A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
Dean Wareham and Sea Power and Dean & Britta at Krankenhaus
We left Hebden Bridge on Friday morning to head to Muncaster Castle on the Cumbrian coast for our first visit to Sea Power’s Krankenhaus Festival. We opted to take a scenic drive through the beautiful Lake District, although the beauty was somewhat tamed by the endless procession of cars (which of course we contributed to), and the crowds in every lakeside town we passed through.
Our lake-y meanderings meant that we arrived at the festival much later than anticipated, collected our wristbands and grabbed a coffee and got the lie of the land. I headed into The Barn (the main stage) and caught the end of The Lovely Eggs, which was still a little more than I needed. When they finished and the crowd left to get food, beer, and fresh air, I moved into position at the front of the stage in readiness for Dean’s first set of the weekend - playing another set of the songs of Galaxie 500 with Sea Power. Found myself accidentally standing alongside Ivan who I hadn’t seen since a Miracle Legion show nine years previously!
The band took the stage and played through the same set they had played in Hebden Bridge a couple of nights earlier, although it maybe seemed a little… looser this time. The main change however was that Britta wandered on-stage to help out on vocals on a couple of tracks. Weaving in amongst the band were also a couple of pro-camera operators so hopefully we’ll see some video of this soon.
The show ended, once again, with a phenomenal 6 minute Tugboat, although maybe knowing what to expect meant that I wasn’t quite as overwhelmed at the end of it as I had been in Hebden - it was still, however, an amazing thing to see and I consider myself lucky to have been there.
Show over Hazel and I headed out, grabbed some food, and settled down in The Glade (the second, small stage) - listening to the DJs. As we sat Dean and Britta were passing on their way back to their digs, and stopped and had a chat for a while - DaemöniK Fonce were getting ready for ther set - they had been described in the programme as “Pam Ayers home schooling The Cockney Rejects”… I asked Dean if he’d heard of Pam Ayers - sadly he hadn’t had that pleasure!
DaemöniK Fonce weren’t really like either Pam or the Rejects, but made a fun and enjoyable racket.
We didn’t bother with Arab Strap on the main stage but did go to see last band of the day The Moonlandingz - partly because they had a connection to The Eccentronic Research Council who had put out a couple of good albums a few years back. The Moonlandingz were awful. We left and headed back to the car. The DJ in The Glade as we passed was playing Let ‘Em In by Wings which was a perfect earwash after The Moonlandingz. We drove back to our awful hotel listening to Wings.
Day two was the only day of the week without a Dean Wareham show so we decided to have a slow morning and then a lunchtime ride on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway - a narrow gauge railway that takes a 40 minute ride through the beautiful West Cumbrian countryside… because, a rock festival isn’t a rock festival without a ride on a heritage railway!
We then made our way to the festival, or more accurately to Muncaster Castle where we saw a falcon display and then walked around the castle grounds… and bumped into Dean and Britta… again!
We then did go to the festival caught half of Richard Dawson’s set and then the always excellent Jane Weaver.
Sea Power headlined on Saturday night and played a very different set from the show we saw in Hebden… a few more songs I actually knew (having inexpilicably stopped buying Sea Power albums after Man of Aran in 2009.
Show over… back to the hotel.
We started day three earlier - grabbed a take-away bao bun and coffee in Egremont and ate it in a car park looking at Sellafield Nuclear Power Station, and then on to Muncaster Casltle for a flying display of owls an the castle’s Hawk and Owl Centre… and, of course, bumped into Dean and Britta there! Hazel and I then went and sat on The Terrace for a while - which had gorgeous views across the Lake District before I headed off for a film screening of the Sea Power soundtracked Fron The Sea to The Land Beyond … I dived out a bit early to get an ice cream and to watch more birds of prey being flown! Because, a rock festival isn’t a rock festival without owls!
Back to the festival for food and to catch a bit of Kathryn Joseph, all of La Sécurité, and to take up front row positions for the Dean & Britta set.
Sunday’s set saw Dean & Britta performing once again as a duo, the setlist was different from the one they had played in Hebden on Thursday… I didn’t make notes so this is from memory, so may not be in the right order and may have ommisions:
- I’m So Bored With The USA
- The Cloud Is Coming
- I’ll Keep It With Mine
- Snowstorm
- Drive
- Ceremony
- Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste
- 23 Minutes in Brussels
Show over Hazel and I had two options:
- sticking around and seeing Throwing Muses and arriving home at 3 in the morning
- leaving after Dean and Britta’s set and getting to our own bed at a sensible time
Option two was marginally more attractive so we bailed early and drove, out of the sunset, and home to a decent cup of tea and a comfortable bed.
Durham up next in a few hours time!