Rockaway Beach Festival 2019 – Live Review

The first thing to note about Rockaway Beach in Bognor is the venue. It’s a boutique indoor festival, with 2 large arenas. What’s more, holding a 3-day festival in January may sound a little cold, but with on-site accommodation in the form of hotels and chalets, it’s all very civilised.

However, it’s not just about the music, as the location is also home of Butlins holiday camp. As such, there’s a whole host of other things to keep you busy – arcade games, crazy golf, pool, ten-pin bowling, cinema screens and much more.

Rockaway Beach Review – Friday Night

As we arrived at Butlins the festival was well underway, with Laetitia Sadler Source Ensemble already on the main stage. Having first come to prominence in the mid-90’s with Stereolab, Laetitia was the first indication of attracting an older audience.

However, in contrast, Rockaway Beach 2019 is very much about promoting younger, up and coming acts. Goat Girl are indeed one such group, having been (quite rightly) widely rated as one of last year’s best-emerging bands.

Headlining the Friday night were a band with an array of well-known tunes, Maximo Park. Sure enough, their set began with one such number in “Girls that Play Guitar”. As always, energetic frontman Paul Smith commanded the stage. In between songs, the singer reminisced on his own childhood memories, with Butlins as a gentle reminder.

Maximo Park never disappoint live and Paul Smith has the right balance between crowd interaction while belting out quality tunes such as “Our Velocity”. Ending the night on the hit single “Apply Some Pressure” Maximo Park had Rockaway Beach dancing the night away.

Talking dancing, things weren’t quite over as Terry Hall from ska legends the Specials took to the decks for a guest DJ slot. With a number of classic reggae and ska tunes, when it then came to “Groovers in the Heart” it was time to save my energy for the rest of the weekend.

Rockaway Beach Review – Saturday Night

Having made the trip to Rockaway Beach with Southsea’s record café, Saturday at Rockaway Beach was as much about promoting Pie & Vinyl as it was selling records. Which included an official DJ set from a couple of the P&V crew, following an impromptu one the night before.

As for the music-loving public, it was a chance to discover the likes of Winter Garden, Desert Mountain Tribe and Spook School in the smaller arena.

Mid-afternoon would see one of my personal highlights of the Saturday in Menace Beach. There was something fresh and exciting about the Leeds based indie-rockers. With the duel synths taking centre stage alongside a backdrop of jangly guitars and pulsating drums.

With a legacy that includes numerous remixes and contributing to movie soundtracks, Barry Adamson was an intriguing act. Having also played with Magazine and the Birthday Party, along with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Adamson is very much his own personality on stage.

Barry Adamson is also a charismatic jazz crooner. Great vocal delivery, backed with a full band. Occasionally playing a few notes on his iPad or harmonica and triggering a sampled horn section, before picking up the bass an old Magazine track.

As for Rockaway Beach headliners, it was clear Gary Numan was the biggest draw of the weekend. With John Robb from Louder than War providing an earlier Q&A session with the man himself, you could easily have thought you were at a Gary Numan convention.

The early new-wave of Numan that helped influence artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Ministry has come full circle. While Gary Numan has stayed true to his electro-goth roots, his music has taken a darker, heavier direction in keeping with the industrial rock scene that he helped develop.

As a result, although somewhat of an enigma, his music is still relevant and on stage, the performance was mesmerizing. The lighting kept low, with on-screen visuals helping illuminate the room. While it would be impossible not to play the odd hit such as “Cars”, the setlist pulled largely from Numan’s fantastic latest concept album “Savage (Songs from a Broken World)”.

As Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq went on to spin a number of crowd pleasers, you could easily forgive anyone for calling it a night. However, Rockaway Beach was in full party mode and it has to be noted, everyone continued to be well behaved.

Rockaway Beach Review – Sunday Night

Starting the Sunday were the Luka State, another of the weekends lesser known bands. These young lads were full of energy and straight up sweaty rock n roll. Possibly one of the loudest bands of the weekend and clearly loving every minute of it. The bassist may have struggled without a guitar strap, but quite literally wasn’t going to take it sitting down. These guys are certainly a band worth looking into.

Staying with the newer acts on the bill, all girl band Yassassin also displayed why festivals aren’t always about the headliners. Despite their young age, Yassassin have a touch of the 80’s about them.  Think Siouxsie and the Banshees. Another band full of energy and exciting to watch, although you couldn’t help thinking they wanted to trash the stage by the end of it.

I didn’t know much about Scotland’s the Filthy Tongues prior to today, although it turns out they feature ex-Goodbye Mr Mackenzie and Angelfish. Both bands having sparked the career of Garbage’s Shirly Manson.

However, the Filthy Tongues went on to become somewhat of a new personal discovery. As with Adamson the night before, there’s a bit of Nick Cave about certain aspects of the Tongues, but with much more of a cool buesy, rock n roll swagger.

In between making the most of the non-traditional festival food there was time to see a bit of both Lorello Meets the Obsolete and Luke Haines. Both showing the diversity on offer at Rockaway Beach, one delving into psychedelia, the other more traditional singer-songwriter.

Art Brut, however, were probably the only disappointment. Opening with the awesome “Formed a Band”, the songs post-punk impact was lost as soon as it was dragged out for what seemed like forever.  Through no fault of their own, the vocals for Art Brut were far too loud, although in a way suited frontman Eddie Argos. After all, he certainly likes the sound of his own voice, albeit a little too much.

In contrast, Sunday night headliners Echo and the Bunnymen rounded the whole weekend off nicely. Moody and mysterious, Ian McCulloch fronted the band with a backdrop that helped set the scene. Although musically dark and emotionally haunting, the atmosphere around the venue was electric.  With a setlist filled with hits, it was of course, always going to be “The Haunting Moon” that gave your skin goosebumps.

There are just so many great things to say about Rockaway Beach, that this review really can’t do the festival the justice it deserves. As such, if you want to experience Butlins for yourself, come join us for Rockaway Beach in 2020.

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