I’d been to the Mela last year and had a wicked day, it was the greatest hangover cure, sun shining, food, entertainers, people and music, music, music so I was really looking forward to attending again this year.

It wasn’t quite on the same scale, but think that was mainly due to the amount of P*ssin rain. Doesn’t rain just bloody ruin everything?! I got there at around half 11 and here’s what immediately made me want to retire back to bed….

· As it was raining and super muddy I’d typically worn the worst rain proof shoes I own. Soggy feet
· At one point I’m sure there were more dogs in the park than people.
· Everything seemed very spread out and doing a lap of the park to see what was on took about half an hour only seeing about 10 stalls.
· I’d been there 3 minutes and someone had already asked me to lend them a fag.
· It was cold.
· It was wet
....I was moaning!
Ok ok, those where just my first impressions, but what else would I be doing on a Saturday? Either sat at home watching crappy TV and getting nothing done or going into town and moaning about how much I hate going into town on a Saturday! You know what its like.

Things perked up as soon as the bands started playing, kicking off with 59 violets. I’d been wandering the park for around 2 hours, getting soaking wet feet and needed a bit of live music to rub off my moaning face. It worked! J

By around 1pm the park seemed to start filling up nicely with other gig goers who’d come to check out the music, gathering around the music HQ tent. 59 violets were the first to play. Finally some decent live music made me in a much better mood. I felt quite sorry for the guys who’d come down to play in the rain, they deserved a much bigger crowd than there was. It didn’t seem to bother them, they still managed to pull off a great set, smiles all round. Decent blokes. And there was even a fanclub of kiddies dancing in front of them which was v. amusing! www.hullvibe.co.uk/gallery/artist/69/Fifty_Nine_ ...

I had a wander after the 59 Violets set to see what else was going on. There was another tent over the horizon, The Acoustic tent, which also had its own little hurdle of people in. It was at the other side of the park, quite sneakily placed and you didn’t know what was going on inside until you went in and took a look for yourself. Good live entertainment that you couldn’t really go wrong with. It seemed quite intimidating for the artists to be stood in front of a small group of people staring at you as you play but I guess that’s what all solo artists have to go through! Guess what I’m trying to say is, I wouldn’t have the balls to!

It was a crappy, miserable day and things could have been so much better if only Mr Sun had shown his face. As it was raining (only just spitting now) I took a seat underneath an empty gazebo marked, ‘Mikes mini music school’, there was no sign of, ‘Mike’, or any sort of school so I didn’t think he’d mind me stopping under there whilst I had a fag.

Next band on were Kal-els-cape, I hadn’t yet had chance to catch these guys yet but was eager to check them out after the spilt of ‘The Brilliance’, which had led frontman Shane and Bass player Matt to come together in Kal-els cape.
I loved the Brilliance and was a little peeved that they’d split, they had such a great sound and I must say that they were one of my favourite acts when I saw them at The Sesh so Kal-els- cape had some work to do if they were going to keep me sweet after splitting.
I’m such a push over. I loved ‘em. They have more of an acoustic sound than The Brilliance, which goes brilliantly with Shanes voice. Absolutely great. Seeing these guys play had really cheered up my rainy day blues. A lot of the songs had quite strong emotional lyrics but each performance full of energy, and definitely tunes you can dance too.

I’d definitely go and see these guys again and would love to get a video up on the site so you can see for yourselves what I’m talking about. www.hullvibe.co.uk/gallery/artist/278/Kal_els_ca ...

I was officially cheered up, and there was a nice crowd gathered in and around the tent. The day wasn’t just about this music tent; Mini Circus, food, crafts for kiddies, a mini fun fair and some woman on stilts, which was quite comical were also dotted about along with some guys who were doing some street art (spray painting to you and me) over near the garden.

Lets just hope it’s warmer weather next year J

Lucy @ Hullvibe
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