Rock 2004! Reviewed
Venue: Wexham Park Hospital Social Club. Time: 7.00p.m.
The doors open and the fans that have queued for half an hour are allowed in, no one wants to miss the start of this year’s charity gig, not just one band but 3, (not bad for a fiver). Sound checks overrun by half an hour, the lights go out as a fuse blows, lucky for us Brian’s a qualified electrician, can he fix it? Yes he can.
‘Trinity’ the first band have a few minutes to themselves before they return to the stage to open this year’s event. The soundtrack music from the film ‘Lord of the Rings’ fills the air as they step onto the smoke filled stage. They play their own rock-influenced songs that the crowd warm to and finish their short set with a cover of Gun’s ‘Word Up’. All smiles as they come off stage, their first live gig and caught on video. Rockstars in the making.
In between the sets the DJ pumps out classic rock tracks from Purple to Sabbath mixed with up-to-date bands like Linkin’ Park and Creed.
The second band ‘This Time Next Year’ take to the stage, three fourteen year old lads from Maidenhead who write their own material, they come complete with their own teenage fan club, screaming as if Busted are in the house. A set that showed great maturity as this, like ‘Trinity’ was their first public appearance. Are they brave enough to come back next year? Who knows?
Finally the main event P.F.J. (People’s Front of Judea) the best covers band this side of Jerusalem, so they tell me (the name comes from Monty Python’s film ‘Life of Brian’). They have headlined the charity gig since we gave them their break at ROCK 2000, charity gig No. 1. The rock music fades as smoke not only fills the stage but the whole club, lights begin to flash, have we overloaded the fuse box again? No, P.F.J have arrived on stage, out of the smoke ‘Backeye’ (lead singer) stands proud at the front of the stage in leather trousers, leather bikers cap and ‘member’ and starts singing “going to a gay bar, gay bar”. Have they got the wrong night and wrong club? No. Just one of many stunts P.F.J. think of to keep the band alive. A quick change for Backeye then on with the show, ‘Breaking the Law’ & ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ great songs to get the capacity 300 strong crowd rocking, rock chic’s and metalheads with air guitars head for the front of the stage.
(P.F.J. cater for all musical tastes, they cover the Osmond’s Crazy Horses to Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. Songs from The Proclaimers, Mud & the Buggles). P.F.J. play for over an hour & half thrilling the crowd with song after song, they come off stage to rapturous applause and shouts for ‘more’, the time is late and all good things have to come to an end. The disco kicks in with cheesy and club music for the time that is left. 01.30hr Sunday morning I fall into a cab satisfied of a good job done, £1500 raised for the Paul Bevan Cancer Foundation, and a positive response from those who where there.
Andy Wallis (2004)