Cobstock 2010 is super sunny
June 10th, 2010
We were lucky enough to have ideal weather this past weekend for this year’s Cobstock Festival, much to the delight of guests, staff and the event organisers.
The fun began on Friday night when guests arrived to listen to music from 7.00pm. but Saturday brought a whole day of activities including sailing, kayaking, canoeing, climbing, abseiling, archery and trips around Chichester Harbour in Cobnor Activities Centre’s specially designed Chairboat. The sun was shining and there was a little breeze, making it ideal weather to enjoy outdoor activities, both water and land-based.
We sent our roving reporter out on the Chairboat so that while those onboard enjoyed a relaxing cruise around the Harbour, almost as far as East Head, she could get some great shots of the passengers enjoying themselves and other guests partaking in Bosun sailing, sea kayaking and canoeing with Cobnor Activities Centre and Wayfarer sailing with CYE. Kate also went out for a spin on our largest patrolling powerboat, Jenny Boone, and while she cooled off with the sea-breeze through her hair she also got some fantastic action shots of families enjoying watersports.
On land, the climbing tower and archery field were popular attractions and those who were at Cobstock to enjoy the music didn’t have long to wait as it all kicked off at 2.00pm. Here are just some of the highlights from the billing:
The Kids Next Door, two local girls and a boy, got huge cheers of support for their great acoustic renditions of some KT Tunstall and Outcast chart-toppers. Redshift were another young group, all lads this time, with an Indie-Rock edge that contributed to a particularly good cover of the Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody. The Dave Band with their folk vibe boasted two excellent female singers and bongos, which are always a winner in our opinion. They did some beautiful Gabriella Cilmi, hand-clapping Hard -Fi, and a Winehouse-esque Vallerie that rocked the field.
Later on, there came hearty blues from Dolphin, which gave a chilled out start to the evening and was a favourite with young and old. Also worth a mention is strummer extraordinaire Duncan McKenzie; just one man and his acoustic guitar who impressed the crowd with his talents reminiscent of Rodrigo y Gabriella. The Naked Flames brought us some Feeder, Stereophonics and yet more Kings of Leon. Aimee Lee sang some chilled out classics including Florence and the Machine’s Raise it Up and later on came Tim Sturdy who Kate sadly missed but is guessing that he gave a great performance based on last year. See Cobstock 2009 blog entry.
All this fabulous music and those fun-packed outdoor activities washed down with a hearty organic burger, some delicious sate sticks from the Ca’noodle Thai Taste and a few refreshing ciders with a lot of sunshine (and only the tiniest hint of rain) made for a perfect local festival. Who’s looking forward to Cobstock 2011? We are!
You forgot to mention the fantastic classical prog rock group after Aimee Lee. They were called GreenMan and absolutely rocked out with their own material and with a few covers, such as my favourite Whiskey in the Jar by Thin Lizzy. I’m very surprised you didn’t mention them, as all my friends and others thought they were terrific. Atb, Ed
You are quite right Ed, GreenMan, along with all the other bands, did indeed rock Cobstock. Thanks for your comment and we encourage everyone to tell us their favourites!
You also didn’t mention Vicky Gladwin who not only kickstarted the cobstock weekend but also played a second set later on the friday night! She performed some Janis Joplin and Norah Jones numbers not to mention her own original material and WHAT a voice!