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Introducing Rhodri Jones, the events manager behind the return of Forest Live concerts to Dalby Forest after five years

Bryan Adams: Going down to the woods tonight

NOT since Paul Weller and Jess Glynne in June 2019 has Forestry England hosted Forest Live concerts at Dalby Forest, near Pickering.

The hiatus that followed the Covid-enforced cancellation of Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs and the double bill of Will Young and James Morrison in 2020 comes to an end this week.

Glory be, the weather forecast looks favourable for Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, back in a forest tonight after the Julien Temple-directed video for 1991’s 16-week chart topper (Everything I Do) I Do It For You from Robin Hood – Prince Of Thieves.

More sunshine over the weekend too when Nile Rodgers & Chic and support act Sophie Ellis-Bextor turn the woodland into a dancefloor on Saturday night and Richard Ashcroft, the two-time Ivor Novello Award-winning Wigan singer, songwriter and frontman of The Verve, completes the line-up on Sunday.

Ashcroft’s set list will draw on his five solo albums, along with The Verve’s anthems Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work, Lucky Man and Sonnet that night, when Leeds band Apollo Junction will be supporting. 

Overseeing the Forest Live programme at not only Dalby Forest, but at Cannock Chase Forest, Delamere Forest, High Lodge, Thetford Forest, Sherwood Pines and Westonbirt Arboretum too, will be Rhodri Jones, Forestry England’s national events programme manager.

Nile Rodgers: Disco delights with CHIC on Saturday night

“After scaling back our operation, for the reintroduction of Forest Live we wanted to make sure we came back in a way that was sustainable after Covid, rather than all guns blazing everywhere, so we returned in a gradual, controlled way,” says Rhodri, who took up his post in 2023 after a decade at Southbank Centre, London,  where he became senior producer for all music events and festivals, including Meltdown.

“We’re really glad that Forest Live is back at Dalby Forest this year. We think we have a really good programme, in a really beautiful setting, and with three concerts this time, it gives us the chance to appeal to different people, providing something for everybody.”

This summer’s return to Dalby Forest marks the start of a partnership with Cuffe & Taylor, promoters of the highly successful summer series at Scarborough Open Theatre, where the likes of Tom Jones, Johnny Marr & The Charlatans, Paul Weller, Rick Astley, Fatboy Slim, James, Madness and comedian Bill Bailey will be coast-bound this season.

“It’s brand-new partnership for this year and will be ongoing,” says Rhodri. “We were looking for a partner for a number of reasons. Firstly, Cuffe & Taylor have an amazing track record of attracting artists of the status we want.

“Secondly, we are very proud of Forest Live, and its contribution to making a difference by raising funds for woodland conservation, and by partnering with such big guns as Cuffe & Taylor, who do concerts 365 days a year and, like us,  are advocates of sustainability with the Green Nation charter, we can strengthen that.

“It’s essentially an initiative to look at all elements of putting on the events to make them as sustainable as possible, so one of the things we were determined to introduce this year was a shuttle bus service to Dalby Forest, with coaches from Malton, Pickering, Scarborough and York.”

Richard Ashcroft: Sunday’s headline act at Forest Live at Dalby Forest. Picture: Dean Chalkley

He is delighted by the link-up with Cuffe & Taylor. “It’s a 50-50 partnership, and one of the great things is how aligned we are in how we want it to work. They can call on our expertise in staging concerts in beautiful surroundings and we can benefit from their knowledge, such as putting on the shuttle buses.

“Our sites are more remote and often that can be overlooked, with the last thing being thought about being the experience of getting to and from the forest, but we are aware that if it takes ages to get out, it might be the last time someone comes, so we’re addressing that.”

Rhodri highlights a further benefit of the return of Forest Live to Dalby Forest. “The fundamental aim of these concerts is that it’s beautiful to have these amazing musicians there, but it’s also our aim to get people into the forest for the first time and maybe next week they’ll come back to walk their dog or go mountain biking.

“The funds we raise go towards the work we do, whether tree planting or researching the health of trees and the impact of climate change. One of the big things we’re doing is looking at how trees will be sustainable in 50-100 years’ time. We’re always planning something ahead; it could be the next Forest Live or the rest of the team working on the future of the forests.”

