SEVEN bands put in seven great performances to mark seven years of Peelstock at Peel football club on Saturday.
Once again the popular festival raised money for the Tommy Clucas Memorial Fund.
‘1,200 turned up, which was fantastic. Anything over a thousand is great.’ said Kelvin Dawson, co-organiser of the event.
It’s all to build a community sportshall for the area, at Peel football club. Even before this year’s festival, Peelstock has raised £250,000 for the project.
‘It’s looking like we raised something in the region of £13,000 this year,’ reported Kelvin. ‘We’ve had planning permission passed too, so we’ll hopefully start building the sports hall in late autumn.’
For all the fundraising sub-plot, on the day itself Peelstock is all about the music.
‘I thought all the bands were outstanding, top notch,’ said Kelvin. ‘Manx music is always so strong; we’ve had something like 35 different bands playing over the years which shows the depth of the scene.’
This year saw seven bands take the stage: The Bar Toads, the synth-tinged melody of Native, the powerful riffy rock of four-piece Final Cut, the polished popular covers from Caution Runners, the rootsy shenanigans of Nick Barlow and the Bad Noise, the youthful indie energy of The Cosmos and the accomplished sound of 3 Million.
What were Kelvin’s musical highlights?
‘It’s not fair to single out bands, especially because a lot of the music passes me by because I’m running round problem solving, but I thought Final Cut were very good,’ he said diplomatically.
‘Also when 3 Million played Faithless’ Insomnia towards the end was great, the place was bouncing for that.’
Health and safety meant the stage wasn’t pearched upon its usual scaffolding platform, but Kelvin said having the marquee on the ground worked well.
‘Having the marquee on the ground made people more involved, it brought people to the dancefloor earlier on instead of spread around the field,’ he said. ‘The bands all said it really added to the atmosphere.’
Organisers responded this year to the notoriously boisterous portions of the 14 to 17 year old age bracket with a system that limited the amount of wristbands available for them, and movement in and out of the site.
The system meant that, at least inside the site itself and thanks to police and stewards, it was an incident-free festival.
And the proof of enjoyment, of course, was in the feedback.
‘People were commenting on their way out how impressed they were, with the music, the lighting, everything. And the police were fantastic as usual, we had no issues inside.’
Last year a second day was organised, unfortunately ultimately a victim to the weather. This year was back to the traditional one day format.
‘Because everyone gives up their time for the event, we thought it might be a bit much to ask two days of them,’ said kelvin. ‘We have to think of them, Peelstock really couldn’t happen without everyone who contributes their time. A massive thanks to PokerStars, ELS Lighting, 3FM, A3 Marquees, The Waterfall pub, Horizon Scaffolding, Anglin Buttimore for the sound, and all the volunteers.’
Can we expect a Peelstock 2013?
‘Definitely,’ said Kelvin. ‘It has cemented itself as an event for Peel. Seven years in we can see it works, it raises money, it raises the profile of the charity, and people have a great time.’
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