Fox Reviews Rock

For today’s review we travelled to Fifield in Berkshire for a small festival called Fi. Fest. It took us 2 and half hours to drive there, luckily parking was very easy with our pre-paid parking pass and we got straight in. Fi. Fest is a 2 day family music festival which is on Friday and Saturday, we bought the day ticket for the Saturday which was £47 each and the parking pass was £10, they do offer camping for the weekend and early bird tickets.

As it was early, we got through security and into the venue quickly and decided to have a walk around. For a small festival it had a very good selection of rides and food vendors, toilets and water fill stations, there were private gazebo areas near the main stage you could hire and mist station which we appreciated as it was a very hot day. There were 3 Stages, the Main Stage, a very small second stage and a kids area which had a good size stage and a lot of activities for them.   

As people set up their deck chairs in front of the main stage, the first act came on who was a rock band called Reliant, they performed ‘Pain of It All’, ‘Never Enough’ & a cover of Placebos ‘Bosco’ they were good live and we enjoyed their set. Our favourite of their set was ‘The Pirate Song’ which went straight on our playlist, we hope we can see Reliant play again in the future.

The next band of the day was The Hot Damn! who are a 4 piece female band who St Jimmy had seen before and really enjoyed. We did have tickets to see them last year in Nottingham but unfortunately we were both ill and had to miss them, we were happy we went to see them this time round and they did not disappoint.

The Hot Damn! Opened the set with ‘About Last Night’ and “Fizz Buzz Crash” which got the party started as they drew a big crowd with their bright coloured outfits, fun energy and their inflatable unicorn called Neil.

As it was a family festival they said they got told to try and not swear which is quite difficult, they even changed words in songs, instead of saying ‘Mother fuckers’ they would say ‘Mother lovers’ which was funny.

The Hot Damn! sang a song about buying their merchandise and performed Donna Summers  ‘Hot Stuff’ but changed the words to Hot Damn which was a lot of fun.

They finished the set playing our favourites ‘Jukebox on the Radio’, ‘Live, Laugh Love’ & ‘I Didn’t Like You Anyway’.

After their set we were lucky enough to meet them at the merchandise stand and they were lovely to talk to and signed the vinyl of their album ‘Dancing on the Milky Way’ which we recommend you listen to because it’s fantastic!

They agreed to do an interview with us so look out for that in the future.

With a bit of a break before Punk Rock Factory, we went to our car and sat with the air con on to cool down from the scorching sun, luckily we parked close to the entrance.

Finally time for PRF who exploded on to the stage with ‘Boom! Shake the Room!’ followed by ‘Friend Like Me’ & ‘Mamma Mia’, they drew a big crowd full of adults and children as there was a song for everyone to enjoy.

The party continued with ‘Under the Sea’ ,Cest La Vie’ & ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ which was pure entertainment. When they played ‘SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song’ they got an 8 year old fan out of the crowd as he goes to a lot of Punk Rock Factory shows, this was a great touch from the band as that kid will have that memory for a lifetime.

Prf donned their Micheal Jackson outfit and skull masks to perform ‘Thriller’ which was fair play to them as it was red hot. After it was time for ‘You’re Welcome’ where they ask for 2 members from the crowd who know the words to the rap to have a rap battle, they mentioned that they’ve had disasters in the past and really wanted people who definitely knew the words, well this time it was a disaster again, as one person smashed it and got a massive cheer for her performance, whilst the other person had no idea what was going on. Luckily when we saw them play at Rock City, Nottingham the what before we did get to witness a great rap battle. You can read about the Rock City show here.

Peej talked about their album ‘All Hands On Deck’ getting to number 1 in the charts and thanked everyone who bought a copy. We were lucky to see them on their ‘All Hands On Deck’ album promotion tour, which you can read about here.

When it was time to play the next song ‘Bring It All Back’ Peej’s guitar was having technical issues so they decided to play without him on guitar, luckily half way through the song, he got his guitar back connected to the amp the old fashion way with a guitar lead.

Punk Rock Factory finished their set with  ‘Life is a Highway’ & ‘How Far I’ll Go’ we wish they could’ve stayed on for longer but festivals have strict time slots in order for the next acts to perform.

After their show they stood to the side of the stage to talk to fans, we asked them for recommendations in Cardiff, Wales as the following weekend we are travelling there to watch them play at the Rock the Castle festival at Cardiff Castle. They always have time for their fans. Look out for our Rock at the Castle review soon.

After a short break, it was time for Scouting For Girls who got the large crowd going with their hit ‘Heartbeat’. Roy Stride (lead vocals & pianist) likes to interact with the crowd a lot and was holding up his phone on a selfie sick to record the crowd whilst performing.

They performed ‘This Ain’t a Love Song’ which was their first single from their ‘Everybody Wants to Be on TV’ album which is now 15 years old, which makes us feel old.

Scouting for Girls continued to entertain by playing a little bit of ‘Come On Eileen’ along with ‘I Wish I Was James Bond’ & ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’. It’s great when you see a band and you forget how many hits they have.

When they performed their new song, Roy mentioned that they were filming the show for their new music video, which got the crowd very excited. They finished their set with their massive hit ‘She’s So Lovely’ which ended their great sing a long set.

After a long day turned dark, it’s finally time for the headliner, the Welsh rockers Feeder, whom St Jimmy has seen 4 times before. They opened up with their massive hit ‘Buck Rogers’, everyone was dancing around and we had a beach ball being batted around the crowd whilst we were rocking out.

They played a lot of their classics including ‘Seven Days in the Sun’, ‘Feeling the Moment’ & ‘Come Back Around’ which brought a nostalgic feeling. At one point we saw some teenagers trying to start a mosh pit but it turned out to be a complete disaster, which was amusing to watch, but we guess this is what you’d expect at a family festival.

Feeder went on to play ‘Insomnia’ & Just the Way I’m Feeling’ where Grant (Vocals & Guitar) so us that it has been 24 years since the album ‘Comfort in Sound’ was released, which made us feel even older.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the whole set as we decided to leave early due to how tired we were from the long day in the heat and the fact we had a 2 and half hour drive home ahead of us. The last two songs we saw them perform were ‘Pushing the Senses’ and a newer song ‘Hey You’, we are 99% sure they would’ve finished with ‘Just a Day’.

We  really enjoyed Fi. Fest and would come again, but we think we would camp over next time so we can be less tired and enjoy both days of the festival, we’re looking forward to seeing what the line up is for next year.

St. Jimmy and Rex 🖤☠️

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