It’s Friday night at Bloodstock and we’re gearing up for the mighty Judas Priest, the stage is set with giant ‘Devils tuning fork’ backdrops and standing props and smoke is billowing in from the sides. Entering to Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ and a barrage of stage lights, Rob Halford is still rocking the signature fringed leather and sunglasses look, despite the now dark skies. Kicking off with brand spanking new track ‘Firepower’ – a polished but ultimately traditional Priest sound, it’s clear we’re in for a treat.
Halford shouts out “C’mon Bloodstock the priest is back! Are you ready for some heavy metal?” to a roar of approval in reply and a sea of horns are raised across the arena. Busting through hits like ‘The Ripper’ and ‘Turbo Lover’, we’re getting nothing but pure old-school heavy metal – which is especially poignant since Halford is almost dressed in heavy metal himself, sporting what look to be silver chaps, a la Tinman from Oz.
A pride flag waves in the middle of the crowd, presumably as a tribute to Halford himself who publicly revealed his homosexuality during an MTV interview, and became an early advocate for LGBT presence in the metal community. Indeed, metal for everyone; inclusion and diversity, is always a line that Bloodstock has kept at the forefront of their festival ethos.
The stage screen backdrops change to scrolling newspapers and an image of Big Ben for ‘The Ripper’ and there’s a distinct possibility of permanent retinal damage with the insane amount of strobe light use during ‘Saints In Hell’. Yelling “Thank you so much! Heavy metal is forever right?” the metal certainly does just keep on coming. Now dressed in an extraordinarily sparkly trench coat reminiscent of a giant disco ball, and wielding a blue lightsabre for no clear reason at all, we get right into the good stuff. ‘You’ve got another thing coming’ has everyone headbanging along with the band as a Black Country flag flutters on the screens – particularly relevant here in the Midlands. As is traditional, Halford rides his motorcycle on stage wearing yet another fringed jacket and leather baker-boy cap for ‘Hellbent for Leather’, which frankly is something to aspire to. If you ever get the chance to include a motorcycle as part of your essential stage kit – well you’ve definitely made it.
The encore sees guitarist Glenn Tipton join the band on stage, who has recently revealed that Parkinson’s disease would require him to step down from performing. Despite this, Tipton absolutely smashes Priest super-hit ‘Breaking The Law’ to crowd-wide chants for him, it’s a really powerful moment. Halford calls out “Thank you so much. Thank you for having us back home, this is where we’re from, the home of metal” and indeed this sort of homecoming for the band, with almost 50 years under their belts, must feel all the more special. Closing out with new record ‘No Surrender’ and finally ‘Living After Midnight’, this really has been one of the best Judas Priest gigs we’ve had the pleasure of attending, and we’re sincerely hoping it’s not the last. As Halford crows; “We'll be back, we are Judas fucking Priest!”.
The first weekend of August 2018 saw the return of the brilliant Bedford Park Concerts. I had an absolute blast last year, so I was excited to attend again. For those of you who are not already award, this is a three day event that begins on the Friday evening and comes to a close on the Sunday. The organisers have never failed to provide a fantastic line up. Previously they have given us performances from Jason Donavon, Tom Jones, UB40, Dizzee Rascal, Kaiser Chiefs and more. Once more for 2018, ticketholders were able to make memories with friends and family whilst watching yet another handful of brilliant acts.
Upon entering the site at Bedford Park, I could see a wide variety of food vendors, ranging from fish and chips and pizza to vegan street food and sweets. Also there was an abundance of bathroom facilities and access to a couple of different bars serving everyones favourite beverages. Also importantly, the teams from the brilliant St Johns Ambulance were placed in their own gazebo at the back of the park and also stationed on patrol at various locations around the site. As previous years the event was sponsored by BMW Barons Bedford, so there was also an array of automotive beauties on display and test drive booking options.
Friday
Friday 3rd August i had the weekend kicking off to a great start. The entier evening was filled with chilled reggae and soulful vibes. At times I even felt like I was being transported to a beautiful beach covered in white sand with crystal clear waters in my mind. It was one of the most chilled out gigs I have ever been to. Which was really quite nice and very enjoyable. During this relaxed segment of the evening we got to see performances from British Reggae band ASWAD, who are best known for their infectious hit singles ‘Don’t Turn Around’ and ‘Shine’. To which were the final two songs of their set.
Also Friday evening brought us a brilliant segment from The Christians, the band had celebrated the achievement of 30 years together just last year. The band from Liverpool have also seen huge success in their debut album which sold over a million copies. Their set included their first single ‘Forgotten Town’ which turned out to be quite apt as they had to ask the audience exactly where they were performing which was quite amusing. We also got to see them perform their cover of ‘Here Comes The Sun’ which was originally performed by The Beatles after the song was written by George Harrison.
The next act certainly took it up a notch as she ramped up the energy while she dominated the stage.That lady was the sensational Jaki Graham. She stood out in her eyecatching fringed attire while wowing us with her vocals. It was clear to see she could not wait for her turn to be on the stage. Graham appeared to be so genuinely happy to perform, she even stated “I came out feeling like Jaki no mates,but here you all are, I love you” which was followed by plenty of air kisses to the crowds of people before her. From Jaki, we heard hits including ‘Could It Be Im Falling In Love?’, ‘Ain’t Nobody’ and even new music including the title track of her new album, ‘When A Woman Loves‘.
