• Rewind Festival
  • Henley
  • August 17 & 18

THERE were only a few clues there were 40,000 people enjoying a festival season favourite of Rewind alongside the riverbank in Henley-on-Thames.

The brilliant whites of a John McEnroe lookalike and a man sat on a grassy knoll who looked like he needed a break were subtle hints.

Walking into the festival site was like stepping back in time to revel in the mistakes and the greats of the 80s.

The result was a massive fancy dress party with a mix of 80s musical figures or becoming lifesize iconic items like whoopee cushions and Rubik's cubes. There were more people donning neon glow ra-ra skirts and gloves and T-shirts screaming out 80s slogans.

Festival goers who are now of a certain age after being teenagers at some point in the 80s, all gathered to enjoy snippets of the decade's chart topping successes.

The tunes were familiar, the voices sounded the same and I even found forgotten lyrics tumbling out my mouth. The faces of what were pop bands plastered over teen magazine like Smash Hits are definitely similar but have aged in line with the audience.

And it's obviously everyone now wants to take things a little easier evident by the sea of fold up chairs that people sank back into in-between sets and the friendly well-mannered nature of the mundane things like using the toilet or getting a drink.

And the bands proved a mixed bunch, with everything from one-hit wonders like Chesney Hawkes and Imagination to stalwarts of the charts ABC, Go West, Heaven 17, and The B52s wowing the crowds.

Saturday's highlight was always going to be Loveshack stars B52s but Then Jerico also proved they've still got it - and Billy Ocean sounded better than before - age improving his voice - and giving him the appearance of a Biblical prophet. Sugarhill Gang lived up to their reputation as hip hop pioneers, standing out not just as quality perfromers but as artistically relevant - all those years since they switched America, then us, then the world onto rap.

The cream, however, always rises to the top and, for me, the best moments came on Sunday night, with ABC, Go West and Belinda Carlisle.

Peter Cox's white singlet was swapped for a crisp white shirt but that didn't stop the suggestive banners being waved by the audience as he belted out hits like Pretty Woman's King of Wishful Thinking.

But it was Belinda Carlisle whose superstar quality shone through her performance which really did show the chasm between the good and the best of the 80s.

Oh and the man sat on the hill taking a break was a guitarist for ABC – perhaps that could only happen at the festival with manners.