It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the sky a serene sheet of blue interrupted only by small, streaks of cloud and the sizzling circle of the sun. The park is full of people lounging on blankets laid all over the small hill, children running back and forth like drunken dwarves and everywhere the aroma of good food, spliff and wine. There’s no shade and the relentless heat is tiring. My friends and I don’t say much, occasionally nodding and smiling, passing the hummus, pouring a drink. I lie dazed, heavy eyes scanning the paper for some light reading, finding a comment piece about Kate’s hotpants.

Why I am telling you this? Because somewhere in the distance at the bottom of the hill across a lake there’s a stage and the sweet Latin harmonies and tight knit funk of Manchester group RSL is drifting towards us on a gentle breeze. This is the first of a pair of Jazz Café Picnics, a musical day-out at one of London’s grander parks. We’re in the gardens of the Kenwood House with the pale, marble-effect house itself standing like a two dimensional façade away to the right. At the edge of the lake there are rows and rows of mostly empty deck chairs, cordoned off where the slope begins. These are the expensive seats and right now they and the slimy sheen of the lake are coming between the cheap seats (ie. the hard ground) and the grooves emanating from the stage.

It’s a pity especially for a band as delicate and interesting as The Earlies. The Eyeballkid favourites play a short set of their blissfully dramatic pop that washes over a wholly relaxed audience. There are over ten people on stage frantically swapping instruments, fiddling with thermins, blasting horns but from over here you’d barely know it. Louie Vega fares better. One half of the legendary dance duo Masters at Work, Vega has been putting together a live band for the last couple of years, the result being Elements of Noise. Their uplifting house tunes finally give some life to the sun-weary and pretty soon there a scattering of dancers, including one tireless man in a red cowboy hat. Nitin Sawhney and band follow bringing the tempo down once again with his Indian-flavoured breaks, before it’s time for the main act.

After an over-long game of bingo hosted by mischievous comedian and actor Paul Kaye Lemon Jelly take to the stage as the sun begins a slow descent. The cooler temperature brings more people to their feet, but also the impinging dark helps, with the distant stage lights and the neat visual show adding focus to the event for the first time today (not counting the irritating and banal inserts from the day’s MC, Normski). The bingo game may have gone on a bit but it shows Lemon Jelly’s appreciation for their audiences, something very few other bands seem to think about. They have an onstage presence you wouldn’t expect from an electronic duo especially from this far away, as they roam the stage picking up different instruments, jumping about a lot and bantering with the crowd, and playing tracks from their current album ’64-95’ and their back catalogue. They are known best for their chill-out sound but live Lemon Jelly add oomph. ‘Rambling Man’ is a thundering rattle around the world’s finest sounding destinations, ‘Shouty Track’ is a demented piece of rock while kid’s (actual children, not “indie kids”) favourite ‘Nice Weather For Ducks’ turns up like a club scorcher and is accompanied by a couple of over-heated people taking to the lake for a swim.

Those aquatic stunts of course came from the expensive seats, which demonstrates how far standards have fallen since John Lennon requested those in the box to rattle their jewellery. By the end of Lemon Jelly’s fine set most of those up front had left their deck chairs and are dancing by the edge of the water. The organisers should take note and do away with the unnecessary segregation. Perhaps then it would be as involving a show for the rest of us, rather than a pleasant day in the park.

words: Colm Larkin

The second Jazz Café Picnic takes place in August at Marble Hill in Richmond, featuring Royksopp, Morcheeba, The Herbaliser and more.
Check out our preview for more details.


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