Of course, this night belonged to one man, the legend that is Mr Billy Ocean. The Trinidadian-English recording artist is well known for his catchy R&B pop hits, predomintally in the 1970s and 1980s. I was born in the late 1980s but even I can appreciate his amazing talent and infamous hits. People of all ages were so excited to see this man perform live. Billy’s set was clean cut while he showcased his smooth moves as he dazzled in a brilliant white suit. Billy Ocean may not be as young as he once was, but this performance proved that age certainly is just a number. His performance was one of nostalgia and high emotion as he serenaded us with singles including ‘Caribbean Queen’, ‘When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going’, ‘Suddenly’ and the huge ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’.
Saturday
On Saturday 4th August, we got to see a very different line up compared to the previous evening. The evening was filled with pop and dance tunes. We saw performances from up and coming solo act Hannah Jane Lewis, DJ sets in between main acts, male solo artist Sam Willis, who was sat for most of his set behind a keyboard playing beautiful music and gracing us with vocals that could closely be likened to international pop star Bruno Mars. So if you’re looking for musical “Treasure” be sure to check out Sam’s music. Also there was a very lively set from the band that gave birth to Harry Styles’ music career. White Eskimo. The quartet rock-pop band were all smartly dressed in fitted black suits and slim ties around their necks as they gave us quite the show. They certainly knew how to work their magic on the audience, especially impressionable girls within their teenage years. Although, some did try to cause a stir by chanting “Harry!, Harry!, Harry!”, the lads remained focused and professional as they were seen laughing off the little stunt and carried on with a brilliant display of musical genuis. The down to earth band members clearly loved to play up to the cameras and also took time out after their set for a meet and greet with their fans at the VW Campervan style photobooth on site.
What impressed me most about these performances weren’t actually anything to do with the acts at all. I can’t continue with this review without mentioning some of the best talent that I saw all weekend. Just to the leftof the stage as the acts were live, also live were some people communicating in British Sign Language. These talented people were performing songs along with the acts on stage. What a phenominal idea! I’ve been to a lot of gigs and festivals since becoming a writer for such events and never once had I seen this at any other event before. Bedford Park Concerts are one of the small handful of events that actually include this thoughtful feature to their line up.
Shortly after 8pm, hundreds of people were seen moving as close to the front of the stage as they could possibly get, as something exciting was about to take place in the park. All over the site I could hear chanting demanding “We want Jess!, We Want Jess!” Everyone was stood waiting in ancitipation for female solo artist Jess Glynne. The music scene first intriduced us to the female soloist back in 2014 upon the UK release of Clean Bandit’s mammoth single ‘Rather Be’. Jess‘ vocals shone on the track.
Although a little later than expected, Jess walked out onto the stage, gave everyone a quick “hello” and got straight down to business to perform the first song of her set, ‘Ain’t Got Far To Go’. The chart topper also included her well known string of hits such as ‘Right Here’, ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ and ‘Hold My Hand’ before then slowing things down to what I can only state was a very emotional segment of her time on stage at Bedford Park. Glynne stood quietly at the front of the stage to introduce her next song of the evening and then dedicated it to a young girl and her mother. She continued to say “before I came on stage tonight, I got to meet a very special young girl, she’s so special and deserves some love”. The singer then continued to sing her balled ‘Home’. Many sang along as they swayed their hands gently through the air. It was rather difficult to hold back the tears during this stage to be honest. It wasa beautiful and heartfelt few moments. Jess Glynne is well known for her upbeat pop tracks, so the pace was picked up once again, getting everyone into the party mood they came to experience. This performance brought so much to the weekend’s event. Fun, emotion and pure pop brilliance!
To close saturday night, the organisers of the concerts had the perfect plan. To end the night on a huge party! Woo Hoo! Bring on Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, aka Basement Jaxx! The duo hit the stage and took their place behind a huge DJ deck as they pumped out some ravetastic tunes. As they played remixed of their own hits including the mighty ‘Red Alert‘, crowds of people were jumping around like hyper school children without a care in the world. All under a fantastic laser light show. What a way to end the night!
Sunday
As with previous years, the final day of frivolities at Bedford Park brought the most pompous yet patriotic day of my festival season calendar. The Bedford Park Proms. Proms day has always been known to feature performances showcasing a variety of renditions of songs from musicals and film soundtracks. Before attending the event that day, I had said to my partner (to quote myself) “I guaruntee that we will hear music probably the biggest film sountrack of the last year, The Greatest Showman”. Yes,I was pleasantly 100% right! It’s a soundtrack that I personally love to listen to very regularly, so I was excited to witness the children of the Pilgrims School Choir sing ‘A Million Dreams’ followed by the Bedford Girls School Choir singing their version of ‘The Greatest Show’ – which had a brilliant foot tapping routine to go with it. Parents, teachers and pupils from both school choirs should feel incredibly proud of their efforts during their performances.