Forestry England presents Forest Live at Dalby Forest, near Pickering: tonight, Bryan Adams (9pm to 10.30pm), supported by Cassyette (7.30pm to 8.15pm) and Rocketsmith (6.30pm to 7pm); Saturday, Nile Rodgers & Chic (9pm to 10.30pm), supported by Sophie Ellis-Bextor (7.30pm to 8.15pm), Deco (6.30pm to 7pm) and DJ Sam Flanagan (Demented Disco, 5.45pm to 6.15pm); Sunday, Richard Ashcroft (9pm to 10.30pm), supported by Apollo Junction (7.30pm to 8.15pm) and Tom A Smith (6.30pm to 7pm). Box office: forestlive.com.

Rhodri Jones: National events programme manager at Forestry England

Rhodri Jones: the back story

NATIONAL events programme manager at Forestry England, leading on the national portfolio of forest events including the open-air concert series Forest Live.

Joined Forestry England in 2023 from Southbank Centre, London,  where he worked for a decade, becoming the senior producer for all music events and festivals, including Meltdown festival.

Prior to that, he worked for Hay Festivals worldwide, on the flagship event in Wales, along with festivals in Bangladesh, India, Columbia, the Maldives, Spain, and Kenya.

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York singer songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich to release sobering but uplifting To Carry A Whale album this summer

“A whale is heavy to carry. It’s gonna hurt you to carry it, but it’s also beautiful, and it’s a miracle to be able to carry all that at all,” says Benjamin Francis Leftwich explaining his new album title

YORK singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich will release his fourth album, To Carry A Whale, on June 18.

The following month will mark the tenth anniversary of his debut, the 100,000-selling Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm, made at the age of 21 when he became the Dirty Hit label’s first signing.

The new album takes its name from Ben revealing it is the first he has written and recorded entirely sober, a state he has maintained since spending 28 days in rehab in January 2018. “To Carry A Whale is an observation on what it’s like to be a sober alcoholic addict a couple of years in,” he says.

“A whale is heavy to carry. It’s gonna hurt you to carry it, but it’s also beautiful, and it’s a miracle to be able to carry all that at all.

The artwork for Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s new album

“My gratitude is my acceptance of that flawed character and the peace that goes with that, and the title acknowledges that.”

Such is Ben’s confessional nature in his song-writing. “I think that’s the deal I made with myself a long time ago. There’s no distinction between my musical life and my personal life and I write with compulsion,” he says.

“I still consider myself a baby [as a writer]. Maybe I should hide, but I don’t. I just kind of choose it; this way of being. It’s what it is. I’ll still answer your questions! I’m not here to hide things: a problem shared is a problem halved.”

Take the song Slipping Through My Fingers: “It’s that feeling of ‘Where did he go?’. ‘Where did she go?’. ‘Where did the time go?’. I think that addicts and alcoholics do have that mindset, very, very intensely, and it’s a painful mindset,” says Ben. “I describe it as a ‘hole in the soul’.

“Song-writing is a really special thing, a privilege and a responsibility, and it’s something that I love, but it’s good to leave your ego at the door,” says Benjamin Francis Leftwich

“So, writing such a song is cathartic. Totally. Singing from the heart, sharing my experiences, my hopes, that’s one of the things that keeps me well.”

What has Ben learned in the decade since Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm? “I’d probably say, ‘Speak to people you love about your problems. Don’t try to carry everything’ – and ‘well done on signing to an independent label’,” he decides.

After Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm in 2011, After The Rain in 2016 and Gratitude in 2019, here comes To Carry A Whale, comprising ten tracks led off by lead single Cherry In Tacoma, out now.

The recordings were made over a restless four-month span last year, divided between Ben’s home in Tottenham, London, Urchin Studios in Hackney, a hotel room in Niagara and a Southend studio owned by Ben’s friend Sam Duckworth, alias the musician Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

Lasting impact: Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s 100,000-selling debut album in 2011, Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm

Duckworth produced much of the record, sharing production duties with Eg White, noted for his collaborations with Adele, Florence + The Machine and Sam Smith.

Eg White, Ben? How come? “I’ve worked with a producer called Josh Grant for a while, a dear friend of mine, and one day he said, ‘would you like to go over and meet Eg?’. I thought. ‘yeah, I’d love to’, and on that day we wrote Every Time I See A Bird, which is on the new album,” he says.

“Then we worked on Cherry In Tacoma, which I started in America but then hit a wall with it, but then Ed helped to bring it to fruition.”

