Woodfest defies the weather!

by Glen Screeton

TERRIBLE weather didn’t dampen the spirit at Woodfest but it certainly tried its hardest!

Excellent organisation by Sam Heathcotes ‘Eventive’ team , a fabulous venue at The Woodlands Pub in Great Sankey and six musical acts from 1 till 9pm with full DJ support turned this potential garden party into its deserved status of mini-festival last Saturday, July 22.

Approximately 300 revellers occupied the outdoor/ covered seating area and set up camp alongside the bbq , pizza, cake & pretzel stalls, and with an inside and outside bar what more did they need!

A fantastic stage with superb sound from Nathan Higham greeted the first act at 1.15pm , namely soloist Lee Egerton a.k.a Defined By. With the rain slowly coming down and the crowd under cover it was always going to be a tough act .However,strong vocals and clean guitar play with a mix of original and cover songs did the job and the crowd quickly warmed to him.

Second and third acts were soloists Suzie Whitlow and Keree Sheree in that order who sang in fine form to well known backing tracks to keep the crowd entertained, and by this time people had ventured out from cover and were dancing ‘poncho clad’ in the drizzle , a sign of things to come before the fourth act appeared on stage.
This was the first band of the day, popular locals ‘Jonny Foreigner’ with a lively 1 hour set of high-tempo covers and frontman Gordon Shaw’s infectious energy had many brave revellers dancing in the teeming rain.
Following a scheduled 20.minute changeover and supported by great music from DJ Peter Aramayo the next band up were ‘The Raymonds ‘ – this young Warrington outfit continue to grow in confidence and raced through their own set of Funky Pop which was well received and they gained deserved recognition and more followers . The author will be writing a special feature about the band shortly.

Headline act for the festival was the tribute band ‘No Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ who took to the stage under leaden skies at 7pm and played a set of Oasis and Noel Gallagher songs very well indeed. There was also a nice touch by frontman Richard and festival organiser Sam, as their 10 year old daughter Grace played keyboards/effects and sang tuneful backing vocals as a one-off for the festival . Finally, and in closing ,the band played the well known tune ‘ Don’t Look Back in Anger ‘ which was belted out by the soaked revellers who, by now were beyond caring about the rain before heading back to the warm sanctuary of the bar a little earlier than scheduled.
Overall , and despite the weather this inaugural festival can be deemed a success and let’s hope it continues for years to come and adds to Warrington’s ever growing number of music events.