Rockabilly Rave

On Monday we came back from a 4 day stag/hen do weekend with Tom’s “best man” and her husband. We went to the Rockabilly Rave in Camber Sands, on the south coast of England.

The idea was to dress up, have a drink and listen to Rockabilly music. We definitely did the first two. We arrived on the Friday early afternoon, as soon as we entered Pontins holiday centre, we were surrounded by older couples - we were probably the youngest ones and as Lauren said, we are not even that young anymore – dressed in the 1950’s rockabilly style. As much as I love the 50’s, let’s face it, the jeans were not good, but it’s nice to see everyone all done up. We had to drive carefully between vintage Chrysler cars and a giant pink Cadillac. When you see the tall big men covered in tattoos, you don’t want to scratch their shiny cars. We were staying in little chalets with little kitchens, clearly built in the 1970’s but clean and big and better than a tent in a muddy field.

We didn’t lose any time and started the drinking/dressing up. We peaked a bit early and only saw one band that night but danced quite a lot. And we discovered the robot dance. It turns out it’s actually called Strolling. Men were all standing on the side and all the women were dancing alone. It is very odd. That didn’t stop us and Tom and I danced together.

Souta & the Blitz Attack Boys

On the second day we tried to go to the beach, bad idea. Too much wind, too much sand. We ended up with sand everywhere and had to go back to shower – yes it was that bad. We went to see Souta & the Blitz Attack Boys from Japan, they were the only band we actually planned to see. And it seems they were also the only band with original songs and not only covers. I do like Money Honey but four different covers in two days is a lot. Are there really so few rockabilly songs!?

The last day was my favourite. We started by a stroll on the beach, we discovered another path that doesn’t include going up a dune with sand in your eyes, we then went for a swim – in a swimming pool not in the freezing sea – saw a band play in front of their room, had a nap and drank/dressed up for the night. Tom and I both ended wearing our friends’ clothes, we took a lot of pictures, went out, bought saddle shoes I’ve been wanting since the Friday, danced… All that is a big blur. All I know is that I’m in love with my shoes and had a real hen do hangover.

All pictures taken with the Canon T70.