EVENTS
Reviews of various events that
The Magic Cat,
Dr Brown and Stormbringer Promotions have been involved in...
Dr Brown and Stormbringer Promotions have been involved in...
| 1997 | |
| June 7th 1997 |
Strawberry Fayre, Cambridge. An excellent festival all round. Cosmic Voyage played on the Multimedia Manefestation Stage |
| July 5th 1997 |
COSMIC VOYAGE play ORCHARDTON SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL in Dunfrees, Scotland. Simon And Flute-Man were joined on-stage by Margi Clarke and Kev, Andy and Pete from Dr. Brown. Orchardton is a commune set up in the 1960's and the house and grounds provided one of the most impressive backdrops for a festival. The grounds consist of about 200 acres of prime Scottish countryside, which lead down onto the estuary of The Solway Firth. The Northern lights meant that it never quite got dark, and the sunrise was quite an event. The top half of the garden is landscaped, with huge rhodedendrum bushes, one of which had been hollowed out to fit a trance sound-system. About 1000 people attended, including Margi's friend and neighbour, ex Radio one DJ Janice Long. The Cosmic's headlined Saturday night and gave my favourite performance of theirs during the summer. Dancing, as always, was provided by The Moshing Fairy. Many thanks to 'Mad' Mike Halligan and all those responsible at Orchardton for allowing us to play this great festival. |
| July 11 1997 |
DR BROWN and COSMIC VOYAGE
play SEVERN REVELS FESTIVAL, Gloucester. Great three day festival that
unfortunately the organisers lost money on and so won't be happening in
1998. Dr Brown headlined the Bar stage on Friday night and played to an
ecstatic 250 capacity crowd. Line up was Kev, Pete, Grant, Steff, Al,
Andy, Jason (his first gig) Rick and a guest from Si Cosmic. My fave Dr
Brown set of the summer, this set WAS RECORDED!
Cosmic Voyage (with guests Andy, Pete and Kev) played on Saturday dinnertime in the dance-tent. Considering the time of day The Cosmics managed to pull one out of the bag, ably assisted by Si F (from Timeshard, who played my favourite set of the whole festival) on sounddesk. I believe a tape of this Cosmic Voyage set exists, but I don't have it. It was also a good opportunity to catch up with old friends (hello to Bant, Helga and all those involved with The Age and Kava Kava). |
| August 3rd 1997 |
DR BROWN and COSMIC VOYAGE play SUNDAZE festival in Kettering. This is a one day event put on in the grounds of an 18th century manor house, which is now a school for blind children. It was the first opportunity for me to see Alan Davey's new band, Bedouin, who are a three piece featuring Alan and his old Hawkwind buddy Danny Thompson jr. . They play a kind of hybrid of Hawkwind and Motorhead. Dr Brown played mid afternoon (line up:- Kev, Pete, Grant, Steff, Alan, Andy, Stu, Will and Rich). Unfortunately the tape of the set did not come out. The set was well received and Kev and Margi Clarke went on to guest on a Cosmic Voyage set later in the day. My fave. set of the day was by our mates Hydroponics who gave us some of their folk dub sounds. A great day out. Many thanks to Roy Wilde for his organisation and hard work. He assures me that the festival will go ahead this year and Dr Brown will be on the bill. |
| August 9th 1997 |
DR BROWN play ABBEY PARK festival, Leicester. It was the hottest day of the year and the hottest place in the country when 40,000 people turned out for Leicester's annual free one day festival. The most exciting development this year was the inclusion of an Asian Stage with blinding Bhangra all day (including my favourite set of the day by Malkit Singh). Dr Brown (line up: Kev, Pete, Grant, Steff, Al, Andy, Stu, Will and Rich) played on the Week Stage, together with about 6 other bands. Worthy of mention were Pale Gap, who were a young 70's prog. band, and Asian indy. stars Black Star Liner, who need no introduction. |
| Sept 6th 1997 |
DR BROWN and COSMIC VOYAGE
play ONE WORLD FESTIVAL, Frome, Somerset. A festival staged by those Ozric
Tentacles. Dr Brown (line up: Kev, Pete, Grant, Steff, Al, Andy, Jason,
Rick, Stu and Rich) were meant to be playing at 2.00 P.M. on the
main stage, but then the man from the Environmental Health turned up....
