All done for 9

Korks Wine Bar - Otley

Who needs Glastonbury? Our own festival rolled into town right on time. The last Sunday of every month, none of this once a year nonsense for the good folk of Otley. First up on the new band stage were Honey Jars. They claimed this was their second gig but there was experience up on that stage. They reminded me of a time when all you needed to form a band was a drum machine and a mate who could play guitar. Okay, so you have to be able to write songs, your mate has to be pretty good on the guitar and you need to have a great voice - but apart from that. Oh, and boys, trust your own songs they deserve to be heard. Leave Lana to Glasto.

Once in a while a voice takes you by surprise - when Anna Watkins opened her mouth so did everyone else, in amazement. Ann is half of Waiting for Wednesday. Don’t wait, find them on the web and listen and go to see them as soon as you can. Anna and Laura Shackleton are negatives of each other. Black hair and peroxide blonde; black top and white top; tattoo on left shoulder and tattoo on right shoulder. Sorry to bring the Greeks into this but Aristotle had a point when he suggested soul mates composed a single soul inhabiting two bodies. These ‘best friends’ channel soul music through spiky yet beautiful country songs. Soul music in the sense that this music connects directly to your emotions taking you by surprise - tears spring to your eyes and you can only work out why later. “Thank god for girls with guitars”

After that we all needed a good dance and the sweat was running into the Otley gutters like a Glastonbury storm by the end of The Beatleaders’ set. It is Jen and Quentin’s party and they’ll play if they want to and tonight they had eight friends with them including the hottest brass section this side of The Rose and Crown. The final nod to Glastonbury came when they closed with Whole Lotta Love - they came over all Bond Movie to complement the African tinged version old Rob had provided us with from the Pyramid Stage. Then we all rolled home - done for 9, just in time to watch the end of Greece v Costa Rica, or in my case to listen to my newly acquired Waiting for Wednesday CD.

by Ant Cotton