Great music, nice venue, lovely weather - amazing cause. Tim Hughes finds every reason to love this charity show...

  • The Kids are Alright
  • Said Business School, Oxford
  • Saturday, July 13

Robin Bennett, frontman of country-rock band The Dreaming Spires, seemed strangely in his element, gazing over the rooftops of Oxford.

“I feel like I’m in Barcelona,” he said, as we sat at the top of the rooftop amphitheatre at the Said Business School for Saturday’s Oxford Children’s Hospital fundraiser.

Robin, whose band headlined the nine-act event, wasn’t alone in feeling out of place as the sun went down on Saturday after a sweltering afternoon.

“It reminds me of the South of France,” I overheard a girl in over-sized sunglasses say as she walked across the gravel quad at the foot of the stone steps in search of the bar. It wasn’t just the weather that was perfect for this event, which brought a spirited bunch of musicians and fans to the city’s loveliest outdoor venue for The Kids Are Alright. The setting, which is usually off limits to ‘town’ if not ‘gown’, was stunning and the music was consistently excellent. The idea of promoter and artist Ant Kelly, the all-dayer also brought together rockabilly three-piece The Long Insiders, dreamy Americana act Co-Pilgrim, Olly Wills from folk-rock band The Epstein, rock act The Family Machine, singer-songwriter Jess Hall, Jaggy Edges, Fifteen Strings and Ant’s own band The Shapes.

Up to 130 people joined the fun; that more were not there is baffling, considering the weather, setting, the school’s central location, good cause and cheap ticket prices (which worked out at almost £1 a band), but then that’s Oxford. Perhaps we are just spoiled here. If it had been in, say Coventry or Gloucester, they’d have been turning people away. Among the loveliest moments was the set by Mike Gale’s Americana act Co-Pilgrim — the Hampshire songwriter’s mellow vocals hanging on the sultry evening air while bandmate Joe Bennett’s ethereal lap steel guitar tingled the hairs on the backs of our necks. The Long Insiders jolted the crowd back to earth with a gutsy set of psychotic rhythmic surf-rock, sharply coiffured guitarist Nick Kenny’s chunky riffs chiming with matinee idol look-alike Sarah Dodd’s adrenaline-pumped vocals. Tonight we were treated to new songs. Sarah claimed to have been nervous; she certainly didn’t show it. This was the definition of slick.

Headliners Dreaming Spires maintained that West Coast vibe, though their brand of melodic country rock is the soundtrack to an altogether more chilled-out California — that of The Byrds or Flying Burrito Brothers. Live favourites Brothers in Brooklyn, Singing Sin City and Everything All the Time were topped off with the theme tune for the night — The Who’s The Kids Are Alright — cue dancing in the aisles, which descended into a dancefloor invasion for a sing-along version of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night.

It was a great night with fabulous local music — and it even raised £600 for the hospital, which can’t be bad!