Ben thrives on co-writing, whether with fellow York songwriter Sam Griffiths, of The Howl & The Hum, or a couple of upcoming days with James Morrison. “It’s great to work with other people,” he reasons.

When he was 21: Benjamin Francis Leftwich in York a decade ago after releasing his debut album

“Song-writing is a really special thing, a privilege and a responsibility, and it’s something that I love, but it’s good to leave your ego at the door. The song exists above us and we’re here to catch it.

“Occasionally you get an artist that goes it alone, but Kanye West co-writes, Taylor Swift co-writes, Adele co-writes. Ninety five per cent of the time, resistance to collaboration is only fear.”

Ben has relished recording with Sam Duckworth. “It’s really important, when there’s an energy there, you just have to grab it. Sam stayed with me at my place for ages when we were making the album. Some people do that 9 to 5 thing with their song-writing, which I respect, but it’s not my way and it’s not Sam’s way,” he says.

“Sometimes I might be going to bed, and then I’ll playing the guitar, and a song starts developing and you don’t go to bed!”

Just as Ben enjoys working with myriad musicians, so he believes in the need to travel for inspiration. “I’m not into the idea of just staying in any one city. It’s very limiting,” he says. “Early on, sometimes people want to put a belt around you to stop you from travelling, but I say ‘fly’.” Or as Sam Duckworth would urge: Get cape. Wear cape. Fly.

Travel has led to such new compositions as Sydney, 2013, Tired In Niagara and Cherry In Tacoma. “Tacoma is close to the Pacific Ocean, near Seattle, and it’s a place I’ve spent a lot of time; my godmother lives out there and I love to stay there,” Ben says.

As for a different form of travelling, going on tour to play his news songs: “We do have tours pencilled in, and I’d imagine I’ll be announcing them within the next two months.” Watch this space.

Track listing for To Carry A Whale: Cherry In Tacoma; Oh My God Please; Canary In A Coalmine; Tired In Niagara; Every Time I See A Bird; Wide Eyed Wandering Child; Sydney, 2013; Slipping Through My Fingers; Talk To You Now and Full Full Colour.

New single: The artwork for Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s Cherry In Tacoma
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OFF. Kaiser Chiefs and Will Young/James Morrison gigs at Dalby Forest cancelled

I predict a quiet night: Kaiser Chiefs will not play Dalby Forest after all on June 26

DALBY Forest’s summer concerts, featuring Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs on June 26 and a double bill of Will Young and James Morrison the next night, are off.

Indeed, the entire Forest Live series presented by Forestry England nationwide, has been cancelled, yet another summer calendar regular chalked off by the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Ticket holders will be refunded automatically.

A Forestry England statement released today explains: “We are sorry to disappoint the Forest Live fans who were hoping to see bands in the nation’s forests this summer, but we have cancelled Forest Live 2020 to keep everyone safe, in line with recent Government guidance on the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. 

“We really hope that everyone’s support to fight COVID-19 means the situation will have improved by the summer. However, as well as our valued customers, we work with a large number of volunteers, artists and contractors, to make these concerts happen and have taken this decision in the interest of safety for everyone involved.” 

Will Young: double bill with James Morrison

 The statement continues: “Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to reschedule our concerts. Ticket holders will be contacted by their point of purchase and will be automatically refunded. We ask for your patience and understanding at this busy time.

“We would like to send our deepest apologies to everyone who was hoping to see a Forest Live 2020 show. We were very excited to welcome you into forests across England to see some incredible live music.

 “Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to welcoming you back to Forest Live in 2021.”   

Nationwide,Forest Live 2020 would have featured headline performances by Madness, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Keane, Jack Savoretti and Rag’n’Bone Man, as well as Kaiser Chiefs, Morrison and Young.

James Morrison: No Forest Live return after June 27 cancellation

These June concerts would have been spread between Dalby Forest, near Pickering; Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent; Cannock Chase Forest, Staffordshire; Sherwood Pines Forest, Nottinghamshire; Thetford Forest, Suffolk, and Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire.

Income from Forest Live concerts helps to sustain Forestry England’s woodland for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and trees to grow.

Forestry England, an agency of the Forestry Commission, manages and cares for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests, welcoming 230 million visits every year and shaping landscapes as England’s largest land manager. For more information, visit forestryengland.uk; for further Forest Live details, go to forestryengland.uk/music.

Did you know?

KAISER Chiefs previously played Dalby Forest in 2016; Will Young in 2012 and James Morrison in 2007.