Looking back on my diary of the Upton Jazz Festival bought forward a big inrush of memories that had been previously tucked away, a lot of smiles, and as often is the case with these things, the reminder of the less than pleasant aspects of my life at the time, meaning that my Jazz diary is a solid reminder of one of the last times I was actually happy in 2012.
It also reflects a bit of a snapshot of not only the history of the festival, but a point in time for the town of Upton itself, with shops mentioned in my diary (such as the bookshop) long since having disappeared. What is perhaps a good sign is that all of the Pubs mentioned in the diary were still going as of my last visit to Upton in 2025, a successful feat and once which spits in the face of the doom & gloom narrative that is being presented in the press and picked upon by every possible commentator going presently, (who happily ignore that the same stories have been coming back and forth for nearly two decades at least). That is another story, and one which I may discuss elsewhere, but not in the Jazzocracy.
The festival has of course changed, and 2012 was perhaps the last one done on that scale, though the marquee set up would continue on up until the end of the decade, but I think the disruption of the bad weather and the subsequent changes in venue broke the bubble that the festival was in, and the community who visited never quite adapted to the new locations.
Looking at the bands, the selection and range was very good and the large marquee's allowed for more larger bands and a greater audience capacity plus room for the dancers, and allowed, despite the boggy conditions much more fluid of movement between venues.
The diary itself, well as presented her, edits have been made for various reasons. Partially to go with context, with jokes which when being presented as part of an ongoing blog by a twentysomething land perfectly well, but 14 years later, standing along and presented by a guy in his early 40's, the context and is gone, and the jokes and references would read quite differently- or just not make sense. I have tried to smooth the transitions from these cuts as best I could, but there is only so much papering you can do to hide cracks. The other thing I did notice, and stands out quite a bit now, is my word- I didn't half drink a lot of beer over the course of the festival, I doubt I could drink half as much as that now and still be standing! It was nice however, to revisit some of the breweries of the time, I really ought to look up and see which ones are still going now. That was a bit of a golden age for independent breweries and I was always on the look out for new brews to stock at the Pub I worked in at the time as over the course of a few years our ale trade turnover had at least tripled, though the date reminded me that the writing was on the wall for my pub to be stocking ales from independent breweries.
It is easy to get lost in the rush of nostalgia and the rose tinted glasses, and turn around and say "the current situation is crap, it was so much better back then," but time has moved on, the world has changed, people have changed- I would rather not think about what percentage of the patrons from 2012 have seen passed away, so it would be unfair to judge on that bias. Change is inevitable, and post-covid, getting people back has proved to be quite difficult across the board. Yes, I miss the under the bridge venue, but a appreciate it must have been a logistical nightmare, and suspect regulations on stewarding have tightened up over the years.
So, the 2026 Upton Jazz Festival is a month and a half away, am I looking forward to it? Hell, yeah... I am expected a different vibe. Also yes, but different doesn't necessarily equate to bad.
Keep an eye out for my forthcoming write ups of the 2025 Upton Jazz Festival, and the 2025 Bude Jazz Festival.
Until then, keep Jazzing!
2026
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