Photo: Kris Gruber Photography
After months of preparation, Music on the Moor 2011 got under way at midday on Saturday 9th July, with a varied and entertaining programme of artists drawn from the local community and a few from further afield. Proceedings were opened officially by the Mayor of Dacorum, Councillor Gillian Chapman, and the music began courtesy of rock band Cobra.
By this time people were thronging onto the moor, looking forward to the day's entertainment. The professional festival-style orbit stage dominated the arena and the dual platform format meant that performances flowed seamlessly from one to another. Saturday's performers were an eclectic mix of pop, rock, folk, indie and funk, the majority of whom had members drawn from within the Trust's area of benefit (Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon). A popular act in 2009, folk band Strange Folk returned to the main stage along with bands such as The Indegenerates, Load"", The Expensive Habits and UnderView, who are all well known locally. Many other bands performed during the course of the day, including The Raid, who gave us a slightly heavier rock sound, edgy pop/rock from Isabelle and covers band Wired, who went down a storm with the crowd. By early evening, the crowd had swelled to around 10,000 and up and coming Hemel Hempstead band Dorian Graze took to the stage to an enthusiastic welcome. They played a selection from their newly-released album as well as a rendition of the Kings of Leon hit 'Sex on Fire', which really got the crowd singing along. Then a change of mood with the very funky sound of Almost Midnight, before the headline act Jackson Live came on stage just after 9pm. A terrific high-energy act of singing and dancing backed by a live band, the crowd were treated to a succession of Michael Jackson's best-loved hits culminating in 'Thriller'. Families with children stayed on right to the end, bopping along with the music and singing themselves hoarse!
Our compere for the weekend was Richard Pinner, who interspersed the performances with his informative commentary. The giant screen, which has become an essential component of the event, showed continuous live feed from the main stages. This meant that those further back from the stage had just as good a view of the performances as those at the front. The camera crew worked tirelessly over the weekend to ensure that there were no breaks in coverage.
On the far side of the river, the Ecology & Community Village provided a forum for a wide variety of organisations, charities and small businesses to promote their services to the community. The children's activity tent was continually busy, with the Trust's education team offering a range of craft activities for children of all ages.
A further stage on this side of the river (the 'Truck Stage') hosted a 'Battle of the Bands' competition between local secondary schools. Six bands took part, representing five schools: Longdean (2 bands), Hemel Hempstead, Cavendish, Adeyfield and Kings Langley. A closely-fought contest was judged by Andy Fleet of KZR Music and Chris Walker, Steve Woodley and Mark Devereux of Dorian Graze, and the winning band was NERDz from Adeyfield School. The delighted kids took to the stage to receive their trophy from Box Moor Trustee Will Hodgson, and a voucher for an eight-hour recording session at Influential Studios in Watford.
Following the competition, a full programme of performances continued on this stage, finishing with an hour and a half of live demonstrations by various artists under the umbrella of the 'Paradise Sounds' mobile recording studio project.
Trust staff, volunteers and contractors worked tirelessly during the Saturday evening and again from early the following morning to prepare and clean the site ready for the Sunday. Again, the crowds came early and began to settle themselves down with chairs, blankets and picnics to enjoy the music. In contrast to the previous day's high energy, Sunday proved to be a far more relaxed and mellow occasion. We had performances from two local community choirs: Dacorum and Kings Langley and a selection from 'Little Shop of Horrors' from the Hemel Hempstead Theatre Company Youth Group. Jazz and blues came from Semafour, Rob Pickett and the Lost Weekend, Acoustic Jazz Implosion, The Electric Blues Band, MT Hedz and (on the Truck Stage) The Jolly Jazzers. We were delighted to welcome back the Dacorum Youth Orchestra playing alongside members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a Hertfordshire Music Service sponsored performance. There was something for everyone, from the latin/salsa feel of Los Buendia to the big band sound of String of Pearls and easy listening from Everything Buble.
The community spirit of the event was epitomised by the day's programme of music workshops taking place on the Truck Stage. The Jazz Workshop offered the chance to try out guitar, reeds and kit; Sambuka got everyone joining in with the Brazilian carnival feel of Samba and the Berkhamsted Ukulele Random Players ran an absorbing session for aspiring ukulele players, most of whom were youngsters. Working with voice teacher Sian, the 'Family Sing' community choir workshop offered an opportunity for all members of the family, young and old, to get involved in rehearsing and performing live on stage. Following the workshops, Rhythmical Ravings and Rants Poetry Collective presented their unique style of music and poetry to close proceedings on this stage.
As the Dacorum Symphony Orchestra brought the event to a close on Sunday evening with a rousing performance of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March, we reflected on a fabulous weekend that had once again brought our community together.
Our thanks go out to everyone who helped with the massive task of organising the event, to all the volunteers for their invaluable assistance, to the companies and organisations who offered support or sponsorship, to the performers who played free of charge and to the people of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon for coming along and enjoying the weekend with us. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2013!