First it was decided that the crash barrier was two inches too short and
had to be replaced, which was no mean feat in up to a foot of mud. Then
it was decided that this same mud, around the backstage generator, may
catch fire and so a fire pit had to be dug. There was a list of other
even more stupid and trivial things which I wont bore you with. Environmental
health will kill us all. The Ozric's were great hosts throughout the three
hour delay, providing us with a portacabin (which obviously had to be
moved on the orders of E.H.) and far too much beer and wine.... Unfortunately
the tape didn't come out. The back stage bar was the place to hang out with cool trance DJ's playing through the night. The festival featured the best Dance tent of the summer, with a mega. 6 speaker stack surround sound PA. They even put Earl Spencer's speech from Di's funeral through it! Dub it up one time. Excellent sets here from Dreadzone and Timeshard (again the best band of the festival for me). A dub stage was set up by Zion Train, who proved, yet again, to be masters of the live performance. Cosmic Voyage played the Guilfin stage on Sunday afternoon with a guest from a rather too messy Kev. Another top festival. Many thanks to Sooty and the Ozric's for all their hard work and for sticking us all on the guesty for their Portsmouth gig |
| October 8th 1997 |
DR BROWN play THE OLDE AVIATOR, CARTERTON, OXFORD. Formally The Golden Eagle, this proved to be a farewell gig for Landlord and Landlady Dave and Maria, who have now moved to The White Hart at Frimley (a pub Kev and Andy know only too well from their youth). The party and the beer raged until about 4.00 A.M. with Maria ending up singing rap vocals to improvised trance, created mainly by Andy and Jason. Dr Brown line up was Kev, Pete, Grant, Steff, Al, Andy, Jason, Rick and Rich. Unfortunately the 4-track went wrong during the gig. |
| November 28th 1997 |
DR BROWN play THE OYSTER
HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH. First Portsmouth gig for the now stable line up of Kev, Pete, Grant, Steff, Al, Andy, Jason and Rick. A weird night, unfortunately a huge argument erupted in the crowd right in front of the band and badly freaked out both band and audience. A cool scary tape of the gig was recorded. |
| November 29th 1997 |
DR BROWN play THE TASWELL,
PORTSMOUTH. THE BEST GIG OF THE YEAR!!!! A gig played for free beer to our mates down the Taswell. They thought we would have had enough after the litre and a half of Jack Daniels, but it took a further eight crates of Newcastle Brown to quench this particular thirst. It was like an old time D.B.. gig, hilarity, music and dancing. People said it was the best since Dave Shah (high praise indeed). Special mention must go to Caroline for pouring a whole pint of Guinness over Hippy Neil's head and to Roly Stormbringer for his organisational skills. A CD of this gig is available on this Web-site. |
| 1996 | |
| Sat 28th December 1996 |
Well we were back at The
Old Oyster House again for our Christmas / Solstice Party, an all ticket
affair that was another great success. Dr Brown was ably supported by
Fink and a short set by Portsmouths most surreal poet T. The Cosmic Voyage
came all the way from Liverpool again and mixed his version of live Drum
and Bass into the middle of the Dr Brown set.
The Dr Brown line-up comprised of:
Thanks to Roly at Stormbringer Promotions, Frog (our northern ticket agent) and everyone else who made it possible. Unfortunately no live tape was made, unless you know better! |
| Sat 7th September 1996 |
Roly Woods birthday bash
at The Olde Oyster House, Portsmouth, England was a huge success and a
very drunken time was had by all. The band were further helped along by
Roly donating a bottle of Jack Daniels to the band during the set. The
Cosmic Voyage did a great live Drum and Bass set.
The Dr Brown line-up comprised of:
Thanks to Roly and everyone else who made it possible. Look out for the live tape!! |
| Sun 4th August 1996 |
Dr Brown , Heliotrope and 20 other bands played an all day festival at Rushton Hall, Rushton (Near Northampton). Lots of people there |