Soundle Music Festival ’25: Day Three

Queen Victoria Hall, Oundle
Sunday, 8th June 2025

The previous two days had flown by and it was now Sunday. I might have looked a nerd doing it but I am glad that I had a small note book with me and was able to take notes as a form of aide-memoire, otherwise I would have struggled to remember anything from any of the days. After all it is not easy retaining so many song titles and little events that happen. But thankfully, even without the book there was much that stuck in my mind for the whole weekend and especially day three.

OUNDLE LOVES SINGING

This is another act that, when I looked them up before the concert, made me think “what the….?” After all a choir might get the community engaged and allow for a few more bums on seats for their performance but, on paper at least, it seemed rather parochial and might lead to primary school children giving recorder recitals in future years. But, despite my initial misgivings I dutifully attended and freely and gladly admit that my initial misgivings were totally wrong. And thankfully, the midday performance was well attended by plenty of festival goers as well of local friends and family only there to listen to the one performance and then leave to go have their Sunday lunches.

Thanks to the conductor, Stephen Bell, the performance was fun and full of music whose selection was inspired and entertaining. After so much rock, guitars, drums and other standard instruments it was something of an aural amuse bouche to be able to just sit down, relax and let the vocals wash over me. By The Rivers of Babylon was a wonderful start and thankfully it was safely well removed from the Boney M version to ensure that I enjoyed it.

I will not detail every song but the highlights were Vox which had the audience joining in, as best they could. And So It Goes which was a song that was beautiful and made me think of the traditional folk song Oh Shenandoah. Come What May also moved me, a wonderful song but as it was from a Baz Luhrmann film, Moulin Rouge, I’d never been able to keep awake long enough to see hear it before today. Maybe I should drink lots of strong coffee and try and watch it again, just for that song? Then, well worth a mention was Weller Man, a song that had the audience reaching for their inner Tom Jones’s “Huh!”

A great set and wonderfully gentle start to the day.

THE WOOD DEMONS

I am not sure if they named themselves after the Chekhov play or have other sources, but having had an easy start to the day The Wood Demons were determined to ensure that any sleepiness and restful feelings, delivered by the previous act, were blown away with an astounding set. Thanks to Naomi Belshaw’s powerhouse violin playing I couldn’t help but compare her favorably with Jean-Luc Ponty at his best. They approached each song with enthusiasm that seemed to capture the attention of the audience and, whether previously familiar with them, or not, they seemed to win plenty of new fans during their performance.

The throaty bass playing of John Silver on Underground Rivers and the full steam ahead heads down rock of Starstruck ensured that any audience inertia or fatigue was blown away.

I must admit that I did find Arithmomania to be a strange song that I sounded muddled but then I realised that, as per the title referring to an OCD behaviour relating to numbers, it started to make sense and, having bought their CD, Angels of Peckham Rye and given it a few listens, it has grown on me.

Like so many band that I saw over the weekend I will definitely be wanting to see them live again. Long live violins in rock music.

EVI VINE

I suppose there must be a ‘Can’t win ‘em all’ moment in every festival where there is a band that fails to impress or capture my enthusiasm and sadly Evi Vine was my Soundle let down. With a definite goth vibe I was left feeling that she tried to be mix that genre with Prog and somehow, despite a powerful voice that made me think of P.J. Harvey or Patti Smith, which seemed to be somehow incongruous with the ‘Prog’ themed event.

Although I could never have been accused of being a Goth, I did grow up in Leeds at a time when bands such as Rose of Avalanche, The Mission and The Southern Death Cult/The Death Cult/The Cult were playing tiny basement venues in the city centre so I did encounter the sound and it still has a soft spot in my heart. Sadly Evi Vine did not rekindle any affection for that style.

However, credit where credit is due, I did speak to a few members of the audience who thought she was one of the highlights of the day but I think it was a ‘Marmite’ thing and I was left so cold that I found an excuse to stretch my legs half way through the set, go get some fresh air and then go sit in the bar with a few others, until it was all over.

It might not have been my cup of tea but that doesn’t mean that it was a bad choice of band, after all the world would be a dull place if we all shared the same tastes in music, especially if it was Ed Sheran or Billie ‘Eyelash’ so catering for a wide range of tastes and introducing people to new acts is no bad thing. Sadly, in my case, Evi failed to light any fires or leave any sort of impression.

RUBY DAWN

After the setlist been taken down a darker Goth style path, it could be said that Ruby Dawn had their work cut out for them to get all the audience engaged and back in the more familiar Prog mood, but they soon got that sorted. With no messing about they started off with Star on You, a song that made me think of some of the more up-tempo trance mashups of Pink Floyd albums released in the 1990’s. Then, shifting up a gear, there was Carola Baer’s keyboards and vocals, blending superbly with Dave Salsbury’s guitar work, Adam Perry’s throbbing drums and Ian Turner’s bass. With plenty of power chords used and, for some strange reason, it made me think of U2, if they had a female vocalist and had returned to making entertaining music.

