By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum

WHEN?: Friday 11 November to Sunday 13 Hovember 2022

Friday

Last year, Dub Pistols closed this 90s indie (and other animals) festival. This year, we had the honour of them opening it. Here we go again, another mucky weekend.

• Read on for reasons including Salad, EMF, Terry Christian, Ash and Utah Saints

The bombastic dub-electronic echoed around the Skyline stage but we needed to bail after a few songs; our mate was arriving and we had to hear one of our favourite singles from the 90s. 

In the Inn on the Green, Salad entertained a squashed in crowd. We missed them a few years ago but just had to catch Drink the Elixir. The self-titled “little Dutch girl” didn’t disappoint. It was all about the songs this year. This is our sixth trip and we’ve seen almost all of the bands before.

We caught EMF in Skyline – only really for Unbelievable. We skipped Stereo MCs (great last time) and Happy Mondays (seen them so many times) and had a party back at our accommodation. Best laid (excuse the pun) plans to see Laid (James tribute) fell apart after the third bottle of fizz. 

Saturday

We do love a tribute, but we usually like them when we’ve had a few drinks. 11:30 was far too early for Nirvanot, in Reds. Musically they were great and as we’re never going to see the real thing, we definitely enjoyed hearing the songs. 

Next up, Beast Decoys. The name is enough to make us smile but oh my, what a performance! Again, we’ll never see the real thing (well we did at a festival in the 90s) but that won’t be repeated. These guys, along with an amazingly skilful DJ, took us through the whole back catalogue, engaging well with the audience. The level of admiration for the Beastie Boys is such that one of them has an album cover tattooed onto this chest! Ending with Sabotage, the troupe were sabotaged by 70s police lookalikes from the video. Well worth seeing.

A first for us this year – In Conversation with Terry Christian – he took us through key clips from The Word, explaining his background and how it all fitted together and how things have changed (some uncomfortable viewing included). Terry is a good speaker, you know he has much more he could say but he can’t. And his book (which I bought) has been through five lawyers! He did do an honest Q&A session afterwards, but we’re not allowed to post his answers. I asked him, while queueing for the book, what he thinks about Stewart Lee’s comments about them being confused for each other. He said he knows him and he’s been to see him lots and he finds it funny. He even signed my book from Stewart Lee. Legend. (And I can’t believe he’s 62.)

As it was all about the songs this year, we meant to see House of Love for Shine On, but we never made it: yet another fizz-fuelled in house party prevailed. 

Reef, well I wanted to hear Place Your Hands. Having checked set lists, they confused us by playing it early so I rushed back from the toilets to hear the closing bars! 

Ash – one of the few bands we all actually love in our group. Having seen them a few times before, we know they never disappoint and they didn’t tonight. I’m glad to say Tim has finally started showing his age – I mean he now looks about 30! Andy Cairns, lead singer from Therapy? Joined them on stage for rousing versions of Undertones’ Teenage Kicks and Stiff Little Finger’s Alternative Ulster. Brilliant. 

The wait then started for our highlight of the weekend – Steve Lamacq’s DJ set from 2ish until 4am. All the usuals from our mate Lammo, including, of course, Where’s Me Jumper. Another new addition this year was Wet Leg’s Chaise Longue. Post-Lammo, our group were drinking cups of tea and using wheat bags to soothe aching backs. We certainly are getting older.

Sunday

First up for us was Tim Burgess being interviewed by Steve Lamacq about his listening parties on Twitter during lockdown. Whilst Tim didn’t seem hugely comfortable this side of the mic, Steve did a great job teasing some funny studies out of him, along with some interesting snippets about his own tracks. I bought the book and had my photo taken with him, like a complete fangirl. 

We wished we’d got there earlier. We caught most of comedian Tom Ward’s set – he was brilliant. I’d definitely go and see him again. Mixing short funny songs with some pretty original observational stuff, my highlights were the Plymouth feminist joke and the Cher vocoder song. 

Badly Drawn Boy was in Skyline afterwards. I don’t know if it’s my tinnitus, my age or the acoustics, but I struggle to hear bands properly in that venue. I managed to hear All Possibilities and Something to Talk About. Tim Burgess followed and I caught his version of The Only One I Know – two of our group loved it. 

After our customary dinner out on Sunday evening, we caught some of St Etienne – again my hearing rather spoilt it. I enjoyed She’s On the Phone. 

The long wait ensued before the closing set – Utah Saints. The Beat featuring Ranking Jr set overran so we caught the end and wished we’d come earlier!

The highlight of our day (morning) was Utah Saints. Were we ready for two hours of absolute bangers mixed by the pair from Harrogate? Yes! The survivors in the crowd were up for it. We sadly managed only just over half of it – and yes I do hang my head in shame – but I was broken by then. We have two non-dance-lovers in the group and one stayed for 30 minutes and the other for an hour! That’s how good they were. I heard: Something Good (obvs), Usura, Eurythmics, CSS, Prodigy, Clash, What Can You Do For Me … I can’t remember anything else now but they were awesome. Lucky for me, they’re playing at our local brewery (Staggeringly Good in Southsea) early next year! 

Shiiine On Weekender is booked for 2023. The Collective shall return. To paraphrase Tyres from Spaced, our work here is done.

• Pictures courtesy Carron Stacey and Shiiine On Tickets  
• Read more from Carron at her blog A Humdrum Mum.
• Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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