What was fresh to see was a a brilliant set from the very talented Joe Bygraves. It was like watching a protege of Ed Sheeran’s standing on stage with an acoustic guitar and soft vocals. He and his music were definitely a bighighlight of the day in my opinion. Not only did he perform his own versions of songs including Ed Sheeran’s ‘Galway Girl’ and Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, he also had a great range of original songs to offer too, including ‘Childhood Sweetheart‘ and another, which was inspired by the fiesty fictitious character Daenarys Targaryen from the popular TV series Game Of Thrones. Joe’s music can currently be found on both Spotify and itunes. I highly recommend you check him out – especially if you’re a big fan of a certain red headed guitar playing male solo artist.
The official start to the Proms begins now! The Bedford Town Band kicked things off with a pretty impressive feature. All of their music was taken from the 1996 film ‘Brassed Off’ which starred Ewan McGregor.
Of course, the Bedford Park Proms wouldn’t be the same without the return of the mesmerising talents that make up the London Gala Orchestra. I’m no classical music buff, but I didn’t need to be to appreciate just how magical their symphonies can be. They even had me singing rather loudly “Just One Cornetto!” (Some of you will know what I am referring to there) haha. During some performances the orchestra were also joined by other guests including the Bedford Choral Society and of course the evening’s operatic soloists. Tenor Jeff Stewart and the nation’s musical sweetheart Lesley Garrett. Both were intruguing and enchanting to watch as they performed both alone and together. The pair even at one point sang a beautiful duet while drinking a glass of tipple and dancing as if they were ready for the wow at the ballroom.
Lastly in true proms style to end the evening and the weekend long event, the site was filled with sea of red, white and blue flags and costumes during a very british and patriotic segment before the big finale! A very spectacular firework display that filled the air with colour and sparkle and contentment in our hearts.
There is no doubt about it that the organisers of this annual event deserve a huge round of applause and a pat on the back for yet another job well done and a successful 2018 weekend event. I loved every minute of last year, I had so much fun this year, and preparations for next year’s weekend are already underway. I only hope I will be lucky enough to attend as a reviewer for a third time in 2019.
Roll up, roll up! It’s the most colourful show on earth! We’re back at Lulworth Castle for Bestival’s second year in it’s new location and it’s 15th Anniversary year, the UK is hotter than Mordor right now and we’ve packed enough glitter to ice an entire season of Drag Race.
THURSDAY
Ok, first things first. Getting in. After a miscommunication about certain carparks being full (they weren’t) and half our group being sent miles across site, we finally a few hours later manage to pitch up in Rainbow Rave camp. The first thing we notice after grabbing ourselves a lanyard (sans tote bag and programme, we really miss those!) and setting up the tents, is that there appears to be precisely ONE block of portaloos for the entirety of Rainbow camp. Seriously. It’s by far the largest campsite too. That is so not going to be fun in the morning…
Heading into the arena for a first look around, we also notice that there are absolutely no food vendors in Rainbow either… meaning we can say goodbye to a nice morning stroll for breakfast before getting ready to go out for the day. Unimpressed is an understatement – it was considerably better on both food and toilet fronts last year, two things that can really make or break your camping experience.
However, one new development which we wholeheartedly approve of, is the new “integrated site” layout (which is actually just a return to Bestival’s of old) whereby there’s no discernable divide between campsite and arena. This crucially means that there are no bottle-neck lengthy security queues and you can take your camping alcohol along with you – anywhere!
It’s also great to note that since last year’s unfortunate drug-related death at the event, Bestival has immediately stepped up their game. There are police officers and dogs on the campsite gates, as well as ‘The Loop’ – a drug testing service on site and lots of very noticeable ‘Chill Welfare’ helpers dotted around the place, as well as an Amnesty bin. Drugs are always going to make it into events, no matter what precautions are put in place, so it’s great to see Bestival addressing the problem from multiple angles.
Anyway as we walk through the site we immediately spot some differences from last years’ debut – The Temple is now nestled at the bottom of a giant hill halfway between camping and the main arena, it looks absolutely stunning and now offers a place to sit back and take it all in, if you don’t feel like getting in the middle of it. Previously it was at the top of a slope instead but we think this orientation is going to work out so much better, it looks like a beautiful secret club in the woods, with a hillside covered in fluttering silk flags. HMS Bestival has also moved to less of a thoroughfare spot, but it is still disappointingly tiny compared to it’s original iteration as ‘The Port’.
We also spy a frankly MASSIVE trapeze set up on the hill and a high-wire fenced off in the centre of ‘Cuckoo Clump’. This whole area has changed completely, it’s considerably more open and inviting than last year’s higgledy piggledy maze of vendors and spaces. We spy Stacey’s and House of Vans on our way past but we’re heading straight for the Castle and The Feast Collective for some top notch grub. As we head through the lawn we pop over to say hello to DJ BBQ, who is enjoying a beer whilst standing in his own paddling pool. So jealous right now. He reliably informs us that he’ll be slinging more meat on tomorrow, as well as giving us frequent air guitar shows on his own miniature stage.
