HILARY ATHEY has once again been having a whale of a time at Weyfest and has reviewed the gig for us where MUNGO JERRY opened the festival.

Yep, the last of the summer music festivals for me finished again this year with Weyfest because our favourite front man was headlining there again on the Friday night. I've missed a few MUNGO JERRY gigs this summer but Weyfest had been in my diary since last winter and nothing was going to stop me going. It certainly is a lovely festival, incredibly friendly, well organised, I felt safe at all times and there was a really good selection of musicians again. It is now officially my favourite festival and there's a group of us from this year planning to get together next year. After going to Weyfest last year for the first time, I was really looking forward to 2011 and I was certainly not disappointed.

After setting up camp and meeting my neighbours, we all went to the main site to check the layout (it changes slightly year by year as they make improvements to the stage and trader positioning). There were a lot more tents in the camping field this year, I'd say about twice as many as last year. The facilities are good at Weyfest, the food and drink on sale is excellent quality and not ridiculously overpriced either. There's all different things going on as well as the music - see my Weyfest 2010 review for more background and pictures.

I met up with QUNITIN DRAKE and his pals (Weyfest was MUNGO JERRY gig number 355 for Quintin). I'd heard from DEREK WADESON that GINA COLES was going but didn't find her, and a personal highlight for me was the chance to finally meet JEAN JACQUES BEDROSSIAN who had flown in from France just for the night - it was lovely to chat with him at last. Hope you enjoy the videos JJ! Chatting with Toby before the show, I mentioned that I really enjoyed his keyboard playing on 'MIGHTY MAN' when I saw the band at The Mulberry, he astounded me by telling me that he had never heard the original as he wanted to put his own mark on the song - well it works Toby, it works. A bit more chatting with MUNGO JERRY people, a quick hello to Ray's son Phillip and the clock ticked towards show time.

It was time for MUNGO JERRY to make their appearance, COLIN WEBB (the Weyfest organiser) introduced the band then they launched straight into 'LET'S ROLL BABY'. The line-up of Ray, Jon, Marc and Toby works really well and the tracks glide effortlessly one after another. The usual favourites were played of course and there were other songs that I've heard at different gigs. The audience reaction was brilliant and everyone seemed to enjoy the opening night at Weyfest 2011. My neighbours had seen MUNGO JERRY play Weyfest 2009 and rushed down from work on Friday to make sure they caught the set. Everyone I spoke to said how much they enjoyed the gig, no-one could believe that 'IN THE SUMMERTIME' had come out 41 years ago and that Ray is old enough to have a pensioner's bus pass! An amazing drum solo from Marc during the medley 'SINGING THE BLUES'. Man, that was some drumming - readers can catch it on You Tube, check BootpowerMungo Tube for my MUNGO JERRY home videos. Jon also had his chance to show his cool bass skills off during that track and Toby's keyboard skills are highlighted on 'LET'S ROLL BABY'.

Ray's voice is as strong as ever and his showmanship isn't waning - he had the audience jumping and singing along as hit after hit pounded out of the speakers. All too soon it had to finish though, COLIN WEBB came on stage to thank Ray and the band for opening up Weyfest again in such an energetic manner. The rest of the festival weekend passed quickly, my favourites were JACKIE LYNTON, DOCTOR FEELGOOD (my home town band), THE BLOCKHEADS and the incredible NEWTON FAULKNER. The weather stayed fairly kind to us with just an hour of rain on Sunday morning and Monday morning came round all too quickly. The motorway beckoned, taking me home to Essex.

So that's it now, I've got to unpack the car and put the camping gear away for another winter. At least I have one more MUNGO JERRY gig to look forward to this year and that's with Ray and Jon with HEINI ALTBART and HELMUT POSCH from Austria doing the gig at Dunstable on 15 October in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Unit at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. Heini and Helmut are coming over especially to support the cause and if they can travel all that way, then I certainly can - hope you can too! See you there...