Harbour Tavern, Bridlington
Saturday, 8 August 2026
It was good to spend some time in Bridlington on the day before the gig, exploring the two expansive beaches. Particularly as it was a blissful 10 degrees cooler than the scorching south we had briefly escaped from!
Arriving at the compact venue, situated in the function room above the main pub, we were greeted by the noise of a lively and raucous drinking establishment. We knew what to expect, as a recce the previous evening had witnessed a happy and loud, but rather tuneless karaoke in full swing! Making our way upstairs, thankfully the noise from down below did not follow us into the venue, to any great degree, thank the gods of sound!
Having found a comfortable viewing position, we awaited the first band of today’s proceedings with anticipation…
COWFISH
At 2:30ish pm, the opening act took to the “stage”, basically a cleared area in front of some seating at the back of the room, hence the inevitable appearance of the backs of heads in most of the photos! Judicious editing has been deployed to remove the most prominent bonces! 🙂
One of the many attractions of these small independent festivals is discovering bands you’ve never heard of. One of those for me was festival openers cowfisH. Looking at Bandcamp reveals “Formed in Yorkshire, UK during the early nineties cowfisH have released 21 albums”. Crikey! Sadly, they had no merch otherwise my wallet may well have been troubled.
Is post-punk prog a thing? It is now! The songs all have an edgy quality that draws this punter in. The band played their new album Alchemy Of Dream in its entirety, and the second song Gospel started with syncopated laughter, adding a slightly manic tint to the impish vibe.
The lyrics display an excellent quirkiness that is a perfect fit for the shifting rhythms and interplay of the music.
There are two guitars (Tim O’Connor and Matin Wharton), bass (Matt Rhys Barras), and drums (Roy Turnham), with three vocalists swapping lines. The only non-vocalist is the Matt the bass player, who with Roy the singing drummer does a sterling job stitching the polyrhythms together.
cowfisH were an excellent curtain raiser to the day, described on the Book of Face by Thomas Morris, the festival organiser, as meting out excellent sonic destruction. He ain’t wrong. Catch them if you can!
ARGHAM
If cowfisH were the unexpected, then Argham are the main attraction, and the main reason why we trekked up north into the unchartered waters of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Argham’s guitarless line-up and their rollicking brand of Hammond-led fairground cornucopia of sound do admittedly have me thinking of a less rarefied Egg, but hey, that’s a pretty unusual influence these days, don’t you think?
“LSD and imagination rolled into one”, as Tom says at the end of opening number Bavaria. Third number Monument Of Empire is dedicated to Andy from Living In Shadows, who has very recently undergone an operation, meaning that much anticipated band had to pull out of today’s festivities. This number has some of us up and dancing as it careens along like a barrel bouncing down a hill.
Imagine if Frank Zappa had been from Canterbury and had played a Hammond organ rather than a guitar, and you might at least be in the same zany, colourful universe as Argham, if not the same planetary system. This is such fun, and even the increasingly loud chatter of a few progressively (ha!) inebriated folk around us isn’t dampening the atmosphere!
“The Satanic Mills are calling, baby!” introduces final number Festum Fatorum, and Tom’s sense of mischief is shot through these tunes like the letters in a stick of Bridlington rock.
Bassist Rob Inman told us later that having no lead guitarist in the band allows him a rare licence to play, and he certainly indulges that freedom, with a palpable joy. Drummer Chris Ridgway holds it all together, while Thomas Morris leads his Hammond, and its entourage of synth and bass pedals, a merry dance that we gamely attempt to cut a rug to! Who said you can’t dance to prog?! 🙂
That was all quite marvellous!
BUZZ ELLIOTT
One of two last minute replacements filling Living In Shadows slot was…not Malcolm Galloway (!), but the trusty sub (Northern branch) and occasional official opening act of the prog festival circuit, Buzz Elliott. The set list and requests covered all bases, from Like A Hurricane via Sylvia to an excerpt from Tubular Bells to The Musical Box and ending with Zappa’s x-rated Titties And Beer!
Entertaining as ever!
ICE-9iNE
A prog band from Northamptonshire I have never seen until now, ICE-9iNE have been going a long time. Originally a synth-pop band, several personnel and developmental changes since the 80s bring them here, where they fit seamlessly into the diverse line-up of this particular Freakshow.
Unfortunately, our enjoyment of the atmospheric opening number is interrupted by the inane and loud alcohol-fuelled chatter of the couple in front of us, as mentioned above in the Argham review, who are by now fully oblivious to their surroundings. Thankfully they soon leave.
The next song Space And Time is in three sections, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson was mentioned. Proper prog this, innit?!
The young guitarist Ethan Anderson throws shards of electricity from his fretboard with a Hendrix-like energy and funk and is the focus of attention.
