VIDEO Cockrock success
Last updated 08:06, Wednesday, 23 July 2008
FIVE stages, 70 bands and two days - Cockrock 2008 was nothing if not ambitious. Nicole Regan joined 2,000 others in a field near Cockermouth for a weekend of music and mud and wonders when tickets are on sale for next year’s festival.
THE FEMALE steward flopped down in the chair beside me.
“I’m freezing,” she said. “It’s been that cold, a bloke lent me his coat. I’ve to meet him at nine thirty by the main stage to give it him back. I think his name’s Duncan, but I’m not really sure.”
That, for me, is the comment that sums up the atmosphere of Cockrock 2008.
No matter what we looked like, no matter that the mud was up to our armpits or that it rained heavily on the first day, 2,000 people at a rock festival in a couple of fields near Cockermouth became, for a couple of days, a rock n roll community.
There were 40-somethings on girlie weekends, young families, youngsters celebrating their 18th birthdays, hardcore rock fans and teenagers rehearsing festival life so they’d be ready for their first Glastonbury next year.
It didn’t matter that the audience was so mixed. There was something on offer for all of us.
Seventy bands, five stages, two days. An ambitious plan by organisers, but mission accomplished.
That festival feeling was improved by the fact you knew it was all for a good cause - Cockermouth Mountain Rescue and The Pride of Cumbria Air Ambulance.
Local bands appeared on the bill with acts like the Sneekypeaks and Dear Superstar.
Again, organisers judged which were the right bands to get people jumping.
Particular highlights for me were the AWOL acoustic set in the session tent, a gutsy performance by South Quay’s Keri Farish and band on the Rapid Fire stage and A Lesser Concern revealing their song-writing talent when they opened the festival on Saturday on the Slingshot stage.
Every band I saw gave it their all and Seventhwave went further to attract an audience by throwing packets of chewing gum into the crowd.
Late Saturday afternoon saw the sun peep through the clouds to see what all the noise was about and it managed to reappear on Sunday.
Workington friends Paul Robertson, 25, of Clay Street, and Paul Hillhouse, 36, of John Street, agreed.
They told me: “It’s just great. It’s a relaxed atmosphere and it’s a good event because it’s not corporate - it’s still got that festival magic.”
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