After headlining 80s/90s music festivals several times, Chesney Hawkes is back in the region with something new: A Weekend With… event that will include music, stories and much more. He tells HELEN BARNES what to expect from this family friendly event - and swears about Pat Sharp a bit
How did this unusual event come about?
They actually approached me; I think they’re looking to do a series of these events ‘A Weekend With…’ I guess I’m the guinea pig! I’ve worked with the company – James Dean Events – on several occasions and their festivals have always been really successful and well run. I’ve even got to know the people that own the land. It’s always a really warm crowd and a real community spirit.
Are you going to be camping like the rest of us, or staying in a nice five star hotel around the corner?
(Laughs) Actually, that hasn’t been discussed yet! Maybe I’m going to be getting one of the nice glamping tents – I’d be happy with that!
Pat Sharp is your special guest for the weekend… he describes you as a ‘positively super chap’..
Ah, Pat’s amazing! He is the most positive and laidback celebrity I think you’ll ever meet. He’s happy to do anything – he’ll be in the middle of a crowd and it will be swamped with people, yet he will always have a smile on his face, happy to talk to everyone and give everyone time – I love him for that. He’s just a lovely man, I love his wife, Monika, too.
Pat’s running a Q&A’s session for you on the Sunday, so I thought it would be fun to ask him what he’d ask you, if he was in the crowd; Tongue in cheek, his question was ‘Do you have any other hits?’
(Laughing) Is that what he said? Cheeky ******! Well, I’d answer that question by saying ‘if you get the Guinness Book of Hit Records, look up my name, there are actually seven! Cheeky ******!
I also asked him about who he’d choose to spend a weekend with. What would your answer be?
Can they be alive or dead? If so, I’d choose Prince. He was, for me, the ultimate artist – he had everything and I don’t think anyone has touched the all round talent that he had. One of the things I loved was his mystique, the fact that you didn’t know much about him, so to spend a weekend with him you’d get to know him as a person, for actually what he was.
Have you any stories about Pat?
Yeah, he’s a budding photographer – he took this amazing video of me at a retro festival a few years ago from the stage, where I threw my guitar in the air, I really lobbed it. He did it all in slow motion and it’s the most amazing video. Every time I see him or I’m with him and there’s new people around, he says ‘Ooh, you have to see this video….’
I’ve heard you’re going to be doing a DJ set on the Friday night?
Funnily enough, that part of it, the DJing, I haven’t given much thought to, to be honest. A friend of mine, Thomas Jules, who was the lead singer of Rudimental, is an amazing DJ, so I’ve got him to come down and give me some tips.
When I saw you at Butlins, in February, I witnessed first hand what a great sport you are with all the screaming women – what do you make of audiences like that?
You were the most rabid of the whole 3000 in Butlins that night - you were grabbing my leg! You know what, I love audiences like that, what it shows to me is that there’s a little bit of love there from childhood. When I look back at old footage of me back in the early 90s, it almost looks like a cartoon character, or something. But I do appreciate that the record and me back then means a lot to some people and I understand it’s a connection to youth. Nostalgia is an amazing thing.
I’m assuming the weekend at Cattows Farm will be a little different to that, as my young children are hoping to join me on the Sunday.
Oh lovely – yeah, very different, I think it will be quite mellow, quite friendly, quite nice – a lovely atmosphere infact. I can’t imagine it’s going to be all screamy – I’ll be doing a little acoustic set, wandering around, I think they even wanted me serving breakfast at one point.
What would you say to anyone who can’t make their mind up whether to get tickets, or not?
It’s going to be really fun - I like the fact it’s family orientated, but if you’re on the fence for whatever reason, what is going to be apparent is that there’s a little more to me than you might expect….put it that way!
A Weekend with Chesney Hawkes: The One And Only, with special guest Pat Sharp, is at Cattows Farm, Normanton Lane, Heather, Leicestershire LE67 2RF, from Friday, May 31 at 2pm, until Monday, June 3, at 11am. Limited to 500 people, tickets from £22.99 to £985.65, via eventbrite.co.uk.
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