Now I’ve raved about The Feast Collective every single year, the variety and quality are unparalleled at any other festival in the UK, but oh my gosh. It’s hotter than hell in the tent but we are all overwhelmed by the smells and sounds, the long picnic tables down the centre and pretty fairy lights. My first festival meal has to be Shrimpy’s – a tray of battered prawns, hand cut proper chips and a heap of samphire. It’s effing decadent festival dining let me tell you. Following it up we give the edible cocktails a try, Blue Lagoon is horrific, but Espresso Martini is a delight, even if you do feel like you’re joining the ill-advised tide pod craze.
After a quick look at the Castle field we head into the Old Mout Kiwi Camp for a singalong, it’s always karaoke time in there and the tent is rammed, so we settle ourselves into a massive hammock thing and add our drunken voices to an absolutely dire rendition of Fugees ‘Killing Me Softly’. After a few more songs and a couple of ciders we decide to check out Bollywood, where some guys unwisely decided to try and teach us (the perpetually uncoordinated) to ‘tut’. Needless to say we were poor, and left laughing.
Over in my personal favourite space at Bestival; Caravanserai, we are mesmerized by Cirque Bijou’s trapeze, silk and rope artists, spinning and dropping above us in sparkly outfits. The whole place is absolutely alive with wonder and awe – something I’ve come to really appreciate about Bestival. It’s not often that adults allow themselves to be utterly swept away in the moment and give in to childlike feelings of amazement, I think that’s what feels so special about it.
We also catch a little of The Roustabout Collection on the carousel stage, who are exactly as rowdy and fun as the name suggests, grab ourselves an Elderflower Gin Fizz from one of the little bars and have a sit down in one of the old waltzers. Everyone is chatting, laughing, dancing and sparkling here – I feel so at home. After filling up our souls in Caravanserai, we begin the walk back to our campsite and decide to go via The Temple which is truly even more beautiful at night, bathed in the pink light of the lasers. There’s a sea of sweaty, uninhibited bodies jumping to the rhythm of beat, it’s almost hypnotic. Half of me wants to rush in and join them but the other half of me has spotted another festival staple – Anna Mae’s Mac n Cheese. It wins out and soon we’re digging our way through mac whilst trekking up the big hill home.
FRIDAY
Oh dear lord it’s HOT. Wriggling into our first spangly outfits of the weekend (yes, we have brought theme-appropriate clothing for all three days) we head out as quickly as possible as we’re all starving. Breakfast is smashed avo on toast (basic bitch alert) followed by several average attempts at the Mitchum Ball Pool, in which you have to collect golden balls which spell out the brand name. Definitely aren’t going to be winners but they are pushing mini sample deodorant on us which we sincerely appreciate in this heat. Next door we grab ourselves free iced lattes from Nescafe Aezera and then truck up the hill to have a look at Gorilla Circus.
Little did we realise that you can just rock up and HAVE A GO. The trapeze is a giant hulking metal contraption that from the outside sort of resembles a bear trap, and is honestly no less terrifying. Some of my crew sign themselves up for a go and are pretty quickly let loose on skills like a leg-hold, back tuck and even a catch! It’s amazing and insane that this is just freely available to do at a festival, every time you think you know Bestival – they come up with something else absolutely shockingly brilliant to add to the lineup.
After the heights of the Trapeze and being out in the sun for hours, we traipse over to the Castle field for an icy slushie and some shade to watch Oh My God! It’s The Church. Having caught them last year in the Big Top, we knew they were not to be missed. The Reverend Birmingham Alabama in his gold suit is certifiably crackers, the band and vocalists are all incredible and we LOVE their rendition of Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’. If we weren’t trying to fend off sunstroke, we’d have been front and centre, but we take a precautionary manoeuvre and head up through Ambientland (the forest) in search of Slow Motion.
After a quick toot on the mushroom sound pipes (not a drug reference, one of the forest’s art installations) we wind our way out into a grassy field with a tent where ‘Bubble Meditation’ is going on. Relaxing music, everyone lying down in a meditative state and um… small children walking around with bubble-guns. It’s odd to say the least but hey, whatever floats your… bubble I guess.
We take a look inside The Frozen Mole, but can’t spy any actual frozen moles in the ceiling, and then settle into some deck chairs in the shade of a small tree, as a peacock walks by and some other people are getting themselves a rejuvenating IV drip at the tent next to us. You really couldn’t make it up, everything is weird and wonderful here.
Over on the main stage Idles are going absolutely berserk, yelling “This is a song about how much I love immigrants” and wearing the Choose Love refugee tshirts. I’ll be honest, it’s not my sort of thing – but I do appreciate the cute little circle pit that has sprung up in front of the stage. At The Feast Collective we’re lured into the tent by a lady with fried jackfruit samples, which entice us to buy truly one of the best burgers we’ve ever eaten at a festival – and all vegan too.