What a voice! Carola delivered plenty of passion and emotion and the entertaining banter between songs added to the over all entertainment. The one, slight, drawback, was the lack of action on stage. It seemed very static and the video, in the background did nothing to grab the attention. It was, for the first half hour at least, the kind of set where the music could have ticked all the rock boxes for entertainment but could still have been enjoyed while messaging on social media, then, out of nowhere that all changed. Chronicles and Social Disaster were performed and they seemed to crank it up yet another gear and make people put down their phones and give them undivided attention. The guitar and drum combination was pure Led Zeppelin and, by the time they’d reached their last song, Other Side, I was left feeling as if I’d been hit by a musical missile.

TRILOGY

This is a band that were formed in the early 80’s and I am sure that I saw them live at the time but my memory isn’t what it used to be so I have no idea of the where’s or when’s. But despite the years and decades long hiatus, before their reformation, they have not allowed age to soften them or allow the music to become dull.

With a bass pedal intro, leading into the song DNA they seemed determined to grab the audience by the proverbials and give them a simple, yet effective message, ‘listen and be entertained’.

With them being a trio it might seem a little lazy, or trite, to compare them with two other bands that were also three piece outfits but even if I had not seen them on stage and counted the band members I would have made the same comparisons. There were distinct echoes of Rush and ELP but, even if they had been the band’s inspirations they were more than the sum of those parts. Taking the rock sound elements and taking it on their own energetic path.

There were no fancy videos going on in the background but, to me, they were not needed as the whole ensemble had my full attention. Songs such as A Legion in Morocco, Spanish Steps and Hidden Mysteries, had me hooked and had me wondering why Trilogy were not bigger? Hopefully they will stick together this time and be able to reach the heights that they deserve. Their 90 minute set seemed top speed by in the blink of an eye and could easily have been double that and I’d still have wanted more. To me they were the best band of the day.

KYROS

Sadly, due to delays in setting up the instruments and, as I was not doing the driving, my companions and I had to leave before the end of the set so that they could get some sleep before work on the following day, I was not able to see the full show but what I did see made me wish that I could have seen it all.

They were a fun band and were probably the youngest act of the whole weekend and possibly, with the exception of their loyal fans who had travelled far and wide to see them, much younger than the vast majority of the audience. But that is not a bad thing, Prog needs new blood to carry the torch to the next generation and if a younger set of people get a taste for the genre that is nothing but a good thing.

Unlike many young bands they seemed to understand the art of performing on stage and there was no competition from each member in attempts to be the loudest. There was entertainment galore with teasing false endings that ensured that the audience were kept on their toes, giving multiple cheers and adulation for the same song, just at different places.

On occasion the singer did seem to be drowned out but I think that was more a problem with the venue’s acoustics or the sound engineer not quite getting it spot on but other than that I loved what I saw. If they capture the musical zeitgeist they could be, quite rightfully so, massive.

FESTIVAL SUMMARY

As a reviewer I have tried to deliver my views of the acts over the three days and, on the whole, it was an inspired and wonderfully eclectic choice of bands and music. Some might not have shone as bright as others but such is life. I am sure that others might not agree with my words for some of the acts, but we all approach life from different directions and that is what makes things fun and interesting.

Then it comes to the festival itself as a whole. The good and the not so good. Thankfully there were not many negatives but if I am going to give a review I want to include those as well.

The Drums – I have already mentioned them. The acoustics/positioning seemed to ensure that there was a reccuring problem which frequently drowned out the vocals. But I am sure that can be tweaked and sorted out for next year.

Photographers – Admittedly they were more of a problem and annoyance at the previous Soundle but they were still an obvious irritation. There were far too many of them and some had little or no respect for the others in the audience or for the bands. Thankfully TPA’s photographer was, as always, respectful and unobtrusive but others seemed to be there just to take photos for their Facebook pages and were an annoyance. If blocking views was not bad enough, some had cameras that still made loud clicking noises, which I’d have thought could have been turned off on modern machines?

Before the festival the photographers had been given ground rules but some seemed intent of pushing the limits and, maybe next year, the accredited photographers should be made to stay in their seats and not make nuisances of themselves?

Talking – I know that this is one of my bête noires but I wish people would show a little more respect for others at concerts. On a couple of instances where people seemed determined to have a chit chat during sets and, in their determination to be heard, the volume increased as they tried to be heard over the music. If they wanted to talk there was a perfectly good bar next door where they could have chatted to their heart’s content and still be able to hear the music.

Finally – Congratulations to Bob Cheatham and his team for all their hard work which has once again paid off. The venue is terrific, well placed for transport and accommodation, with local watering holes aplenty. Hopefully, this will be a regular fixture in the prog calendar for years to come!

[The Gallery features a small selection of the photos taken by Chris Simmons at Soundle ’25. If any of the bands would like high-resolution (high-res) images you can get in touch with Chris: HERE]

Soundle Music Festival – Facebook Group

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