Review: The Waterboys, Ramsbottom Festival, 18th September 2011

I don't like saxophones.

There. I've said it. The instrument that is generally regarded as the epitome of cool just sounds like a rasping, screeching, raspberry played at high volume, if you ask me.

Of course this doesn't fit well with my almost 30 year love affair with The Waterboys. For the first three LPs at least, brass and Anto Thistlethwaite's sax featured very high up in the mix.

But here's my secret. I think the sax has ruined many a good Waterboys song. A Girl Called Johnny, All The Things She Gave Me, Rags. I could go on. They would all have sounded a lot better with something a bit more subtle.

But guess what? At the Rammy Festival, they only went and played all those tunes WITH NO SAX. Just a rock band and an electric fiddle. Guess what else? It sounded absolutely brilliant.

There's not much I've got left to say about The Waterboys. I've written about them so many times and bored so many people in so many pubs that I've run out of superlatives. They just do a fabulous show and if jumping up and down to a Fisherman's Blues encore doesn't get your juices going, there's no hope for you.

Truth is I probably wouldn't have gone to #rammyfestival if The Waterboys weren't playing, but I'm glad I did. The other stuff on the main stage was good. Capercaillie got the crowd going and I thought Otis Gibbs was quite good in a strange Seasick Steve kind of way. The Jay Tamkin Band, who were playing inside in the warm, were OK too.

But most of all, I just liked the way the organisers had managed to put together a festival at all. It's the most middle class gathering I've ever attended. There were Craghoppers everywhere, even the loos were clean and the two bobbies I saw mustn't have had to do a stitch all weekend. I'll bet you it's the easiest overtime they've ever had.

Nothing wrong with that of course.

Away from the main stage, the silent disco was a highlight. It was brilliant seeing people jumping around to Girls on Film, oblivious to the fact that anyone who wasn't wearing headphones couldn't hear a peep. That was a great idea and I just wished I was there for Clint Boon playing in the tent on the Saturday.

And the food. Oh the food. As Rammy is a bit out of the way for me I decided to drive, which meant I couldn't ship my usual allowance of pre-gig beers. Instead I opted to eat. By the end of my six hours on site I'd made my way through a seafood paella, chips and gravy, a chicken burger and five beef and vegetable momos from The Tibetan Kitchen.

I then headed back to the silent disco to dance it all off.