Music Festival Leftovers

I'm constantly amazed by the piles of stuff festival goers leave behind... boots and shoes... clothing... camping gear... cars...

Cars?

Yes, cars. Well one car to be precise, on this occasion anyway. And what was this occasion? A weekend of music events held at Caldicot Castle, Monmouthshire.

It's starting to look as though live, open air, music will be an annual event at Caldicot. Regular readers may recall I attended the Status Quo concert held there last August. This year's headline act were Little Mix who I have no interest in whatsoever, but apparently the event was a sell-out. Back to the point of this story...

Tilly likes to visit the castle grounds at Caldicot because of the number of squirrels that live there so we're regular visitors. Contractors are ground staff were still in the middle of their clean-up operations when we popped in a few days ago and skip loads of detritus were being collected and sorted. Some of the waste is recyclable of course, though most of it looked destined either landfill or furnace. The one real oddity was this:

I assume this old VW Golf is in no way an original medical vehicle, despite the very convincing paint job, decals, blue lights, dash mounted radio, etc.

NOTRUF 112 (Emergency Call 112) is a firefighting simulation game developed in cooperation with and modelled on the fire brigade of Mülheim, Germany (Mülheim has one of the largest and most modern fire stations in Europe).

Someone obviously went to a lot of trouble rigging up this car to look like an artefact from the game, which kind of confuses me since it seems to have been abandoned on the Caldicot Castle FC pitch!

Looks terribly lonely doesn't it? I wonder if the owner has any plans to recover it?

Celebs spotted at Caldicot Castle

One very recognisable face among the crowd gathering for Saturday's Quo concert at Caldicot Castle was former Wales captain and back-row player, Colin Charvis.

Status Quo fan Colin Charvis at Caldicot Castle

Were you there? Did you spot any other celebrities?

Quo rock Caldicot

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I'd see the legendary Status Quo playing a live gig in this sleepy part of the world. Indeed when I first noticed a poster advertising the forthcoming concert at Caldicot Castle I assumed I'd misread and it would be a Quo tribute band playing the venue. But no, on closer inspection the poster really did say Status Quo and what's more they would be supported by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel... obviously this was going to a night too good to be missed!

Tickets were obtained and the date eagerly awaited.

The evening kicked off with local band The Bug Club warming up the audience in what must have been for them a dream come true.

When Cockney Rebel took the stage the atmosphere kicked up a few notches the crowd really began to buzz.

Then this happened...

Status Quo take the stage at Caldicot Castle

We all knew Quo would be without Rick Parfitt who had suffered a heart attack during a concert in Turkey in early June, but that didn't detract from the crowd's excitement when the band appeared on stage. Hope the recovery goes well Rick!

Rocking all over Caldicot!

Bassist John 'Rhino' Edwards' son Freddie has stepped in to fill Rick's shoes and the lad certainly didn't look (or sound) out of place.

Freddie Edwards

The atmosphere at Caldicot Castle was now akin to that experienced at any major music festival where the audience sing, shout, dance, clap, wave inflatable guitars and generally have a lot of fun and why wouldn't it be? After all, we were enjoying some excellent music at a great location.

Francis Rossi the Grand Old Man of Rock

The Grand Old Man of Rock may be no spring chicken, but age hasn't slowed down his on-stage performance or detracted from his charisma; Rossi's lead breaks are as cutting now as they ever were.

John 'Rhino' Edwards and Andrew Brown

Rhino's driving bass lines and Andrew Brown's solid fills round out the Quo's sound while youngster Leon Cave sets the time on his skins.

Leon Cave

Playing a selection of their classic tracks, Status Quo lived up to everyone's expectations... I could witter on and on about the performance, but if you know Quo you know what we enjoyed under the night sky so I'm going to leave it there and just share some more images with you.

Just before I go, how about a couple of silly facial expressions?

Pain or Pleasure?

What're you thinking about Francis?

Coming next on Usky's Images - Status Quo at Caldicot Castle

Just an appetite whetter....

Francis Rossi doing his thing

The Main Event so to speak...

Status Quo rock Caldicot Castle

Venerable Trees and other Old Farts

I've photographed this tree a number of times and never tire of finding something new to look at when I do. I love the way the bark forms shadows and highlights against the bare wood in bright sunshine. I also love the shapes formed by the broken branches.

At first glance the tree looks to be dead, but look again and you'll see there are small areas of growth. Of course the tree will never regain its former glory, but it's interesting to keep an eye on it and note the changes over a period of years.

If only it could talk, I wonder what tales the venerable old feller would have to tell?

Thinking of old things... I'm going to see the excellent Status Quo this evening, backed by another favourite band of mine Cockney Rebel, so this aging rocker will be watching a few even older rockers doing their thing. Trust me, I'll be singing and boppin' with the best of 'em!