GROOVE VILLAGE, WESTON-SUPER-MARE – ‘THE LINEUP PACKS A REPEATED PUNCH’

The second year of Groove Village sees the seaside grassroots festival back and bigger than ever, with eight venues featuring hometown acts, a heavyweight Bristol contingent and much more.

The biggest name this year are surprise headliners Getdown Services, who must currently be one of Bristol’s biggest bands.

Grove Park Village becomes Groove Village thanks to music‑magnet festival organiser Andy Wilkinson. Andy is frequently in Bristol and took the approach that the music should come to him for a change, instead of having to travel.

The party starts on Friday night at Loves Café – by day packed with delicious 100 per cent plant‑based conscious dining, community and sustainability; by night playing host to creative expression, filling the space with the community they’ve created.

Today marks their 17th birthday, with Bristol‑based hip hop freestylers the Scribes opening the show. They are the perfect hype machine to open any festival – beatboxing at a rate quicker than any human can think or even believe what they’re hearing.

The talent, the intellect, the way they ask the crowd to hold up random objects and weave them into freestyle rap is ridiculous. It feels like a magic trick; and it’s one hell of a start.

Next up, Brighton’s Snayx – a band very much in fitting with what’s ahead at Groove Village.

Snayx are a mosh pit waiting to happen – which is great because, given Loves’ compact size, they’re in the crowd, creating up-close-and-personal punk.

Vocalist Charlie is a frontperson who gets dirty: hopping in the crowd or resting on top of the drums, singing through a strategically placed walkie‑talkie mega‑mic hanging from a sweat‑drenched beam.

As I look from the floor to the balcony above, everyone is having a punk‑rock boogie. Snayx cut the Groove Village ribbon and sprayed Loves Café in anarchy.

I have to confess that this year’s lineup was so good it’s hard to fit all the amazing acts in. The programme packed a repeated punch and had me darting around all day.

Hamburger – a band whose sound took me back to seeing them live in Bristol years before and who’ve been on my radar since – knitted in nicely, all six of them, in the Stable, which was already packed with familiar faces including Big Jeff – and you know what they say: if Big Jeff is at your gig…

Bristol punks M/X had arrived early ahead of their set in the Regency and were bopping away enthusiastically.

At this point I’m taken aside by a local who buys me a rum & coke and tells me this festival is the best thing to happen to Weston in his lifetime, dispelling negative preconceptions of seaside towns and breathing fresh life into a place gagging for live music – and with all the venues to fulfil the promise.

I love Lonely Tourist. Singer Paul Tierney’s warm Glaswegian tones and witty lyrics make me feel lovely – his lyrics hit deep and raise a smile as the Fat Tap fills to the self‑proclaimed “Bristol’s very own Glasgow duo”.

The pair play acoustic folk tales to get the day going, with a singalong to the cult football classic The Ballad of Paul Tierney, a song about his pro‑footballer namesake. A perfect set at a perfect time.

The sun shines as people consult their clashfinders and printouts of the day ahead. After a delicious pint of the festival’s very own ‘Alternative Seaside Lager’ brewed by the Fat Tap, I realise Maisie Waterhouse is playing a stripped‑back acoustic set in the Black Cat.

I perch on the doorstep beside a very proud mother as she watches her daughter hold the crowd’s hearts in complete control with Sylvia and In My Dreams.

Maisie has the most incredible voice; I’m moved to tears. So beautifully sad yet uplifting to see so much talent shining right back at you. I feel like there’s a lot more to come from Maisie.

I try to compose myself after an emotional experience, and one thing that does that is heading to the Stable to catch the New Cut – one of Bristol’s finest in my books. And they didn’t disappoint.

Frontman Henry’s lyrics grab me as intelligent and insightful, and live you can tell he means it. Oversight is a melodic, anxious, catchy indie-classic. I’m very happy to be in a room of appreciative fans who clearly think the same.

The Regency is then the place to be as Future Plan start a mighty run of bands in the pub‑turned‑venue. They hit us with their brand of old‑school punk with killer basslines, getting the crowd going by giving out badges.

It’s a lot of fun ahead of a set from the Tenby‑born but Bristol‑based Lacross Club. Blink and you’ll miss their clothes, but who needs clothes when you rock this hard? They are the most fun you can have with your glasses steamed up and socks on.

The set is a frenzied, frenetic punk‑rock show that barely gives you a chance to think or  breathe. I’m quickly joined by M/X members Max and Liv, fully immersed in the show and having the time of our lives.

It’s a raucous set ending with singer Cai sprawled on the floor hugging his pink Fender, complete with sticker reading “FUCK OFF I HATE YOU”. We love Lacross Club.

I’m a sweaty mess and so is everyone in the Regency. Cue M/X, who provide sweat upon sweat and punk upon punk.

Furious and glorious, singer Max turns from smiley to angry fella, frenetic poetic couplets firing on all sneering cylinders. A band that are rapidly developing and it’s exciting to see. Angst never felt so fun.

The night still has two massive Bristol big hitters left: Knives and Getdown Services, two favourites of festival organiser Andy, forever immortalised as ANDY FUCKING WILKINSON by Knives frontman Jay.

The Knives noise is deafening as Dagger obliterates the Brit Bar’s barricades, with the crowd full of Knives t‑shirts and fans chanting the lyrics.

Just across the road in Loves Café are Getdown Services. This is a show so popular old primary school mates were texting the owner Anna to get in.

With Big Jeff outside and loving it, they clearly mean business. Every show of theirs feels like a celebration with two things guaranteed: an abundance of both sweat and smiles.

Don’t Cheese Me Off greets me as I smuggle my way in (thanks to Maisie Waterhouse). Ben is stuck to the window like a sticky superhero wall‑crawler; I fear the suction is so great he might be stuck fast.

Thankfully he plucks himself off and spins to ‘sing’ in the highest young‑girl voice I’ve ever heard.

Loves is rocking, moving, falling and grooving to GDS; a lot has changed for the boys since they played the same venue a year ago but they remain the same down‑to‑earth talented showmen.

The crowd envelope Ben and Josh; it’s like a scene from a pre-seats football match. Hats and clothes fly everywhere, the stage non‑existent, the tunes pumping.

Then comes the unstoppable machine that is Dog Dribble. We will never tire of that track, and I don’t think the boys will tire of playing it. They go mental with a ragged, chaotic version; surfers fly and splay on the floor. This band means a lot to everyone in and outside Loves tonight.

Of all bands to close this festival, GDS embrace the ethos of Groove Village by making it their mission to bring music to rural and isolated places that don’t always get included.

Find out more at groovevillagewsm.com