Hastings Fat Tuesday started back at the tail end of the first decade of this century as one evening of music and has now grown into a major event spanning five days. The headline event is still the event on Fat Tuesday, bands playing a fifteen minute set then progressing to another venue. The formula works and one can chose to watch all the bands in one venue or one can promenade between venues. I decided that I would start off in the Jenny Lind to watch Elisha Edwards again, then move on to catch Pepe Belmonte at Ye Olde Pumphouse before moving onto the Albion to stay there and watch bands until the end of the evening, finishing with Al Mitchell &the New Born Sinners. Things didn’t go quite to plan.
First up, as planned was Elisha Edwards at the Jenny. She was backed by her full band and again played a great set of her own soulful music.
The next port of call was Ye Olde Pumphouse on George Street. I just missed Kay Iris who had played their first set there and settled in to wait for Pepe and his band. Before them was a solo artist on vocals, guitar, looping and electronics, Funke and the Two Tone Baby, who I felt was more showing off the electronics than the music.
Finally Pepe Belmonte and his band turned up, supported by his guitarist Roger and Charlie Austen playing cajon, who had preceded them on the Saturday before. I was not disappointed, enjoying their set.
Next up I tried to get into The Albion. The press of the crowd was so much that there seemed to be no way of getting through to take pictures. I did take one of Hotwax over the heads of the audience but it wasn’t that clear. In order to make the best of things I decided to head to The Carlisle as oneof the bands that I hadn’t planned to see but wanted to see Wytch Pycknyck would be playing there. I got there in time to catch the tail end of Dog of Man who were playing a credible rock set, with lead accordion.
Next on were Wytch Pycknyck, whose retro rock sounds went down well with the crowd and myself. Their set was interesting and enjoyable.
The final set of the night was from HotWax, the band that I hadn’t quite seen at The Albion. They are young punk trio who played an infectious set, getting the crowd going, staying on longer than their allotted fifteen minutes with the blessing of stage manager Gary.