Kim Beacon (vocals) / Andy Roberts (guitar) / Graham Smith (violin) / James Exel (bass) / Colin Fairley (drums)
For whatever reason, this band didn’t even appear in the official newspaper programme. My guess – and it would be only that, a guess – is that they were a late addition to the roster, too late for inclusion in the publication. Anyway, I can’t remember their set at all. They were billed at ten to two on the last day, fairly early on in the day’s proceedings and they clearly didn’t make that much of an impression on me, which is a bit of a surprise as they seem to have been a prog-rock/folk band, a mixture which I do quite like.
Writing in Melody Maker, Karl Dallas said of them, “String Driven Thing worked well, although I found myself wondering all the way through why they weren’t bigger. During Thing’s final number, roadies were busily erecting a big “Climax Blues Band” banner on the other stage, which distraction may have been one reason why the end of their set didn’t really go over as big as it deserved,” which seems to suggest that he did actually like them, I think…
Writing for New Musical Express, one of either Tony Tyler or Chris Salewicz, I really don’t know which, said “String Driven Thing try too hard” – a helluva succinct review, whilst for their part, Record Mirror neglected to mention the band completely!
There are no setlists for the band around this time, so I cannot confirm what songs they played although their album at the time was probably ‘Keep Yer ‘And On It’, but I can’t be sure of exactly which part of the year that LP came out. All guesswork I’m afraid. 😦
Setlist: unknown
Gigs'n'Stuff 