Petrichor, a song about synaesthesia, of which band leader Nigel Route says “Some people think is a fault, others a divergence”, the latter being the truth, of course. Serious stuff, but singer Jane Route’s captivating voice and the jazz-bluesy instrumentation carries one away.
Final number, Emerald Red & Blue zooms into view on the back of Ethan’s blazing comet guitar playing, it’s a wonder his fretboard is not on fire! Quite something!
HAZE
A lovely surprise up next, announced as Haze – Acoustic. We’d been teased all day with the promise of a special guest, but some of us had earlier spied Paul McMahon, and Catrin Ashton, plus assorted family members, lurking behind the partition half wall, and a few ‘Ah-hah!’ thought bubbles had ensued. A natural choice, Tom Morris told me, as they are relative locals hailing from Sheffield – a mere couple of hours drive down the road. Their short (almost) acoustic set made up for the Living In Shadows cancelled slot (along with Buzz Elliott’s earlier solo spot).
With less than half the usual costumes – Chris McMahon apologising for forgetting the requisite hats – but twice the conviviality & verve, it was a somewhat different set to the usual expected fully electric offerings, and more of a lean towards their alter-ego band, Treebeard.
Highlighting the lovely close vocal harmonies of brothers Chris, behorned and betailed, on guitar and bouzouki, and Paul on bass, the repertoire included one of their older folkier rock songs Wilderness of Eden, a rather piratey The Sea Shepherd Shanty with Chris taking the lead vocals for a change, plus a faithful version of Jethro Tull’s Witch’s Promise – a delight for me as that’s in my top five prog songs! Catrin’s flute featured prominently on every number, plus she also took lead vocals on The Bard’s Return, and joined in the harmonies beautifully for the a cappella sections of the set.
Their recent, now considered popular classic Waters Rising, with Paul’s especially emotive lead vocals and Chris’ upper b/vs both to great moving effect, is usually a Haze set closer but, as this was all something a bit different from the norm, they finished instead with a rousing Farewell to Ireland/Dusty Windowsills – a jaunty jig cover in suitable preparation for our headliners.
(Rosamund Tomlins)
After Haze there followed a mere 45 minute (!) meal break. Tip – maybe make it at least an hour next time? Given this was early on a Saturday evening, it was proving surprisingly difficult for us to find a suitable sit down eaterie in the short allotted time, restaurants being out of the question. We were rescued by the proprietor of Seaside Pies, who was shutting up shop as we walked past looking a bit lost. He took pity on us, re-opening his rather splendid establishment just for us.
Once inside, we were greeted by the friendly staff, and subsequently shared a now legendary (to us, anyway!), very large, and delish Brid Pasty.
SPRIGGAN MIST
The hardest working band in prog take the stage to close this rather fab day and kick off with a spirited Isambard The Mechanical Dragon, a great crowd pleaser as an appetiser. The small stage is barely big enough to fit them all on. It will be interesting when Maxine gets her rather large keytar out!
Baz, who can’t lift his right arm due to a drinking injury…I may have made that up…has Butler Burgess (Mike), replete in appropriate attire, helping him change basses. “Princess Baz”, according to Faye. Speaking of whom, her finery was as resplendent as ever, fluttering in the breeze of the big fan pointing at the stage, and the trademark banter with Baz was up to the usual levels of Brit mickey-taking.
Guitarist Neil coped well with being wedged in a corner behind Baz, singing along to a song about his wife, as dreamed by Maxine. Well, they say bands are like families!
Here comes Maxine’s the XL-sized keytar, and so far no-one has been pushed off the other side of the stage. 🙂 Seriously though, the way Maxine switches between several instruments is impressive, and it is her musical dexterity that adds much colour to the band’s sound.
Ending with the anthemic Faery Queen, which gets a good proportion of the audience on their feet, this has been a fine rabble-rousing set from the Spriggans.
[Photos by Roger Trenwith & Rosamund Tomlins]
That was a small but perfectly formed festival in a scenic location, and we shall return next year! Importantly, new sounds were discovered, which is what it’s all about.
CREDITS
• Organiser, Compère, and Genial Host – Thomas Morris
• Scintillating sound by Grahame Cooper
• LED lighting supplied by Nigel Route
• Spinning the wheels of steel, virtual or otherwise, with some esoteric deep prog-adjacent cuts – Aubrey Wilberforce Ponsonby, which may not be his real name! 🙂
• On ticket checking and essential doorperson duties was Tom’s mum. Half his family were present, it seemed!
• Kudos to the landlord and staff of the Harbour Tavern for being splendid hosts and hostesses.
LINKS
Facebook (Argham)
