Tag: simply the best

The Grand Return of CrownFest

The first week into July, and two local festivals of five ticked off! CrownFest went down a hit with those who attended this fantastic reputation repair job….

CrownFest at The Crown in Bishops Cannings spawned in 2022, providing landlords sustainability and was a lesson into how to run a lively, community-driven village pub. A majority of the village turned out with a sprinkling of townsfolk, but there was always a handful of killjoy villagers frowning upon it.

Once its reputation preceded itself, the following year saw much greater attendance, particularly from outside the village. Little did we know, due to the vocal minority’s protest, its pinnacle would be its demise. After a furious and often ludicrous campaign, including claiming proprietors stole a gorilla statue from Scotland, didn’t get permission to paint their outside bar, and other petty, police time-wasting falsehoods, with pitchforks at dawn they drove the landlords out and replaced them with another determined to shut out villagers with paid parking and convert the premises into an overpriced Conservative gastro restaurant.

As prime real estate, if it was an unstable era for The Crown, it was short-lived. The proceeding landlady knowingly committed election fraud in a bid for a seat on the council and, once exposed, waddled off with her tail between her legs. The thing is, you couldn’t have imagined this political ballyhoo backstory at the sun shiny CrownFest 2026, much less cared about it.

Undertaking the task of repairing the Crown’s former communal reputation, CrownFest was the icing on the new landlord’s cake. Organiser Eddie Prestidge of Stone Circle marched proudly past me, suggesting I quoted him on “they said I’d never squeeze twelve bands into one day!” But he did, and still it was quality over quantity.

I rocked up to see the end of The Publicans, a vigorously adroit Irish folk collective, and things looked healthy and happy at CrownFest already. A trailer stage with a control tower breathed top class technical production, with a second stage, campervans and tents to the rear of the site, and nestled in-between, a generous helping of attendees.

Again, in this saturated market, this festival could’ve and should’ve attracted more. They’re building back from the vacant years, but all the ingredients to a great festival were present here; note, for next year.

Fundraising for the Wiltshire Hope & Harmony charity, who create dementia choirs, the surroundings of CrownFest are beautiful, the pub is alive once again, and friendly faces came to enjoy themselves. Even the outdoor gents were proper posh and clean!

Time to check the second stage while Welsh tribute Ant Trouble tuned on the main. Two’s Company stood in at the last moment for Lucas Hardy. As the name might suggest an accomplished duo with John E Wright on bass, wonderfully performing folk-rock singalongs.

Ruby Darbyshire followed, once again holding the crowd spellbound with the perfect balance of covers and originals. After this sublime performance it was time for some ant music!

Perhaps it was niche and retrospective, but I and most others enjoyed it. I’ve been looking forward to seeing Ant Trouble again since they rinsed Swindon’s Vic three years ago, especially since the band wishes to end this tribute in order to concentrate on their original electro art-punk outfit, Head Noise. They came out firing on all cylinders with their tribute to Adam and the Ants; elders who understood (the family) and even the kids loved its lively punk-fantasy vibes.

Everything from then on was a Stone Circle showcase; the best acts you’ll find them putting onto pub and club gigs. Out of all our local festivals this undoubtedly supports local acts most and this, to me, is a very important point.

Starter, George Wilding. The real prince charming, the friendliest local human jukebox you’re ever likely to meet, with that golden voice raised the roof appeasing punters who yell out their requests and join him in chorus; legend in his own shirt!

A kindly talented fellow of George’s calibre rounding off with Three Lions on a Shirt, when we were still in doubt of Monday’s outcome, and Bohemian Rhapsody, wasn’t going to make the stage easy for anyone following with a policy of originals only, but it wouldn’t deter Wiltshire’s finest indie-pop darlings Talk in Code. I never tire from watching their dynamic show.

I do wish, though, this shallow trend of wetting knickers over some covers rather than supporting local acts writing and producing their own material would lessen. Talk in Code came out on fire and did the thing we love them doing; an electric set of timeless indie-pop anthems. It doesn’t take more than a few clicks to follow a band online, and familiarise yourself with their songs, and pretty soon, I guarantee, you’ll be creating the atmosphere akin to how you would if they covered Mr Bright Skies.

In this, I thought the rota could’ve worked better if Ant Trouble followed Talk in Code, and George filled in while Kinisha was preparing, then again if I’m to nickpick judging on what I caught of The Publicans, they could’ve suitably been pushed up the lineup too. As I said, CrownFest saw a plethora of great music, all of which needs to slot in someplace.

Sure, Kinisha stole the show, the headline Tina Turner tribute is called and is Simply the Best. But, sunhats off to the team for a brilliant festival of variety in acts, and communal vibes, which none faltered from toppermost quality. All round, CrownFest absolutely rocked Bishop’s Cannings and put The Crown firmly back on the top spot it deserves to reclaim.

The temperature and L-shaped site didn’t fare so well in coaxing attendees to move from stage to stage, many, in conversation and self-made merriment favoured to pick one and stick to it. But hey, that’s the shape the garden is and, seemingly the motivation of overheated Bishops Cannings residents not to stray too far from the shade, bar or barbecue! As long as they had fun, that’s what matters, and CrownFest certainly provided that.

For myself, I am delighted to see CrownFest return this year, and hope it will be an annual feature on our local festival event calendar once again.

