Hop Farm festival – review

Paddock Wood, Kent “This is real music,” cried Prince midway through his scorching Sunday night set. “And these are real musicians.” It’s a regular claim from Prince – a man who says the internet is “over” and has backed away from the electronic experiments of the 1980s to wow crowds with proper songs on proper instruments. And it sums up this year’s Hop Farm, which was packed with vinyl-era veterans. Friday night saw Bryan Ferry ease the crowd into the evening, the coffee-table sax of Avalon and chugging rock’n’roll of Let’s Stick Together sounding glorious under the sun-dappled sky, before the Eagles – whose fans’ deckchairs stretched in great lines through the crowd – brought the night to a meandering close. Four-year-old Hop Farm has made a habit of attracting the biggest heritage rock acts – Bob Dylan played last year. There were complaints about facilities then, and about ticket pricing this year, but the vibe was friendly and the compact site pleasant, and hours of sunshine bolstered the audience’s good cheer. They needed little encouragement for Patti Smith, who backed her impassioned post-hippie speeches (“be proud, be free, be clean”) with a fine acoustic run through her standards, including a stately Pissing in a River and a rabble-rousing Gloria. Lou Reed made few such concessions, building to great hypnotic crescendos but neglecting his hits until the close of his set, when Iggy and the Stooges’ pantomime wildman routines rescued energy levels. Morrissey got a mixed response at Glastonbury , but seemed happier here, whipping through shirt changes and pulling out a sweeping rendition of Everyday Is Like Sunday and a stomping Panic. But Prince owned the festival. The man from Minnesota eschewed his recent material for a set that stuck to the glory years, full of swagger and interspersed with the odd cover – including a tremendously funky I Want to Take You Higher, with Sly and the Family Stone’s Larry Graham on bass. The band were tight throughout: Little Red Corvette was slowed down to a luscious crawl, 1999 came with hissing synths and an epic Purple Rain was near perfect. “Do you know how many hits we’ve got?” he asked. “We’ll be here ’til this time next year.” There was magnificent stagecraft – dance routines, singalongs, glitter and theatrical solos – and real substance; it’s easy to forget sometimes just how good a guitar player Prince is. By If I Was Your Girlfriend, he’s draped over his piano, eyeing the crowd coquettishly as they bay their approval. Hop Farm’s reliance on the classics paid off mightily this year – the only question is whether they can get someone this stellar to round off the next one. Rating: 4/5 Hop Farm festival 2011 Prince Festivals Pop and rock Soul Lou Reed Patti Smith Morrissey Bryan Ferry Eagles James Smart guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.