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The
Deer Park at Wellington Country park isn't the first place you think
of as a venue for LIVE music.
But
that's exactly what happens at this time every year, when Marvellous
in the Park comes to town.
On
Friday evening over 4,000 people packed the park and first up on
stage were local favourites Pete & Hugh.
They
went through a variety of covers from The Beatles to Robbie Williams,
closing their set with The Eversley Brothers' Dream.
A hum
of excitement generated through the crowd as Phil the compere, dressed
in resplendent yellow from head to toe, filled a bit of time before
The Counterfeit Stones took to the stage.
And
on they came with their opening track, a belting rendition of Let's
spend the night together.
Nick
Dagger, aka Steve Elson, strutted around the stage in true Jagger
style, wearing a fetching maroon velour number.
Elson
keeps up the Jagger send-up in between tracks, only occasionally
slipping into his softer West London accent.
After
a short interval, the group came back with Midnight Rambler which
got everyone going - from the oldies who dance like your dad, to
the families and twenty-somethings.
Elson
is ably assisted by his band - Keef Rickard is played by Pete Whittard,
Charlie Mott is played by John Prynn, Bryon Jones, Mick Taylor-Made
and Ronnie B Goode are played by Justin Sandercoe, Bill Hyman is
played by Alan Mian and Nicky Popkiss is played by Charlie Evans.
A quick
costume change saw Elson wearing a bright yellow American football
kit with very tight trousers, and he made some well-received comments
on football of another type - Euro 2004.
"We
all had a big disappointment yesterday" he said, "but,
you can't always get what you want", which led nicely into
the next track.
The
band is extremely well-polished and really entertaining to listen
to and watch.
The
set comes to an abrupt finish, but predictably, the encore follows
with Brown Sugar and Satisfaction to close.
All
in all, it's a festival for people who don't go to festivals - you
can get to the front and actually see the band, you can get to the
toilets with no queuing and, most importantly, you can get to the
bar to get a drink.
The
Festival runs on Saturday and Sunday night too, with Bjorn Again
headlining on Saturday night and a classical concert on Sunday night.
For tickets, see the website.
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