Stereophonics – Live @ Forest Live 2019
aaamusic | On 29, Jun 2019
Sunday 23rd June, Thetford Forest
The last of the Forest Live gigs in 2019 was the formidable Stereophonics playing to a sold-out 9,000-strong crowd in the depths of Thetford Forest. It was refreshing for them to play host to a proper rock band for once and they gave it their all for an unforgettable performance.
First on were Americana/Rootsy Folk duo The Wind and the Wave who made for a great support band. The harmonies between Patty Lynn and Dwight Baker were wonderful and I expect they will grow further with a big future ahead.
Onto Stereophonics who launched straight into hit after hit, delighting the expectant crowd at the front. They sounded more rockier than on record and also much louder!
A neat addition was the walk-way where a makeshift set of drums appeared during the set and the whole band played here in a more intimate guise just like in the pubs they used to play and banged out old songs ‘Gladrags and Handbags’ & ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ amongst others
Patty Lynn from Wind and the Wave came on to sing a superb duet with Kelly Jones taking the place of Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty on ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’. Another highlight was the song ‘Indian Summer’ which is the perfect uplifting song for this kind of summer evening
The band finished up with my favourite ‘Local Boy in The Photograph’ and then the crowd went wild for last song ‘The Bartender and the Thief’ with even those right at the back dancing and going crazy. They had time for 3 more for the encore which of course included their biggest hit ‘Dakota’.
The band did not have an expensive stage set up or great light show with confetti cannons. These gimmicks were not needed as the music was the main element! One downside about this forest gig was car-parking , with only a couple of marshals on hand to assist, far fewer than there were when cars arrived. It was a complete free-for-all with up to 8 lengthy queues of cars trying to merge into one in order to get to the narrowest of exits. It took a while to leave but this still didn’t detract from the Intense and powerful event that occurred an hour before we finally left.