Refueled we head back out to see our Bestival faves, The Cuban Brothers. If you’ve never experienced the CB’s, you really need to. They’re comedy kings, with a side of hip hop funk, crazy dance moves and fringed leotards. What’s not to love? Bursting on stage Miguel notes that the CB’s are “…the only band to play all 15 years at Bestival” and they indeed Bestival personified. Kenny (The Bastard) and Archerio bust out some duo disco moves “Together they are… Double Penetration!” and Miguel notes that Arch is “…sweating like a pregnant nun for you tonight” – as a mum on the front row quickly clamps her hands over her young son’s ears.
We’re treated to Kenny’s artistic Whitney Houston ‘I wanna dance with somebody’ rendition, warm up our hip circles with Miguel and marvel at Juan Erection’s flips and breaking during ‘Ante Up’. Oh and a slew of families quickly escape the arena when Miguel takes all his clothes off except some very tiny pants, and starts banging the mic with his penis. Standard.
As the sun begins to set on this incredible first full day at Bestival, people are flooding into the arena in a host of sparkly costumes and accessories with glitter and smiles plastered all over their faces. We’re scouting out our perfect dancing spot for tonight’s headliner – Silk City.
After an incredible Bestival debut full of hard-hitting mixes, neon and raucous dancing, we really should be partied out… but at Bestival, the night is never really over. We head from the arena to The Temple to catch a bit of Kiwi, and drink in the image of all the gorgeous wild and free souls under the stars of Lulworth, there’s nothing quite like it.
SATURDAY
After choking awake in our furnaces/tents we dress in appropriately Circus-themed outfits (ringmaster plus circus animals and props) and head into the arena for Kojey Radical, who is busting up the Castle stage in sparkly red converse, he deserves a much bigger crowd than there is down the front – but there are pools of people crammed into every available patch of shade, hiding from the heat. We grab ourselves a slushie and watch Rodrigo Pérez, aka The Human Cannonball blast himself 25 metres through the air onto a giant inflatable crash-mat. It’s exactly as mad as it sounds, even LoveBot looks concerned.
Stefflon Don is reportedly stuck in traffic and isn’t going to make it so we head off in search of energetic delights in the form of The World’s Biggest Bouncy Castle. It truly is humungous (taller than the Great Wall of China and roughly three times the size or the Berlin Wall, filled with 1143 cubic metres of air, in case you were wondering) and we are all giddy like five year olds hopped up on Birthday cake just looking at it. What we didn’t realise, as we gleefully ditched our shoes and socks is that it would be HOTTER THAN HADES on that thing, the rainbow canvas scorching our feet as we attempt to bounce ourselves right out of it. Great photos, loved it anyway – a must do Bestival experience.
Over in The Big Top, Black Honey are the perfect blend of indie rock and sparkle with vocalist Izzy Phillips owning the stage in a rainbow sequin dress, the band are great and really kindly come out after their set to hand out free EP’s and patches, even signing stuff and posing for selfies – they’ve definitely gained more than a few new fans on the back of this performance, a great pick from the Bestival team.
Up next are the funky and fun Superfood; we’d been pre-gaming with their stuff on the Bestival playlist and they certainly did not disappoint. We loved ‘Unstoppable’ and their eponymous song ‘Superfood’ has a very Radiohead-esque riff that we’re into but it’s you know… happier. We also have a quick catch up with the man Rob Da Bank himself, who just seems to be hopping around the site checking up on people and saying hello. Rob tells us that he hasn’t had a go on the trapeze himself yet and SFG accuse him of being a fraidy-cat.
Over on the main stage we are blown away by the stunningly talented First Aid Kit, playing in the blazing sunshine in coordinated zebra-print outfits. The Söderberg sisters’ vocals are unparalleled and they don’t hesitate to bring a political message along for the ride, yelling “…That was our protest punk song… for women… we’re really sick of being fucking afraid” and waxing lyrical about how rape crime is rife with victim blaming propaganda. The crowd roars in agreement as they gutsily shout “The blame and the shame always belong to the perpetrator, no more fucking excuses!”.
We couldn’t rave more about their Kate Bush ‘Running Up That Hill’ cover but our absolute favourite is the dark and brooding ‘Wolf Mother’ backed by cyclical wolf visuals on the big screen. The ambience is only slightly marred by the sight of two people wielding actual first-aid-kits attached to tent poles down the front; it did make us giggle. Finishing up with a crowd-wide crooning for Emmylou, their “little love song” and finally the outstanding ‘Silver Lining’ set against a galaxy backdrop as the sun begins to set gold over the whole arena. It is the perfect show.
We recharge with an insanely rich salted caramel brownie with ice-cream from The Green Brownie before bowling headlong into madness with the weird and wonderful, Grace Jones. Stalking on stage in a billowing black sheet and golden skull mask, she’s dramatically striking in appearance with vocals to match. We have to laugh when she disparages her trip to Bestival; “I had to take a helicopter… helicopter… but I wasn’t gonna miss it if I had to take some wings and fly myself…” and dons a metal feather mane whilst writhing on the floor of the stage. ‘My Jamaican Guy’ sees her casually whipping her extraordinarily beautiful pole-dancing man – who is covered in matching body paint, before she cracks out a massive pony-headdress and hops on the shoulders of a roadie to parade the pit area high-fiving fans on the front-line for ‘Pull Up to the Bumper’. The confetti cannon sprays the crowd with rainbow ticker tape as Jones comes back to the stage shouting “Who's camping out? My God… let’s go before they pull the plug on me” and we’re all going crazy for ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ and a good 15 minutes of solid hula-hooping whilst singing. The woman is a machine.
