Fox Reviews Rock

Live at the Hall is a brand new festival at Wollaton Park in Nottingham with Razorlight as the headliners, joined along with support from Feeder, The Pigeon Detectives, and The Sherlocks on the main stage. With a second smaller stage sponsored by BBC Introducing featuring The Public, The Public Eye, Catmilk, Jemma Johnson, and Louis Croft. Wollaton Hall located in Wollaton Park was used as Wayne Manor in the The Dark Knight Rises film, you may also mistake it for the castle in the TV series Downton Abbey, as they have similarities.

I went to this festival without Rex, but was joined by a friend later on in the evening. The festival doors opened at 4pm, which is a bit early for the 9-5 working folk, but I had the afternoon off and headed to Wollaton Park for opening time.

The festival was set up in a similar area as the popular Splendor festival (the usual summer festival at Wollaton Park, which was cancelled this year due to the local council going bankrupt) this festival was about half the size and had an easy queue system with a separate queue for VIP tickets which I gratefully had, as I entered I had a quick look around, went straight through the VIP area and got to the front of the main stage, as it had the golden circle area with the VIP ticket. The VIP area came with its own bar, sheltered and comfortable seating areas, and nicer toilets, for £20 extra it was definitely worth it.

Being on my own to begin with I quickly made friends with a couple who were in their 60’s with feeder t-shirts on, they were telling me about bands they saw when they were younger which did make me jealous. They helped me reserve my spot while I went to the bar, the crowd seemed to be a variety of ages which showed how inclusive this festival was.

First up were The Sherlocks from Sheffield, a band I’ve never listened to before, until a few days prior. I could tell they were popular as they drew a crowd in early doors. They Kicked the show off  with ‘Falling’ keeping chatter to a minimum, helping them to squeeze in 11 songs into their 1 hour setlist. The instruments were loud and it was a very consistent show, I was close enough that I could feel the bass.

The Sherlocks named Nottingham venues that they have played in, starting with smaller venues, such as The Bodega and ending with Nottingham’s famous Rock City. Each mention getting a big cheer, as Nottingham has a strong live music scene.

The Sherlocks played their latest single ‘Death of Me’ along with one of my favourites ‘Live for the Moment’ and finished strong with ‘Chasing Shadows’, I am glad I got to see this band live as it’s made me want to find out more about them and listen to their music.

Straying away from my original plan of moving between the two stages, as I had an amazing spot at the front. I decided to stay at the main stage with only a 30 minute wait between bands, I wasn’t waiting long for The Pigeon Detectives.

I remembered a few of their hits from my younger years and was looking forward to seeing them, my mate found me through the crowd with ease and we watched them together.

The Pigeon Detectives came onto stage, I didn’t really know what to expect. The lead singer (Matt Bowman) was a lot of fun, he was running around doing jumping leg splits, throwing water at the crowd, spinning his mic around and catching it, clearly showing he had a lot of practice over the years as he caught it every time. (Even though one time he almost crashed into his guitarist).

The Pigeon Detectives played hits such as ‘I’m Not Sorry’, ‘Take Her Back’ and ‘This is an Emergency’, which were great to watch as Matt is a real showman as he likes to make jokes and communicate with the crowd. Matt mentioned that they have played a lot of festivals this year, most being 45 minutes, however for this festival they got asked to play for an hour leading to them playing two unrehearsed songs to fill the time.

Overall The Pigeon Detectives sounded great live and were really fun to watch, I would definitely like to see them play live again in the future.

After the set had finished I took a short walk to the bar to get a beer, then back to my spot to watch the best of the night Feeder!

I’ve seen them 5 times now including earlier this year at Rock City so I know that they are amazing live. I was shocked that they weren’t headlining and this seemed to echo throughout the crowd as I could hear other people saying the same thing.

The Welsh rockers had an explosive start setting off confetti cannons while playing their first song ‘Buck Rogers’. The heaviest sounding band of the night put on one hell of a show, I would say it was the best I’ve seen them live. The vibe was great as everyone was jumping and singing along to all of their songs.

Feeder played classic hits such as ‘Feeling a Moment’ and ‘Just the Way I’m Feeling’ including songs off their new album ‘Hey You’ and ‘Playing With Fire’, with each song having a different lighting affects and a different back screen which I really appreciated, as I feel it makes a big difference to the quality of a show.

The show was full of energy as they played ‘High’, one of their first singles from 1997. With one more song left to play, we all knew what was coming next ‘Just a Day’. Everyone was moving about jumping and dancing, luckily being at the front it was easy for me to stay in my place while enjoying all 12 songs. It was going to be difficult to top that amazing performance!

We decided to go and wander the festival and stumbled into the BBC Introducing Stage where we caught The Public Eye, from Derby. I really enjoyed their performance with them interacting and joking with the crowd, I also appreciated the bassist rocking a mullet!

The Public Eye played ‘Broken Politicians’ and ‘The Wire’ which seemed to go down well with the crowd, although I only got to watch them for about 15 minutes I enjoyed what I heard. They are going on tour in the UK this year and I’ll be keeping an Public eye out.

We wandered the food stalls and I settled on a wood fire pizza, as the headliners Razorlight came on stage performing one of their hits ‘In the Morning’, we enjoyed this while sitting in the deck chair area of the VIP section and eating our food.

Once the food was consumed we went back into the golden circle area which was now packed, we managed to get close to the stage and get a good view. The set up was good, but I was a bit disappointed as the backdrop was the same throughout the set. The crowd seemed to be  having a great time with everyone singing along to their hits like ‘Somewhere Else’ and ‘Golden Touch’.

All the songs used in this review belong to their respective owners and this website does not claim any right over them.

Razorlight are very good musicians and project their music well live, but after Feeders amazing set it just seemed a bit boring in comparison. As it got dark the stage lit up adding to the chill vibe that Razorlight were projecting. Finishing their set with their massive song ‘America’, ending a great night with fireworks, before it was time to head home.

Overall it was a great little festival with great bands, it was a shame it was on a Friday rather than a Saturday as people were still at work when it started. I enjoyed the night and was glad I paid extra for VIP tickets, it made the experience easier and I could get close to the stage with ease.

St. Jimmy ☠️🖤