CHAMPFEST 23rd / 24th March 2024

CHAMPFEST

The Champion, Chapelfield Road

Saturday 23rd / Sunday 24th March 2024

Champfest 2024 

Every Monday evening in the front bar of The Champion there is a gathering of songwriters and musicians who under the gentle guidance of Pete Turrel and John Fennel test out new material, refine revised songs, or just practice with the aim of getting some honest and trustworthy feedback. It is not an open mic for audience entertainment, but a musicians' circle for musicians and Chris The Poet.

Some seriously good musicians attend this event and the licensee, Jackie has said that this event is her most enjoyable evening of the pub week. And so it came to pass that ten years into her tenure as landlady, Jackie organised Champfest, which for a £5 wristband a punter could enjoy Happy Hour prices all Saturday and Sunday and listen to  some of the city's most popular local musicians.

I duly u-turned my motor and popped in for a wristband on my way home from playing footy on the Monday evening prior to Champfest.  This time I was grateful for the frustration of football's International Break weekend, knowing that I would free to be royally entertained in one of Norwich's very best pubs.

When Saturday decided to pitch up in my calendar, I strolled down Queen's Road a little off the pace, so arrived just in time for the end of John Fennel's set. John has his own catchy, clever tunes, but this afternoon was happy to play catchy covers. 

John is a great performer.  Quietly spoken and under-stated in his everyday presence, here is a man who comes to life when armed with a guitar and plugged into an amp.  Before you know it, your foot is tapping and you are rocking gently along to his engaging performance. While the pub was sorting itself out through the early afternoon, while people were beginning to filter in from the the shops, and Saturday chores, John enlisted the words of Rod Steward for a classic sing-a-long I Don't Want Talk About It. Ideal for the assembling audience. Suitably maudlin and downbeat for a Saturday afternoon. You could tell everyone, (everyone who was paying attention) enjoyed a moment of quiet reflection on long-gone personal pasts. A great choice of song by John, quintessential drinking music. Uniting the crowd by dividing them into emotional silos - brilliant! Some were just thinking of where and when they first heard the song, when life was simply lying ahead of them, like a viper lying across a woodland path on a spring afternoon.

I am sorry that I had not been in in time for Pete Turrel's opening set, but I was delighted to have caught some of John's playing. He never fails to deliver a good time.

After a very brief interlude up stepped Joey Herzfeld, who is a prolific writer of quirky songs. He performs many from the keyboard, but is one of those people who has the music in him and he was very keen to get up and un-sheath his accordion and dance as he played. The  man is possessed by music and stories. His songs are really funny and he uses his music to emphasise the bizarre twists of his lyrics. Here are melodies and lyrics that jump and spring around like a puppy getting used to a leash. Is the song form a constraint, or a toy.  Listening and watching Herzfeld performing is a bit like seeing a pup not sure whether it is supposed to snap at the lead, chase its tail, or walk to heel. 

All good fun, but as always beneath the humour there is more to be revealed. Table for One is a particularly moving break-up number.  Defiant in the face of abandonment, Herzfeld conjures up the singular pleasures of dining alone, despite the isolation of loneliness. 

 

Half-hanged Woman, based on a failed-execution ghost story from Edinburgh, is an observation on the cruelty of public (or any) execution.  Joey was basically nuts and great fun. He would have gone on had there had been more time. An idea of his lyrical approach is the title of his first collection on Spotify, Joey Herzfeld and His So Called Friends. Yes, that's the kind of song-writer he is, where everything you do , or say is potential song-writing material.

We then enjoyed a shift of tone and style to piano and electro-pop / Euro-pop / Eurovision Song Contest contender Rowanna Chown. Playing and performing her own compositions, including the top pop of The One for Me, (I could happily play this on repeat all evening to be honest - on the right evening!).

Rowanna is a striking figure and she treats every audience like she's live on Top of The Pops. She gives everything to her performance, free event or not! We heard Septic Love, which is a really strong dramatic number, the really clever Cry My Art Out, (which is getting some decent numbers on Spotify), and along with a few others, including her latest number, Hound. All available on Spotify, along with Heart Tattoo, which is a classic of its type.

     

By the time Ross Stewart pitched up, around three o'clock, the pub was filling up and those who had been in for a while were enjoying the cumulative effects of beer, wine, or a few shots. Voices were being raised in good humour just to be heard above all the other voices that were raised in equal good humour. The landlady made her way smoothly from group to group, checking-in on her customers, receiving congratulations and best wishes on her decade of success. The drinks were flowing and the wonderful Champion atmosphere: conversation, laughter and music was brewing up well.

Ross had a bit of challenge on his hands. The roughly assembled customers were becoming more like a crowd. Space was at a premium. Getting to the loo was an exercise in timing, patient manoeuvring and good manners, getting back to where one once was, was equally demanding, but not a trip undertaken with such mild panic. Getting back to your place was going to happen and time was not so tight, allowing for passing quips and part-conversations as a route was found through the merry throng.

The Ross Stewart set began at four o'clock and was an absolute blast.  One of the things Ross has developed with his non-stop gigging, with his band RSG, or when playing solo, is the ability to read the room. The Champion had descended, or switched to full on Party Mode. Ross wielding his finest acoustic guitar, well amped up, piled in and cheerfully led the party for most of two hours, (with just a short break to catch his breath).  Starting with Take Me To The River then Primal Scream's Country Girl Stewart set an early pace before stepping it up with a selection of sing along numbers, once he realised that his job was to play the pied piper and lead the party, all would be well. Even with everyone who was  singing, singing along there was a lot of chatter in the background and as true-pro Stewart just had to run with it. He did manage to squeeze in some of his own stuff, Suzanna went down well, but the crowd were running on parallel lines by then so the artist, now a troubadour, threw in Have You Ever Seen The Rain, which kept the pub choir going until he could launch into Dakota the classic Stereophonics' number, during which he was able to lay down his instrument and let the choir finish the song for him.

Inevitably, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) came up as a request, given his Tayside accent and he good-naturedly commented on the perpetual poor timing of the 'bunch of English' in joining the chorus that he has to endure about once a month. Alright Now went down a storm, even when Ross forgot a verse and the people helped him out. Random requests made the set, notably Superstition and Blue Suede Shoes. One number that showcases Stewart's ability to play a mean guitar and will get an audience involved is Sweet Child of Mine. Cheers and laughter greeted the end of each number and when, after nearly two hours playing we had an acapella medley, led by Ross and Jackie, of We Will Rock You and I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) it was time for me to head home for some nosebag. 

Here is a link to Land's End, Ross Stewart's first self-written song. I hope that you enjoy it.

        

It was difficult getting out of the pub, but a journey filled with witty and friendly chatter.

Later when I returned the front bar was given up to the main act of the evening, Jacksback.  They are a covers band. Perfect Saturday night pub party fodder and were fabulous. The place was rammed with happy people. The tunes were familiar and fun. I hung on until just after ten o'clock, but when I started sneezing in reaction to a smoker's return to the bar, I had to leave.

I never made it back for Sunday's Run Dogs and the stunning Starsound karaoke, which was a shame in the month when the world lost the inventor of kareaoke, Shigeichi Negishi. I had lost my wristband somewhere in Earlham Park and those sneezes were now a cold, so a second day in a crowded pub was definitely out, but what a fab day it had been.  The Champion! Cheers to Ten Years! Brilliant!

Spencer Ide

24th March 2024