As Grace Jones exits the stage we all turn around to face Lulworth Castle and are met with an audio-visual anniversary spectacular played out on the castle itself – Bestival themes over the last 15 years, a bombardment of amazing fireworks and a lot of oohing and aahing. ‘Somewhere Beyond The Sea’ plays and the final message reads “Sail safe shipmates” – is this a clue to next year’s Bestival theme we wonder?
Strangely after this ‘firework finale’ which in previous years would mark the very end of the festival, we still have London Grammar to go on the main stage. It’s a bit of an emotional whiplash going from the party vibe of Grace Jones and the excitement of the fireworks into the soft, ambient vacuum of London Grammar, but they are stunningly beautiful.
As the Castle stage closes, we head out for the nightclubs of Bestival and oh we are spoiled for choice – Stacey’s and House of Vans are jumping, Caravanserai looks like a glittering chandelier and HMS Bestival’s lights pierce the darkness. Carpe PM!
SUNDAY
Sunday morning at Bestival always feels slower. The toilet queue is visibly hungover and big sunglasses are a must. Luckily it’s marginally cooler today because in the harsh light of day it’s pretty clear a lot of little lobsters have been neglecting their sun-cream this weekend. We take a fortifying hike up to Slow Motion for a little life affirming Bollywood yoga and a wonky-veg slushie (which was a lot tastier than it looked, which is good because it looked like gators might live in it). Over on the Castle stage the soothing sounds of Songhoy Blues ring out over the site and bring us back to life, as we peep into The Frozen Mole where a tshirt design workshop is in full swing.
We tiptoe past aerial-yoga, where people appear to be fighting brightly coloured silks on A-frames in attempt to achieve inner peace, and head to the main arena for Gentleman’s Dub Club for a boogie – albeit a gentle one whilst we’re in recovery. Next up, with absolutely no remorse for our fragile states is the batshit crazy Dubioza Kolektiv, who appear to be dressed as crash-test dummies with boundless energy. Brandishing signs reading ‘make’, ‘some’ and ‘noise’ they yell “Find a person in the crowd to hug” and this being Bestival, that is exactly what happens – strangers hugging strangers, increasing the peace. We are in fits of laughter at their song ‘Free.mp3’ otherwise known as ‘The Pirate Bay Song’ with it’s repetitive message “Our music is for free, you can download mp3, keep it playing on repeat, if you hate it press delete” and their unashamed Pirate Bay flags – it’s going straight on our illegal playlists.
Hauling on stage a group of jump-ropers, they attempt to “teach the crowd some Bosnian lyrics” whilst skipping; “…jumping the rope is traditional Bosnian dance… we do this for 2 thousand years”. They’re mental, we love it.
Up next the arena is packed for Chaka Khan, who arrives on stage to backdrops of her signature, wearing a sparkly top also featuring her signature. You could say it’s a signature look… ha. Despite an initial kerfuffle with her mic being off, she launches into the good solid disco music we’ve all been waiting for, in the sunshine. It seems the sun-facing stage is a bit much for Chaka though as she gripes “How you doin… damn I hate this shit, I hate the sun in my face… I’m brown enough!”. The set is decent but in truth we’ve all been waiting for ‘I’m Every Woman’ which is exactly as fun as we’d hoped (there’s a man wearing fluffy fringing who looks like he’s been positively dipped in glitter, having the most fabulous time atop his friends’ shoulders) and ‘Ain’t Nobody’ is explosive with the addition of a confetti blast from the cannon. Magical.
Afterwards, the sad news about the passing of Barry Chuckle – a Bestival veteran, is screened on the main stage as sad “to me, to you” lines are spoken around the site, The Chuckle Brothers have been a big part of this festival for years, and indeed, most of our childhoods.
Plan B attacks the main stage with ‘Grateful’ wearing a curious outfit, half Peaky Blinders, half military tactical jacket, with a strange white chin-strap thing. It kind of looks like he’s sprained his beard. I don’t get it. As the tall tramway lights flicker, Drew asks “Can I get some vodka please?” and busts out fan favourite ‘Prayin’ and ‘She Said’ with the entire crowd singing along. It’s amazing how many people actually know the entire rap section actually. Calling out “Who’s drunk? No that’s not enough… who's drunk?” Plan B can’t hear this amusing response from the crowd; “You’re drunk! You put your highlighter on wrong son, blend honey!” but we’re all giggling as he heads into ‘Welcome to Hell’.
After all that dancing we’re desperate for nourishment and absolutely spoilt for choices still. Tonight it’s grilled steak and chips from The South West Food Collective, whose proceeds go to charity and who are collecting leftover food from Bestival vendors and campsite hubs tomorrow to be distributed to a local food bank. Not only that, the steak is crazy good, restaurant good. It’s things like this that Bestival draws in that really make the difference. The entire vibe of this festival is centered on its motto ‘Increase The Peace’ and rather than just say it, this is the festival that actually strives to model it.
