Feel Good fun at the Flying Horse

Photo: Matt Barker @ Expressive Exposure

Beat The Radar

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The Flying Horse was transformed into an intimate music venue this evening (Friday 13 August 2010) as it played host to bands forming the Feel Good Festival line up.

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild popped in to watch Manchester band Beat the Radar perform to an eager crowd.

The group took to the stage in the packed pub at around 9pm and played 8 tracks to a very welcoming crowd.

Speaking at the start of the set the bands guitarist said he was “happy to be in Rochdale.”

The band, made up of 4 members including a drummer, guitarists and a lead singer performed their first CD single “By the sea” as well as various songs from their album including “America,” “Animals” and “ Stars.”

The group’s front man put his heart and soul into the music whilst the other members performed to a very high standard.

Following the performance band member Craig Marchington said there had been two highlights to the evening, one was the sale of their CD to somebody they had never met, the other was that on arrival to Rochdale they were welcomed by a man from Coventry who had travelled especially to see them play.

“They were both very charming and kind and it is nice to see that people are interested in us,” he said.

Speaking about the gig, Mr Marchington, said: “It can be quite difficult performing a genre of music targeted at people in their 20s to people who are a bit older but I think it went very well considering the circumstances. I don’t know if we attracted those people or they were just in their as regulars but I hope that they had a great time.”
Front man Jonathan Swift described Rochdale as a “special little town.”

He said: “I think festivals can have a great impact on smaller towns because everybody comes out to get involved. The Feel Good Festival is inspiring and something everybody can get involved in.

“I would come again, I love to perform, to be honest I would sing in someone’s back garden if they wanted me too!”

The band are huge Lightning Seeds fans and plan to come back to Rochdale tomorrow (Saturday 14 August) to enjoy even more of the festival.