Rock and Bike Festival
Draycott House Showground
Derbyshire DE72 3PE
16th,17th & 18th July 2010
Just 2 miles from M1,J25
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A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THE DEDICATED RABF TEAM AND WORKERS WHO STUCK IT OUT FROM BEGINNING TO END, AND TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO SUPPORTED & ATTENDED
Through The Lens by Laurine Clifford
As a keen photographer and keen festival goer I was really pleased to be asked to cover this years festival for Moonshine Magazine.

I wasn’t too worried when on Thursday morning I woke up to a rainy day. I’m a happy little camper and I wasn’t about to let a little bad weather dampen my spirits. I arrived at the showground mid afternoon and in between showers and with a little help from a neighboring camper managed to get my tent up in what was to turn into a very wet and windy day but even so I could see the campsite was already filling up nicely.

There were three bands on Thursday night, a little late starting due to the bad weather and the inevitable technical glitches that brings, but it didn’t spoil the party atmosphere.

Things really got into full swing on Friday though, with The Brown Bottle Band kicking off the proceedings on the indoor stage as promised. The weather had improved a little too and I spent the day backwards and forwards between the two stages so as not to miss anything. It was good to see Dawn Trader who hadn’t played for over twenty years and I have to admit I did tarry a while when Juicy Lucy took to the main stage in the afternoon. The highlight of my Friday though was AC/DC UK, who rocked it to a packed marquee, it’s not the easiest thing to take pictures whilst you’re dancing! And after finding my tent had survived the weather (although a little damp) I fell into my sleeping bag exhausted, wondering what the next day would bring.
Toyah Willcox as the Devil Queen
Photo L.Clifford
Emily Clarke & Steve Steinman as Pandora & Baron Von Rockula Photo L.Clifford

Saturday and the campsite was packed and I spent the morning wandering around the many stalls and taking pictures of the bikes rolling into the arena. It was much more relaxed and it was good to see so many families at the festival. In the afternoon after the Tattoo Competition I headed over to the indoor stage to catch The Ramonas, the only all girl band on this weekend and I wasn’t disappointed. After which I left the tent to the cheers of the guys watching the pole dancers ringing in my ears. Then it was the turn of the Custom Bikes to take the stage, and even the sun made an appearance which just about made it a perfect Saturday afternoon.

By the time I headed over to the main stage early evening to catch Are You Experienced, a very good Hendrix tribute I could see the crowds already beginning to gather for the Vampires Rock Show. As I jostled for a place with the other photographers I could feel the excitement and anticipation build. There seemed to be twice as many people this year. And boy were we treated to an extravaganza. Steve Steinman as The Baron and a wonderful Emily Clark as Pandora were joined on stage by Toyah as the Evil Queen as they belted out all the favourite rock anthems.
I was lucky enough to meet up with Toyah briefly backstage and grab a couple of quick photos before heading back to the Grand Finale of the weekend The Wet T-Shirt Competition…surprisingly all the male photographers had disappeared, but there was no shortage of guys asking if they could swap places with me!
All in all it was a great weekend, this Rally just seems to get better and better and I can’t wait to see what next years brings….Roll on 2011

Laurine Clifford

 

The Rock and Bike Festival 2010 by Gd ManofMetal

Friday...
Festival season is well underway as I head off to Draycott in Derbyshire for the third annual Rock & Bike fest, I was here last year for one day only and it was cold and wet for most of that day. This year though I’m here for the duration and although there’s plenty of heavy showers around on the Friday accompanied by strong winds, it is warm temperatures that greet the ever expanding crowds of happy campers as the tented ‘village’ of festival goers begins to take shape. Draycott House showground is an ideal setting for a weekend of rock music and custom bikes, Thursday night sees a couple of bands start proceedings on the indoor stage, I confess to missing this as the pub was calling my name. Midday on Friday and I’m on it, probably the highlight of the weekend for me is the return of Nottingham’s NWOBHM legends Dawn Trader playing only their second gig in a quarter of a century. I’d byforgotten how good these hard rockers were, I can remember seeing them at Heanor Miners Welfare back in 1982 as well Rock City that same year, they sure woke up the crowd at Rock and Bike and started the ball rolling for the weekend. The thing with festivals especially ones with more than one stage is you can’t be everywhere at once, coupled with the fact that this one is local for me so I can’t move an inch without bumping into someone I know this means I’m bound to miss some of the bands.

The next band of note I catch up with is Toxic Federation, these young guys played here last year and are back by popular demand, they play a lot of gigs locally so most folk have already seen them before but boy do they put on a show. After playing a lengthy set the crowd were practically eating out of their hands by the time they came off the stage.

