whilst dressed head to toe in an extravagant peacock blue poncho. Determined to not the let the relentless rain kill the festival vibe, the punchy “Put Your Money On Me” gave the crowd something to jump along to. Struggling somewhat to grasp this, Luke Spiller decided to take matters into his own hands, jumping down off the stage, and over the barrier to mingle with the field folk. This showman got a circle surrounding him all sitting down, ready to leap at the cue of Gethin Davies’ drums – a perfect picture moment.

You would think that because The Struts are getting vast coverage on UK radio, due to their ever growing popularity and widely accessible music appealing to so many different groups of people; unfortunately this is not the case. Earlier this summer, lead singer Luke Spiller, along with the rest of the band, launched a campaign to get their music heard. After a Facebook group was set up, the situation sparked a snowball effect that avalanched into not only tweets and texts, but written letters, emails and phone calls from fans, directly to stations. The Struts can prove that they are fantastic musicians, so we can only hope they finally get the air play they deserve.

Alan Wills, Tribute set

When a small festival in West Yorkshire announces a secret set, you wouldn’t expect it to be anything this special. Alan Wills, owner of record label Deltasonic, assisted in launching musicians onto a path of success and fame. Some of these artist included The Zutons, The Coral and the Dead 60s. In addition to this, he worked in ownership of a publishing company, with both Miles Kane and Kane’s critically acclaimed collaboration with Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner: The Last Shadow Puppets. Sadly in May this year, Alan tragically passed away following a road traffic accident. Determined for his work not to be forgotten a special tribute took place at Bingley Music Live this weekend. Dave McCabe of The Zutons and Ian Skelly from The Coral played a simple but memorable set with just and acoustic guitar and a pair of bongo drums. The song that was highly, if not the most anticipated of the set was The Zutons ‘Valarie’, which was as expected, left for last.

Skelly didn’t take the spotlight to lead a Coral revival, something that I’m sure they were hoping he did. Nonetheless, it won’t be long until we hear from him properly again, as recently announced The Coral look to be on a comeback. After 4 years in hiatus, The Coral have announced that they will be back with brand new album ‘Curse of Love’. The Wirral-based band’s new single, ‘Wrapped In Blue’, has surfaced within the last few days, making us all wonder, are The Coral back for good?

Eliza and the Bear

As the sun didn’t look as if it were about to suddenly burst through the heavy grey skies, I thought it’d be best to find some musical brightness instead. And there is nothing better than a half hour of upbeat indie folk from Eliza and The Bear. In all honesty, many people were wondering why they were not on the main stage this year – next time hey. Opening with the familiar “Friends”, instantly the packed second stage began to sing along, taking the lead from their energetic keyboard player, who looked like he wanted to be in the crowd too. “Light it Up” is a song that deserves to be in the Top 40, but if it were, it wouldn’t be half as special. It was the sudden realisation that crossed people’s faces when they remembered they had heard this before, but were unsure where. They still managed to string the unknown lyrics together, and that can tell any band that they have just written a song so great, that even those listening to it for the first time, are able to sing along.

After a very appreciative thank you, their set came to a fantastic end, a long instrumental saw the brass player also take to the field and dance with the crowd. It’s a shame they couldn’t play through the night for us all, but I suppose that’s what ‘restricted curfew due to residential area’ does for you!