Find the River Rat Pack bands right here on RawRip.com
Mumford and Sons
Josh Weller
Beans On Toast
Nat Jenkins
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| Luke from the Kooks makes an appearance on the Barge |
Genius, absolute genius … 1 river, 2 barges, 9 bands and free gigs a plenty. The rats departed from Camden, London yesterday and they’re now, as you’re reading, winding their way up the canal to the Thames and heading up to Oxfordshire for the first free gig in Henley on Wednesday 4th June.
Providing the music on the tour is an extremely fine, hand picked bunch of UK up and coming artists; Mumford and Sons, SixNationState, Nat Jenkins, Jay Jay Pistolet, Derek Meins, Josh Weller, Beans on Toast, The Golden Silvers and Naked and the Boys.
Acoustic performances on the barge and riverside gigs will be the order of the day with free gigs in venues along the way for the evenings. Expect a spell binding combination of music of the highest quality from the sublime folk of Mumford and Sons, to the energetic gypsy punk from SixNationState and the witty and political musings from Beans on Toast.
We’re pretty bloody thrilled here at RawRip as we are co-sponsoring this event with the headline sponsor SeatWave (the fan to fan ticket exchange seatwave.com), which means we’ll be bringing you photos, interviews, updates and exclusive audio recordings from the tour. So keep checking this page daily for updates and new exclusives … excited? We are!
So, to the gigs, did we mention they're all free?
Check here for daily updates on whats happening on The River Rat Pack Tour
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Day one: Launch night at Lock 17, Camden, 1st June 2008
Words: Editor
The River Rat Pack Tour got off to a GREAT start last night at Lock 17 in Camden by the canal. All 9 bands played a 20 minute set each to a rammed venue getting happier and sweatier at the night went on. Everyone played phenomenally building up from Naked and the Boys to Nat Jenkins and ending with an energetic, stonking set from SixNationState. A hectic night of dancing, drink spilling, interviews and gigs made it one of the most special and atmospheric gigs I have been to in ages. Everyone spilled out at the end to wave barge A off down the river (barge B joined them today), an emotional farewell! They’re now cruising their way up the Thames … In the meantime keep checking back here to get news, photos, gossip and exclusive interviews and audio, we’ll be updating this page everyday. The RawRip team will be rejoining the tour on Thursday for more interviews where I’ll be getting all the tour gossip and we’ll also be recording the gig for you too, so keep checking back. |
Interviews - These will play in the player at the top of the page
 Beans On Toast SixNationState Derek Meins Mumford and Sons Nat Jenkins |
 
All photos by Isla Macleod
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Day five: The Oakford, Reading, 5th June 2008
Words: Editor
Day five of the River Rat Pack tour and we meet the crew in Reading for gig number 3. Energy levels are waning a little, you can tell that 4 full days of barge life and bad weather are starting to take their toll on our folk n roll stars. But no complaints heard, all sound checks done and it’s time for Naked and the Boys to take the stage to start the evening off and raise the bar extremely high for the acts to follow. Quickly followed by Gwilym from Golden Silvers, this is the great thing about these gigs, each band/artist plays for 20 minutes with the exception of the last 2 who get a slightly longer set, thus enabling the audience to get a great sense of what each band is about and allowing 9 to play each night. Josh Weller and Derek Meins next, both brilliant lyrically with the kind of songs that get better with every listen, the former with a pop sensibility and the latter a rockier version of folk.
Beans on Toast with more political and thought provoking lyrics, including a lovely song about his girlfriend being away for 3 months. He grabs the crowd’s attention, standing on a stool and managing to mix humour and politics in a phenomenal way. Nat Jenkins is next, the evening is gaining pace now as Nat plays his set of rockabilly songs, the audience is well oiled and well happy! Followed by Jay Jay Pistolet – for his last performance of the tour before he departs to support Morcheeba – and the tour will miss him, his soothing, mesmerizing and beautiful songs add to this line up so very well.
Onto the last two bands, first up, Mumford and Sons who played a blinding set. The audience silenced by the splendour of ‘Awake My Soul’ and then the band taken aback by the entire room singing along to their songs with as much passion as them. The melodies blow me away every time, the lyrics pierce through my soul and I certainly wasn’t alone in having a permanent smile the entire way through. Finishing on the epic ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ there was only one band that could follow this performance … SixNationState, on their home turf, all donning sunglasses, ended the night with an amazingly energetic set. They describe their music as gypsy punk and this somehow seems to entirely sum up their style, playing a mixture of old and new songs, each one so different but so identifiably 6NS.
And then it’s suddenly the end of the night, a bit hot and a bit sweaty but with the sense that we’ve all just experienced something pretty amazing, a line up consisting of 9 extremely talented acts and feeling part of a little Rat Pack community. And now it’s back to the barges to carry on the fun … |
Interviews - These will play in the player at the top of the page (Please excuse the noisy toilet door)
Beans On Toast & Jay Jay Pistolet SixNationState Admiral Ally Wolf
Mumford and Sons Naked & The Boys and Josh Weller
Live recordings - Visit the artist profile and listen to the exclusive recordings from the Reading gig.
SixNationState
Nat Jenkins
Mumford and Sons
More to be added.... |
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Day eight: The last night, Oxford, 8th June 2008
Words: Editor
Joining the River Rat Pack Tour on a sunny Sunday evening for the final gig of the tour there was a sense of sadness amongst everyone, sadness that in a few short hours this fantastic week was all going to be over. The strong friendships that have been made are evident and the thought of landing firmly back on the ground is not an attractive thought. But there's also a massive sense of solidarity and with that comes immense happiness, that these 18 unbelievably talented musicians have survived a week on a barge together, become great friends, been inspired by each other, learnt from each and have been part of something very, very special indeed.
The hot, basement venue was packed full of people excited about seeing all 8 acts play and boy were they given a treat. Almost every set had other Rat Pack members on stage playing with them with Derek Meins stealing Josh Weller to play guitar for him due to a finger injury and all of Mumford and Sons on stage with him. Truly wonderful to see all these musicians playing together, learning each other's songs and giving the crowd something to remember. Everyone played amazingly, each set was full of passion and each member of the tour gave their sincere thanks to everyone involved and for asking them to be a part this tour.
Mumford and Sons ended the night with the entire venue passionately singing along to 'Little Lion Man' their new completely incredible song. Then everyone from the two barges reunited on stage to perform the River Rat Pack Tour song that was written during the week:
Gypsy water woman
Riding down the canal
Gypsy water woman
I want to see you smile
Gypsy
Gypsy
Water
Water
Wooomaaaaaaaan
They played it enough times for everyone to learn it and in no time at all had all the audience singing with them at the top of their voices.
So, this is what happens when you put 18 musicians on two barges for one week … they become friends, they inspire each other, they make music together, they play awesome gigs and they create a something that is truly wonderful to be a part of.
Without being massively emotional about this, I'm sure that everyone in The Cellar that night will never forget the experience and will agree with me in forever feeling part of the River Rat Pack Tour 1 ... well there's going to be another one isn't there? |
Interviews - These will play in the player at the top of the page
Beans On Toast & Derek Meins SixNationState Josh Weller, Naked & The Boys and The Golden Silvers Mumford and Sons |
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05 May 2008
12 May 2008
26th May 2008
2nd June 2008
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