With entertainment for all ages, the first Rhyl Beach Fest was a success for the town, with the organisers putting on an amazing couple of days with not only lots to do and see on the beach but also a great line-up of music blasting out in the Rhyl Events Arena for everyone to have a fun.
Day 1, Saturday, was bathed in gorgeous sunshine as the event kicked off at 12PM as people flocked in to see what was happening on Rhyl’s beach during the day.
Rhyl Beach Fest Day 1
So I arrived a little early and set up my base of operations at The Pier Hotel, which is just over the road from the Rhyl Events Arena, the perfect place for me to return to during the day to check photos, hook up to the WiFi and tweet etc during the day.
Once I had sorted everything out, I popped over to the Beach Fest to meet up with Sian Davies to grab my wrist bands for the day and confirm the access that I will have over the two days, suffice to say, I couldn’t ask for more than what I got and Sian and the team of stewards and security were amazing with my complete Access All Areas.
Saturday was really a “get to grips” day, as I was walking around checking out what and who was where, checking out some of the brilliant Sand Sculptures and having a chat with people who had come to see the Rhyl Beach Fest, a lot of locals and holiday makers were all enjoying the lovely sunshine, the amazing sandy Rhyl Beach and of course the Beach Fest with its entertainment, not forgetting the Cocktail Bar and the Welsh Beef Carvary, which I did sample and wow it was delicious.
As the day progressed it was time for the band Contagious, a local band, who are a teenage pop punk band that have played shows for over 2 years! They do a lot of their own material but mainly they cover artists such as Green Day, Kings Of Leon and Blink 182, they really rocked the events arena, I grabbed my camera during their performance and shot to front and side of the stage for some shots of their stellar performance.
I have to say these lads certainly have a talent and great news was that they would be returning to Sunday’s line up as well.
Saturday was certainly a great start to the Rhyl Beach Fest and with the weather behaving itself, what more could visitors to Rhyl and locals as for.
Rhyl Beach Fest Day 2 (Sunday)
Sunday started with a dreary start with the weather, with the sky clouded over and the rain stopping and starting, it seemed that the day may be a bit of a damp one, which wouldn’t help as the line up for the bands was so much more for Sunday, with The Hoosiers headlining the event.
But never fear the weather stayed dry and the later in the day it was another lovely day, Contagious kicked off the day again, which like Saturday, got the crowd ready for the day.
Following them was MavMac, suffice to say Lewis and his brother really had the crowd going nuts and as I was in the pit between stage and barriers the fans moved tighter to the front to see them as they got the audience, bouncing on their feet screaming and singing, I have to say the girls in the crowd loved Lewis and Stephen, what a great duo.
A brilliant performance, if you ever get the chance to see them live, then check them out, MavMac can certainly get the party going.
After the pumping music of MavMac, Emmy J Mac, who was in series one of The Voice, took to the stage with her lovely voice and vocals, the one thing that really stood out about this performance was the bass player was playing with broken arms, I kid you not, top marks of merit to him for putting on a great performance as did Emmy.
Next up was 15 year-old Britain’s Got Talent 2014 finalist, James Smith, this is where his adoring fans swooped down at the barriers to get that bit closer to his on stage performance and they absolutely loved him, his acoustic set was nicely done and performed well to his fans and maybe newcomers to his music.
But was really nice of James is after his performance on stage, he took to the side where his fans were waiting and had a chat, signed autographs and let fans take “selfies” with him and believe me there were a lot of girls waiting for him and a few boys, sadly a few didn’t chance to meet him etc. as there was so many of them. Perfect chance for a photo of him with fans though. Which I decided to post on Twitter.
James Smith greets his fans @rhylbeachfest @jamessmithvocal @rjournal @RhylTIC @regeneraterhyl pic.twitter.com/wCzSbo62Zb
— Blazing Minds (@BlazingMinds) July 28, 2014
Kitten and the Hip took the stage shortly after, now I have to say, I wasn’t sure about them at first, I saw them coming out with trombone and thought, “OK where’s this going then!”, so I went down from the top behind the stage and headed to photographers pit for the photos.
WOW! The “Poptastic duo from Brighton” were nothing what I was expecting, they produce swing music with that electronic twist. Absolutely brilliant, I’m going to have to download their music now after seeing them, I just loved it, it makes a nice refreshing change to hear something with a twist to it, compared to the same old thing we get in the charts these days.
One more band to go, but before The Hoosiers would come on stage the skies opened up and the rain hit us all hard, standing waiting I was getting soaked, but thankfully one of security was kind enough to bring me a makeshift rain mac, a grey bin bag, but my concern was my camera, so it got priority while it was raining and got wrapped up to keep dry, clothes dry out, electrical equipment doesn’t deal with rain!
But the rain didn’t deter the crowd, it looked like it they were leaving, but in fact they were running for cover waiting for The Hoosiers to come on the stage, equipment was water-proofed the stage was swept and just as the rain was dying off, The Hoosiers hit the stage with a tumultuous applause from the crowd as they all made their way back to the stage.
What an amazing show they put on, the crowd were singing along with them and as the rain started again and I shot off back to The Pier Hotel to watch in the dry with nice drink, more and more people started arriving at Rhyl Beach Fest, people were slowing down their cars and looking over, parking in the side roads and running over to see if this was indeed the actually Hoosiers!
The rain didn’t stop people they were loving every minute of it and this is how a good gig should be, The Hoosiers closed an amazing weekend in Rhyl, with so much happening over the weekend and things to do for people, it’s been an event that I hope will return next year for more great live music and so much more.
A big massive thanks must go to Sian Davies, who allowed me to run around with my camera with Access All Areas throughout the weekend and for allowing me to cover the event to bring you this rather large essay, erm, article.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
