The Apple Cart Festival Review

Adam Ant Woz here

This was the second time that weekend I ventured to Victoria Park having enjoyed Field Day the previous day. We were treated to blazing sun and good music. This however was quite the sharp turn. The weather was truly appalling which of course the festival organizers could not control, but was  a  sorry start to the day after arriving already soaked to the skin.

The Apple-Cart premise was a more family orientated festival so that the yummy-mummys and la-dee-dah parents of East London could show off their tartaned posh strollers and break out their Hunters wellingtons.

The festival was well put together and kept most of the same feel as Field Day with the same food stalls and tents still erected, which were packed due to the chronic rain lashings.

First up was watching some of Francois & The Atlas Mountains. A band I’d been wanting to see for a while not just due to the name,  but some catchy pop nuggets I’d heard drifting around. They did a good job in keeping some of the rain sodden audience interested but a lacklustre performance, I felt was due to wanting to be out and dry as soon as possible.  Not much different from the way I felt.

Next up was Gaz Coombes, one of the acts I was most interested to see that day.  Being a lifetime Supergrass fan I was very interested to see how this new direction would take him, I wasn’t disappointed.  Always a warming chap with a great ear for melody. Looked pretty sharp too.  Nipped across to see Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat which was another of the acts I was excited to see. They didn’t let down. The album is wonderful, a slice of urban curtain twitching amend general downbeat morbidness (in the best possible way) and live it was ten times better. The perfect setting for this kind of music to be even more affecting and I loved every second of it.

Then into another dry area to see Lee Gorton dj. Old friend and singer in the wondrous indie pop stalwarts Alfie. Good heartwarming folk tunes to help keep the rain at bay. Stayed mainly in the Spinning Wheel stage from here on in as the weather turned from really bad, to really worse. Notable acts were Penguin Cafe, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny and Scritti Politti, I was pretty overjoyed to see.

At that point,  I had to admit defeat and leave, sodden shoes and more rain needed remedying. A delightful day regardless of the weather though. Strongly recommended for all!