Brian on FullTone Festival

Our regular historian and Visiting Research Fellow of The Regional History Centre, UWE Bristol, Brian Edwards takes some time to sketch the FullTone Orchestra ahead…

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Simply the Best, CrownFest!

If last year I trundled off the 49 at Bishops Cannings in a blazing heatwave alone, this time things were different; the bus was heaving with revellers, mostly unprepared for the torrential rain forecast, enough to warrant me query out loud if anyone onboard wasn’t going to CrownFest, and if not, did they have a pac-a-mac I could borrow?!

Attendance figures made for a vast improvement to last year’s inaugural festival at this wonderful village watering hole, which although was a thoroughly smashing occasion, due to a date clash with Devizes carnival could have been better attended. In fact, the unavoidably unpredictable British summer time climate could possibly be my only whinge this time around, as the rationale maintained “might as well make the most of it,” rang through the beer garden of the Crown, and everyone, it seemed, had a fantastic time.

And to add importantly, downpours were sporadic and at better times the sun poked his head around the gloomy clouds to say hi. Dapper in country attire, Cap’n Rasty’s Skiffle City Rockers were already underway, with highly entertaining skiffle variations of classic pop covers, a few traditional folk singalongs thrown in for authenticity. New to me this one, they were utterly proficient with an air of timeless cool.

Nonchalant was the vibe in general, though, in the face of adversity; a possible landslide to the next village, or trench-foot at the very least. Lesser in sidestalls, perhaps due to the forecast, the arrangement of tables and chairs which last year caused an elongated divide between the stage and bar had been realigned and by design everything was tickety-boo.

But it has to be awarded, the medal of honour for service and total dedication to the cause, to all the young staff at the Crown who worked tirelessly under mounting pressure to serve everyone their poison and tucker with a smile. Basically, gen z staff retained decorum, ironed every trivial issue, and restlessly served their elders, generation x, who generally fell drunkenly into marshland and partied like they were sixteen again and never saw Abba or Tina Turner!

And for want of a better nutshell there it is. Anyone there, lucky enough to have seen the originals of any of these triple billed tribute acts in their prime, would’ve been in the minority, for all intents and purposes, I couldn’t pick a more skilled one between them. This retrospective appeal is why tribute acts are a welcomed trend, and after every new one I witness I’m convinced of their worth and place in live entertainment that bit more.

If three succeeding tributes was a good move by music organiser Tunnel Rat Studio’s Eddie Prestidge, I call allowing all acts an extended ninety minute set a risk which also paid off. Band changes were fewer and swiftly operated; birthday boy Fantasy Radio DJ Marc Anthony was there anyway.

Personal favourite goes without saying, taking the finale, The Marley Experience was everything I could have wanted and more, truly a dedicated and precise homage to Bob Marley and the Wailers of the highest quality and sublimely executed entertainment. They marched through the classic discography, and saved time for a few lesser known tracks, like Soul Rebel. I know my reggae, and this was irie dread-I to the highest heights.

On the other hand, despite Abba not being my cuppa, I was converted by the Abba All Stars even in the most torrential section of the day; imagining how beguiling the Swedish innovators of pop would have been in their heyday was made easy with these confident young band looking and sounding every bit the part…Waterloo, or portaloo, it didn’t matter now, we were soaked to the skin, and we didn’t care, and this was mostly thankful to the Abba All Stars. Quote me on this at your own risk, as it’s something I’d never thought I’d say; “I loved this Abba tribute!”

Nestled between though was my most negative preconception, having seen in the past the kind of Tina Turner tribute to put you off of Tina Turner tributes for life, and forgoing the wealth and power of a voice like Tina’s is near impossible to effectively pull off, but Kinisha Morgan-Williams did, with bells on. The Tina Turner tribute known as Simply the Best was indeed as advertised. It was nothing short of phenomenally accurate, even on those soulful ballads, Kinisha absolutely rinsed it and wowed the crowd. Particularly memorable was Kinisha’s Nutbush duet with Eddy Armani; what a dynamic show blessed in realism and excitement.

But, simply the best part of CrownFest was this insatiably friendly festive vibe with an air of enthusiasm and unification from staff, volunteers, punters to performers there was the underlying notion this is the start of an annual landmark in local feelgood festivals in which the villagers welcome revellers and assign themselves to good times. After the success of this weekend, we hope CrownFest will continue; you should consider yourself extremely unfortunate if you miss next year’s.

The sum of all these parts meant CrownFest was nothing short of the kind of superb spirit drizzle couldn’t dampen. Though if locally sourced acts were shorter in billing, those Junkyard Dogs can bark up enough wattage for three bands, with their irresistible electric blues covers. Oh yes, the Dogs did their thing and rocked the show prior to this plethora of tributes and is always an unmissable hoedown. Leon Daye Band unfortunately I arrived too late for, could still taste the toothpaste, soz.

Time to summarise, if I have to accept it’s all over for another year. On our doorstep, a small pub-run festival only in its second year which packs far more punch than this definition, and far beyond the average of its kind. We could debate musically it’s geared towards generation x, against the notion the eighties produced timeless acts legendarily to all, but as, proudly, I’m of that era, CrownFest 2023 was an awesome all-rounder, with or without an umbrella.

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The Grand Return of CrownFest

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