As the Leyton Buzzards once sang, it was Saturday Night (Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees) for the bands at the Chingford Village Festival with a stage flanked by exotic foliage in a Hi-De-Hi style.

The bands took their bough in the Bull and Crown pub, moved downstairs from last year onto the exotically-fringed stage. The smaller space left things cramped but cosy.

With short sets there was a fast turn-over of music. Like MTV, if you didn't like a band, not to worry, there'll be another on soon.

2oon play in the ever popular singer/songwriter ballpark, and getting a number into their name is all the craze too. The Midlands, now London-based outfit had a feel-good factor going, enjoying the weather, the day, playing and generally everything.

Acoustic and vocals, lead electric and a keyboardist provided bass and drums. This struck me as a wise move because drummers are invariably hard

work, and you can turn a machine off without any back chat.

The lead guitar may have been a bit over-driven for the setting, but the guy had only been in the band for two weeks. Lyrics touched on cliche at times, but 'long, hot sunny day' was bang on the sweaty-in-your-palm money.

Stand-out track was Go Home with some seriously groovy Waterboys-style thumping piano.

They're soon to appear on a compilation featuring Hazel O'Connor and were inexplicably asked to play the Bond theme by Sheena Easton, For Your Eyes Only. Mine bulged in surprise as singer Phil told me with a shrug.

Like ants on rotting fruit, the 13-year-old death metal band Counterfeit swarmed onto the small stage carrying bits of drum kit, amps, guitars. We joked how they'd soon be squealing in a high-pitched, low-pitch growl. The joke was on us, they were great.

Showing a lot of savvy, the Barkingside schoolboys didn't play beyond their ability with simple arrangements and some harsh riffs. The drummer in

particular was impressive.

Briefly looking away from the stage I thought of Brooklyn-based gangster movies like Once Upon A Time In America or Sleepers that start with our heroes hustling on the streets as teenagers before cutting to grown men in the present day. I looked back at the stage there were grown men in the present day. But it was just another band.

We'll have to wait for Counterfeit to develop, they've got plenty of time, and they've made a powerful start; cut to the year 2010 and they could be the next Pearl Jam or Slipknot.

Bands playing on until midnight included soft rock from Superflux, Lewellyn, Velocity, Fresh and more.

Nik Stephens