Butlin's, Bognor Regis 12 - 14 January 2018

[Mr Bod]

Yes it’s one of them Butlin’s indie weekenders ,,,http://www.rockawaybeach.co.uk/

Wild Beasts
British Sea Power
The Orb
Alabama 3
Peter Hook & The Light
Gang of Four
Honeyblood
Pulled Apart By Horses
She Drew The Gun
Helen Love


kind of tempted after you don’t have to camp… but does anyone else think this is a good idea?

[Heartland]

Not after having a cursory glance at train fares

[pomfob]

Not after having a cursory glance at train fares

Ah, but it's too early for advance ticket prices yet. Plus Trainline & National Rail only do the most obvious routes, not the cheapest.

Thinking about it, but to be honest, apart from Sea Power it's not that interesting band-wise. Will decide later in the year when I'm over my post Primavera Sound financial crisis.

[pomfob]

Not after having a cursory glance at train fares

Ah, but it's too early for advance ticket prices yet. Plus Trainline & National Rail only do the most obvious routes, not the cheapest.

Yeah, had a quick look at train fares. You could more than half the cost by booking advance from Yorkshire > London & London > Bognor, rather than all together.

[Blackout]

We've been the past two years, it's good fun. The first year was very much an attempt at (Butlins) doing their own ATP, the second year somewhat more mainstream-indie but mostly good quality stuff, as thankfully the Rockaway brand tends to mostly steer clear of the britpop, lad-rock and too many retro-only acts that tend to plague many of the in-house weekenders. And they do put some effort into the lower-down-the-bill acts, as opposed to just filling with whatever indeh crap is floating about this week.

To give you a flavour these are the bands I saw:

2015: Furs, Whyte Horses, RM Hubbert, John Knox Sex Club, Telescopes, Membranes, The Fall, Echo & The Bunnymen, Flowers, Fever Dream, Matinee, Daudi Matsiko, Jennie Vee, The Cherry Wave, Zyna Hel, Orange Yellow Red, St Deluxe, Ghostpoet, Public Service Broadcasting, Johnny Marr, Gum Takes Tooth, Teeth Of The Sea, Prince Vaseline, Big Hogg, Walleater, St Sleep, Skinny Girl Diet, Shocking Pinks, Pinkshinyultrablast, Young Fathers, Spiritualized, The Cult Of Dom Keller

2016: Eliza Shaddad, Kagoule, Blanck Mass, The Wedding Present, St Etienne, Black Honey, Eyre Llew, Gang, Desert Mountain Tribe, Clinic, Wire, Jah Wobble, Luna, Lee Scratch Perry, Suede, Batuk, TVAM, Man Made, Joanna Gruesome, Fews, Membranes, Damo Suzuki, Killing Joke, Cat's Eyes, Man Of Moon

So some notable deterioration between years 1 and 2. I thought they were trying to play it safe the second year which I think was a mistake: there are already festivals doing that, and a few more interesting acts would have been appreciated. We felt they had pitched year 1 to the (then dormant) ATP crowd, while by the time year 2 came along ATP was "back" so they went more 6Music playlist. In all honesty we weren't going to bother again, but the move (from October) into the dead-zone of mid January where gig going options are more limited, and the fact that loads of our mates decided to go for it, we ended up booking anyway. We already had a crew of about 25 of us (including many British Sea Power gigging veterans) and seeing the first line-up announcements it was like OK well we're just on a weekend away trip, will be a laugh etc. I genuinely cannot believe Alabama 3 are still going, I mean were they not basically a one-joke nineties crustival band? Shocking. More promising with the second lot, and happy to see British Sea Power finally booked (plus the quite incredible Snapped Ankles, showing they're still happy to take some chances on the undercard -more like this please!!). Fingers crossed for the rest of it - still think they should pitch a bit more to the ATP crowd now that's gone under again.

As for Bognor it's by far the nicest holiday camp of all those I've been to festivals at (which is quite a few), even nicer than Butlins at Minehead which itself is way, way nicer then the better Pontins at Camber (we don't talk about Pontins Prestatyn, I'm still having nightmares); there are traditional chalets but you can book an actual (on site) hotel room for not much more. Really nice hotels too.

Last year's also provided my favourite festival moment of all time, that being the sight of Jaz Coleman the morning after Killing Joke's blistering headline set, still dressed like the dark lord, being extremely indecisive and slightly confused regarding fillings at the make-while-you-wait omelette counter at breakfast :)

[bancroftboy]

as above really, the line up is less than stellar but nothing that isn't fixable by adding a few lower level interesting bands. As with Blackout I booked a while ago having realised that a big crew of 3rd (many retired) and assorted mates and hangers on were going. It will be fun whatever but I will admit to a certain amount of relief when the BSP announcement happened.

[PontiacB]

I regret not gong the first year, but we had a great time last year, facilities were brillant and I really liked Bognor, had everything I'm looking for in a seaside place (Wetherspoons, Crazy Golf, Land train, decent pubs in some of the neighbouring villages).

There seemed to be less bands last year compared to the first year, as they did away with the third stage, but still enough of interest to keep me happy. The first announcement this time was pretty disappointing for me, but it's beginning to look better now and highly recommend it to everyone.

[Rake]

Pulled Apart By Horses are great live.