Lizfest 2018

Tadpole Field, near Tiddington, near Oxford
29th June—1st July 2018

I headed up to Oxford for my old UKC friend Lizzie McHale's 50th birthday minifest. Got there on the Friday night and ended up in an abortive mass attempt to erect a geodesic dome, ending in hilarity as the light faded.

The next day there was a bit of an open mic thing going on with the PA which Lizzie's young nephew had set up, and I ended up having a bit of a dub jam with Steve, Kevin (or was it Keith) and Carl from The Friday Project, a cover band who played a nice set later on: Bowie, T-Rex, Steve Miller, "Shakin' All Over", "Summertime Blues", "LA Woman", etc. Their first gig ever, not bad at all. Later in the night there was a wonderful, sprawling chaotic set from cult Oxford jamband The Gees (involving a bagpiper, naturally). I kind of missed out on a set involving two women using sax, loops and percussion as I was deep in DJ-related conversation with DJ Giles who'd played earlier. Great funk-and-soul-type DJ sets from Jo Banana (another UKC alumnus I vaguely remember) and Floaty Jo, a lovely older woman from Devon who'd got into DJing in recent years. She and I got talking and somehow got onto the subject of Gong...it turns out she once went out with Steffi Sharpstrings from Here & Now, had created outfits for Daevid around the time of the 25th Birthday gigs which Steffi played Hillage's parts for. I had to break the sad news to her of Gilli Smyth's (relatively) recent passing. The amplified music that night ended with a storming set by Liz's nephew playing 2000-era drum'n'bass.

The next day I cycled via Otmoor to Jim P's mooring on the canal directly north of Oxford. His neighbours are also his bandmates — Colin and Jane from Owl Light Trio — so in summers they often end up rehearsing on the towpath. No music on that visit, but the usual deep conversation. The day after I cycled into Oxford and got to check out the 17th century Botanic Garden where Jim works before heading back to Kent.