 

T-Rex Photo L.Clifford
 
Cloey Ramona - The Ramonas Photo L.Clifford

Back indoors sheltering from the showers it’s time for some Motorhead madness down the front, Motorkill take the stage and deliver a quality rendition of Lemmy and the boys playing all the classics, the mosh pit is fearsome and yours truly lingers around the edges of this mayhem. Motorkill come from the west midlands and to my mind are the definitive Motorhead tribute band in the country and they’re a bloody great bunch of chaps off stage too. I don’t catch much of Guns For Hire or Quadrophonia but I know if you watched them ‘you won’t get fooled again’ as they both put on a good show. Headlining the Friday night out door stage is the afore mentioned T-Rex, now I’m not too sure how many bands can officially call themselves T-Rex these days but this band surely is one of them. Playing all the familiar Bolan songs these guys and galls put on a ..Stirling.. show now under cover of twilight as the rain has bogged off for a bit.

With the headliners on the main stage finishing up around eleven thirty or so this leaves a logistical quandary and my first gripe about a wonderful festival, where was everyone gonna go at the end of T-Rex? Yeah that’s right into the indoor arena to see the Friday night finale AC/DC UK well the reality is there just isn’t enough room, a concern that needs to be addressed for next year.

After a mighty struggle your intrepid reporter does manage to get down the front for one of the UK’s best AC/DC tribute bands, playing till around 1am when the curfew is called AC/DC UK shoehorn a lot of ‘classics’ into their set finishing up with for those about to rock thus sending everyone back to the camp site happy.

With music being played through the night in the tented village there’s little sleep to be had, I I managed to hit the sack around 4am, ear plugs an essential as we’re camped next to a noisy bunch from Derby (Beardy Weirdly!!!! Shut it!!!!).  
Saturday...
The summer weather returns for Saturday and although there’s some drizzle around in the morning the afternoon is glorious. There’s plenty to do at Rock & Bike fest with a children’s play area and loads of merchandise stands from which I purchase some nifty t-shirts and a hoodie. The custom bike show is well under way with the presentations being held late afternoon, low and behold with three winning trophies including best in show it’s Nigel one of out campsite mates and I can tell you he wasn’t too fussed about entering his bike into the competition, it just shows, ‘he who dares’… Back to the live music and first band of the day for me is me old muckers Verbal Warning, playing old school punk original songs with a few crowd pleasing covers thrown in for good measure.
Verbal Warning kick out a fun show with a few challenging lyrics in their own songs and manage to avoid playing any Ramones numbers in deference to the band that’s to follow them. The Ramonas are an all girl Ramones tribute band and play a short set (not their fault) to an appreciative crowd who keep up the energy levels down at the front of the stage, mirroring front woman Lisa (Cloey Ramona) who is leaping around the stage like a year old filly.
ZZ Hot, Are You Experienced and Stone are three bands I only catch in passing and before it’s time for the headlining two acts of the festival, Vampires Rock (outdoor) and Bad Company (indoor) we are treated to a couple of short sets by Hell on High Heelz, a duo of pole dancing ladies who perform some intricate routines to rock music, they get their name from the Motley Crue track, a definite crowd pleaser in any ones book.

AC/DC UK Photo L.Clifford

Back to the main out door stage and Vampires Rock is a musical comedy set in the near future with Steve Steinman as Baron Von Rockula and special guest star Toya Wilcox as the Devil Queen, the show is packed with covers from the likes of Queen, Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, Rainbow, Bonnie Tyler, AC/DC etc etc. Now if you’re gonna play covers then this is the way to do it, a great spectacle with many a costume change along the way and Toya being a huge star that she is was flown in by helicopter only an hour or two before the performance, that’s the way to do it. When eventually the vampires head off into the night it’s suddenly time for the last band of the weekend to hit the stage on the indoor arena. Bad Company keep the audience waiting due to some technical issue and when they finally hit the stage fail to impress me with what I can only describe as a lack lustre performance, a disappointment at the end of a great weekend. I’m sure many people present did enjoy Bad Company but in my book you just can’t replace Paul Rodgers. On a lighter note, the star of the weekend by a country mile was a yellow inflatable giraffe called Jeff Gigs; he popped up on everyone’s photos and harassed pretty much every band by trying to invade the stage at every opportunity… What a star! GD.

Best In Show Photo L.Clifford
 
The Ramonas Faithealer Hot Fuss Motorkill T-Rex Vampires Rock Bad Company Guns4Hire ACDC UK Are You Experienced Quadrophonia
The Ramonas Faithealer Hot Fuss Motorkill T-Rex Vampires Rock Bad Company Guns4Hire ACDC UK Are You Experienced Quadrophonia
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The Ramonas Faithealer Hot Fuss Motorkill T-Rex Vampires Rock Bad Company Guns4Hire ACDC UK Are You Experienced Quadrophonia