Report: Jude Paton

Photographs (except Tom Jones): Matthew Thomas

Until last weekend I have to admit that I knew nothing about Calvin Harris which I felt was rather remiss especially as he was headlining on Day 1 at V Fest at Weston Park on Saturday.  I have since learned that he is a 31 year old Dumfries born (real name Adam Wiles) DJ, songwriter and record producer earning a staggering £41.8 million last year ranking as the world's highest paid electronic dance music artist. Although he was hardly visible on the Virgin Media stage behind a dazzling display of fireworks and pyrotechnics he apparently drove the biggest crowd of the night wild. Real music however was provided on the MTV stage by fellow headliners, the Welsh rock band Stereophonics and on Sunday Tom Jones rose from the ashes of his talent show career to give a showstopper of a performance. Despite being axed by the BBC from The Voice to be replaced by Boy George the 75 year old from Pontypridd still managed to woo the ladies who seem all too keen to remove their underwear and throw it at him. His one request however was for his own private loo and as you can see Weston Park really pulled out the stops.

9 miles away, as the crow flies, a crowd of us were having a barbecue on Saturday night and not only could we hear the music from V Fest we also had our our spectacular light show by way of a thunderstorm bringing with it flashes of sheet lightning. I understand that the Environmental Health Officers were out at Weston because noise levels were such that houses on the estate were literally shaking.

No such thing at Open Mic on Tuesday with Matthew Thomas on the desk as well as behind the camera ensuring that vocals and instrument levels were just right for the opening set from John Minor, a big Oasis fan. The inclusion of "Imagine" in his set was the first of a few Beatles related songs to be heard during the evening.

Glenys Roston had travelled two and a half hours from Llandudno to sing for us in Newport accompanied by Alan Lane and Nick Wells on his 6 string bass. A seasoned vocalist, Glenys's interpretation of classics by Adele, Mamas and Papas and Roberta Flack were real crowd pleasers but Robert Johnson's "Malted Milk Blues" was the winner for me and Alan's accompaniment on guitar was superb.  

From an experienced veteran to 14 year old Frankie Wakefield making her debut performance in public in front of a crowd of 50 as well as proud dad. With no apparent nerves, lovely stage presence and a voice, mature beyond her years, she sang songs by Kodaline and Vance Joy as well as a self penned song "You Said". A great choice of new songs as well as original material and a young lady who is destined for a great future. We shall definitely be seeing a lot more young Frankie Wakefield.

 Not a veteran in years but a veteran at Newport Open Mic is 12 year old Jay Harris who now has a huge repertoire of songs  spanning several decades and a song by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds was a great opener.

Olly Flavell will soon be heading off to Manchester to pursue a career in music but in the meantime he has been busy writing new songs which he hopes to include on his second album, the follow up to LO FI, his 12 track album released earlier this year. Some promising material there Olly.

Another outing for Vinyl Tap and vocalist Alex Ash was in fine voice on the eve of his 42nd birthday. It's always good to be able to use the Open Mic stage by way of rehearsal for upcoming gigs which this weekend sees the two day Pheztival on Bank Holiday Saturday and Sunday in Newport in aid of McMillan and the Scarecrow Festival in Moreton the following weekend.

Plenty of variety tonight and two years since the next performer played at Open Mic at the Royal Naval Association. Two years ago he was only 10 and tonight 12 year old Conor Ross captivated the audience with his vocal talent and guitar playing. Another proud dad present told me that he is a multi instrumentalist playing drums, keyboards, cornet and pretty much any other instrument that comes his way in his school's music department. As well as writing his own material Conor also plays in Wigan Big Band. These youngsters show no nerves at all and what a privilege it is to have such talent appearing on the Open Mic stage knowing that many will go on to greater things. Dad, Steve Ross, was only too delighted to join his son on stage for an excellent instrumental jam of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water".

Another two year lapse since the last appearance of Driftwood, a five piece band normally but with Rhiannon Lewis on flute missing tonight, they still delivered a wonderful acoustic set with a "big dollop of soul". Emma Woodhouse - vocals, Ali McDonald - keyboards, Nick Wells - bass and Dave Rolfe - songwriter and on guitar. A great set from Driftwood included the title track "Hit the Road Jack" from their latest album "Hit the Road". Hopefully it won't be two year before we see them again.

Richard Heywood is a Tuesday night regular now and has developed a lovely guitar style of his own over the past few months. Anything by Lennon and McCartney is always popular and "Eleanor Rigby" followed by  "Free as a Bird", a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon, went down really well.

Dave Whiteman is away on his European travels at the moment but a Scratch House Band set is always his favourite part of the evening and Tuesday night's SHB was made up of Open Mic superstars and newcomers. Namely our very own Harry Woolley, Rich Thomas. Andy Clarke and Ed Sullivan were joined by the great Steve Alden, lead guitarist with the band Bluzebox and young Conor Ross. 6 great musicians on stage brought a wonderful evening to a close with a blues jam in E of course which included Harry's signature tune "Diggin' My Potatoes" and a wonderful tribute to the late JJ Cale with "Call Me the Breeze".

A terrific night of live music at the Royal Naval Association in Newport and a comfort to know that Tom Jones may have lost his seat on BBC's The Voice but at least he has his own throne at Weston Park. See you next week!