Who doesn’t love a hometown gig? Brighton’s very own Levellers returned to where they started in 1988 and played to a delighted crowd to celebrate their beautiful record, the now 35-year-old ‘Levelling the Land’. They also played the first day of a weekend of music at Hove Park, which hosted an excellent line-up of artists, many with strong connections to Brighton and nearby towns.
Staying true to the album’s track list, they kicked off the set with the mightily anthemic ‘One Way,’ which immediately had the masses singing and dancing as all good crowds that have been having a few drinks in the sun should. At this point, I couldn’t have been happier when a particularly friendly bloke who looked like Saruman gave me a spontaneous hug before ambling off and embracing someone else. Despite being the beginning of the set, I was already all in and loving it. As Mark Chadwick belted out “There’s only one way of life, and that’s your own,” we all sang back and believed every word – with the caveat of respecting personal choice, consent, and firm boundaries, of course, but that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue in such a catchy way.
The band then played through the album, and we all danced and sang along with the true affection and joy that comes with it. ‘The Game’, ‘The Boatman’, ‘Another Man’s Cause’, ‘Battle of the Beanfield’…SO many genuine classics followed and were delivered with such passion and joy that you could tell that it clearly meant a lot to the band to be up there and surrounded by their people. My personal favourite was ‘Liberty Song,’ and singing along with the masses to the stomping lyric, “This means nothing to me, the way we were is the way I wanna be,” was my perfect moment of the night. Lines like this have all the more resonance when you think that The Levellers have appeared to stay true to this founding ethos for nearly 40 years since their 1988 beginnings. They famously pay themselves an equal wage from the collective pot and have set up the ‘Beautiful Days’ festival in Devon, which – as a born and bred Devon boy myself – is now very much on the list of things that I need to do.
Once ‘Levelling the Land’ was played out, we were then treated to a handful of classics from other records, with the final offering ‘What a Beautiful Day’ very aptly playing us out, ensuring that my blissed-out smile stayed firmly on my face even while heading home on the 3X bus. Although I didn’t get to cuddle Saruman’s amiable doppelganger again, the gig was glorious, and I’d recommend anyone to go and see the band if you get the chance.
The event was also a day festival with an excellent line-up for the inaugural day of the Hove Park event – most bands had strong connections to Brighton, which made it even more special. The Meffs kicked off with their phenomenally big sound. They absolutely owned the tricky early slot, played amongst the crowd and smashed it.
Brighton’s very own The Brakes have recently reformed to play a few live shows and were very strong before the outstanding Kid Kapichi raised the bar even higher – ‘New England’ was a standout.
Sleeper then took to the stage, playing all the classics, but a special mention needs to be made for their cover of ‘Atomic,’ which segued into ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ before morphing back again. In doing this, Sleeper not only reawakened the teenage crushes that the middle-aged part of the crowd had on Louise Werner but very considerately reminded the more senior revellers of their teenage crushes on Debbie Harry – it was a win-win and clearly everyone was very happy about this.
What a day of music, and a very grateful nod has to be directed towards Brighton’s Joy Concerts for conceiving, putting together and hosting it. They do great things for music, and this Hove Park event with a focus on artists from Brighton was a very welcome addition to the calendar indeed.