Up next is the part artist, part activist, musically explosive M.I.A. smashing up The Castle Stage for the finale of Bestival 2018. She’s a force to be reckoned with, emerging from her temple doorway under yellow billowing curtains;
After M.I.A. we scurry over to the Cuckoo Clump for the grand finale, which begins with an incredible violinist in a glowing dress, surrounded by neon lit umbrellas dancing in unison at her feet. Above a perilous high wire, sans any form of safety net or harness sways ominously in the light breeze. We are utterly amazed by the three tightrope walkers from Cirque Bijou, who proceed to walk, lie-down, headstand and even climb over each other, but then they just continue to up the ante. There’s a guy walking on the top wire – even higher than the original wire… then they set it on fire… then he rides a bike across… then a girl attached to a harness sails along it with a balloon and danger dances with the man who has no harness… It’s nail-biting stuff. The accompanying fireworks exploding from three different locations, lighting up the helter-skelter are the cherry on top of the most fantastic layer-cake of this finale. I’ve seen some mad incredible things in my time at Bestival but I really think this has been one of the most incredible. I don’t know of any other experience on this earth that is as chaotic, mysterious, bizarre and awe inspiring. With that, we are off to Caravanserai to hide out in a camper, drink cocktails and dance like we don’t have to go home tomorrow. Rudimental are DJ’ing The Temple soon, and there are at least a few more heady hours of glorious freedom to be had. See you next year Bestival, you have well and truly got your mojo back.
It’s day three of Bestival, we’re all sunburnt, knackered and happy – but we’re back in the Castle Field eagerly awaiting London bad-gal rapper, artist, political activist and all round boss babe – M.I.A. The main stage is set with billowing yellow drapes reminiscent of a Disney princess dress and a neon archway which looks like you could descend to Moria through it. If you know, you know. The arena is packed out and everyone is looking forward to one last night of debauchery before having to head home to the real world.
Red shell-suited dancers attack the stage with a vengeance, and M.I.A. herself emerges from the temple doorway wearing an all-white ensemble apart from one very loud, tiger print um… chap? Half of chaps. Can I call it chap singular? Anyway, the energy is up, she’s wrapped in a floral headdress and already smashing through the likes of ‘Bamboo Banga’ and ‘Y.A.L.A.’. She is pure power in these first few songs, keeping up with her Tamil dance crew and winding in her shredded shorts, before jumping down to high five people in the crowd.
For all of Maya’s raw musical talent, the political activist in her is still very much present and integrated into her work, backdrop visuals of Syrian refugees accompany her swift lyrics while her DJ seems to vie for attention yelling out “M.I.A.” and “Bestival”. Returning to the stage after a brief pause, Maya is now rocking a massive shiny boxing style robe and we’re treated to a heavy hitting “Live Fast Die Young” which is honestly the highlight of the set – especially because it comes dance moves. Hey, it’s no Macarena but having been a child of the 90’s I know how to Miyagi wax-on-wax-off with the best of them.
Confusingly M.I.A. yells “Where the boys at?” hold on… equality always… I guess it’s time for the boys… maybe we should get some boys on stage…” and none appear to materialize. No-one cares though, both factions of her female dancer troupe are absolutely killing it. One funny/soul destroying moment, is Maya calling out “Hey Bestival, now we need your help… we want you to sing with us, are you ready for it” and asking for people to get their lights out. It’s a sea of phone torches instead of lighters these days, I’m nostalgic for the warm glow of real fire in this blanket of LED. I feel old.
Rolling into ‘Boyz’, Maya is back down the front throwing flower petals from a basket into the front row and standing up on the barrier holding hands with fans, a security guard holding onto the seat of her pants for safety. She calls out “Bestival if you’ve still got fucking energy let me hear you” before exclaiming that she only has 7 minutes left. Given the 15 minute late start, this makes for a pretty clipped set, but luckily she is allowed to go on a little longer. After handing the mic to a person in the crowd who decided to use the platform to wax lyrical about going out there and being an astronaut if you want to – bit weird… she finishes up with super-hit ‘Paper Planes’ and amusing bird-hand motions.
Just to cap off the political slant to the whole set, Maya exits the stage with a stinging jibe “The British government got some apologies to make around the world” and with that, the Castle stage is officially closed for 2018. I know M.I.A. isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but you can’t deny her fierce energy and I applaud her use of her platform to speak on issues she is passionate about. She’s everything Bestival stands for and pulled off a solid headline set.
After a stonking warm up of the always incredible (and insane) Grace Jones, and the most spectacular 15th Anniversary fireworks and AV show on Lulworth Castle, we’ve been expecting big things from London Grammar tonight. The sky is cloudless and cool, a welcome relief from the scorching days and the stage is set, well… incredibly minimally.
