Bradford and Bingley Rugby Club, West Yorkshire. Sunday 07-August-2022.
The original plan had been to spend Friday in York doing the tourist thing followed by York parkrun on the Saturday morning. Then a long drive down to Letchworth to spend Saturday evening with our friends. When Mary investigated the cost of accommodation the prices were ludicrous, presumably because it’s still peak holiday season. Decided to save York for an autumnal, off-season visit and devised an alternative plan.
We went and ran our NENDY (Nearest Event Not Done Yet) at Keswick, event #355. A very level, scenic, out-and-back along a disused railway track starting from the old railway station. Then back home for a shower and the long trek south for a lovely evening with our friends Christine and Paul in Letchworth.
Mary had received an alert from a music app and discovered that Rag’n’Bone Man was appearing at the Bingley weekender on Sunday afternoon so we booked a day ticket for the Sunday. An excellent way to break up the journey home and fit in some live music.
As it turned out the app was partially correct in that Rag’n’Bone Man was appearing but got the date and time wrong. He was the headliner on the Friday evening not mid-afternoon on Sunday. Never mind, the joy of festivals is that you get to discover new bands you’ve never heard before even if you don't get the one you were hoping for.
On the Sunday we drove back up from Letchworth and decided not to pay £15 for parking at the festival. Instead we went to the station car park and paid a whole £1 for all day parking and got a five minute taxi to the venue.
It was all very relaxed and spread out, a small but perfectly formed festival.
A couple of pints and a food stall lunch set us up for the afternoon.
The first act were Zuzu who we were both very impressed by, very up-beat, pop-rock trio from Liverpool.
Sea Power. Cannot remember anything about them which probably says a lot.
The Slow Readers Club were up next, a very impressive band though more to Mary’s taste than mine.
White Lies. We also enjoyed them.
The headliners were the Pixies who both Mary and I found a little harsh and discordant although they clearly have a following based on the number of T-shirts we saw.
After an hour we decided we had enough and give the last half hour amiss so we could hit the road early at 8:30pm. A 20 minute walk back to the station car park and we were away up the road to be home at a reasonable hour.