As the band take to the stage after an inordinately lengthy intro, visuals of the moon and stars set the scene, and lead vocalist Hannah Reid launches effortlessly into ‘Hey Now’. ‘Wasting My Young Years’ is beautiful, but honestly, it’s all a bit of a come-down after the raucousness of the previous acts. It feels a bit like giving a kid a lolly before bedtime and then expecting them to lie down for the lullaby – yes Bestival is eclectic and has always been known for having a bill with something for everyone, but the people are voting with their feet and the arena is already looking sparse as people seek rowdier pastures at HMS Bestival, Bollywood and The Temple.
As the band head into a cover of Kavinsky’s ‘Nightcall’ I can’t help but think that the original with it’s soft but strong beat would have gone down better, but ‘Rooting For You’ is undeniably stunning. I just so wish they’d been framed by a similar act, something to get us into the right mood for this. It’s clear they’ve got plenty of die-hard fans at the front, but there’s no denying that the turn-out is considerably thinner than for Grace Jones.
For an awkward pause of about ten minutes, someone decides to scale one of the trees in front of the stage… out of boredom or love – we’ll never know but it shuts down the proceedings while security attempt an extraction. Reid calls out “So we’re being told that there’s a guy in a tree… I don’t know which tree… but basically, we can’t carry on – we're gonna be shut down until he gets out of the tree. So I’m actually not allowed to start singing until he’s out of the tree.” Which comedically elicits a range of both boos and cheers, further supporting the divide tonight.
Finally the stunt is over and Reid quips “He’s out of the tree! He's naughty…” before resuming with ‘Strong’. Finishing up with ‘Big Picture’ before the one song encore of ‘Metal & Dust’ against a pink-rain of stars backdrop, it really is beautifully ambient. Calling out to the crowd one last time, Reid muses “Robbie had us for one of our first ever shows here, in a tent and it was one of the best gigs we've ever done. It’s crazy to think that was 6, 7 years ago. Thank you!”.
For me this was a tough one. Yes I think London Grammar are fantastic, but do I think they had that site-wide appeal a headliner should garner? Ultimately, no. Whilst it’s true everyone has different tastes, upbeat bands are always going to win when it comes to headliners, especially at Bestival where people are here to set themselves wild and free. Sorry London Grammar, you just didn’t grab me this time.
Tonight, for a marvelous treat – Bestival are giving us the second ever live show of the brand spanking new Diplo and Mark Ronson collab; Silk City. As the castle field fills up and an NYC back-alley set design is rolled onto the stage, the sunburnt masses are gearing up for a night of big beats and laser filled dreams.
Debut hit ‘Only Can Get Better’ proves a banging opener, supported by a barrage of lights and Diplo’s yells of “Bestival are you ready? Let’s go!”. The stage set-up is something outside of the usual DJ realm and makes for a much more visual and interesting show than just two guys pressing buttons, as they work their way through remixes of current and old hits. Projected neon street signs blink on the grey walls and faux Silk City band posters are pasted in hypnotising repetition across the big screens. Hung from the centre of the stage is an enormous disco ball, spraying flecks of light across the jumping crowd – it’s honestly one of rowdiest Bestival crowds I’ve ever seen, whether that’s down to mass sunstroke, first day drinks, or a genuine love for the music, is yet to be determined.
Shouting “We made some remixes for you tonight, just for you Bestival, hope you like them” Silk City show off with a plethora of interesting and big mixes, there’s truly something for everyone in there. A little Tori Amos anyone? A little of Kelis’ ‘Milkshake’ does indeed bring all the boys to the yard (and yes, we Brits are still largely terrible at twerking) but it’s the Dua Lipa ‘New Rules’ remix that everyone goes absolutely berserk for.
With their embroidered Silk City denim jackets (where can I get one please?), Diplo and Ronson just flow seamlessly through hit after hit, shouting such classic DJ tropes as “We’re called Silk City, are you ready to party tonight?” and “Let’s go!”. Ok, so it is a bit cheesy but that’s kind of what we’re looking for – something we can get wild to.
A little bit of Route 94, someone spinning glow poi in the crowd and “This is the first night of Bestival 2018, thanks for partying with us tonight! This is only our second gig as Silk City!” has the duo firmly established as a Bestival success, and for a bit of personal joy as 30-something, I loved the inclusion of Wamdue Project’s ‘King of my Castle’. C’mon, what a jam, am I right?
A little bit of Diplo’s own ‘Be Right There’ flows surprisingly well into Missy Elliott’s ‘Work It’ and a remix of Major Lazer’s ‘Lean On’ gives us the feels from Bestivals’ past. Further into the surprisingly funky and retro set, we’re asking each other what we’re gonna do with all the junk in our trunks (again with the poor twerking situation) followed by my new favourite version of Amy Winhouse’s ‘Valerie’.
Closing out with a second round of ‘Only Can Get Better’, Diplo calls out “Thank you for taking a chance on us tonight Bestival… we know how important it is” as the giant confetti cannon covers the arena in flickering light.
Now I know this collaboration in its infancy, obviously doesn’t have a back-catalogue of their own hits to roll through, but they have wisely created a set-list that punches hard at the absolute core point of Bestival – fun. I think they did a cracking job of it, despite some protests that it was nothing more than a glorified school disco. I have but one gripe – why where they scheduled at the same time as Bicep?
Truck Festival the Godfather of the small festival scene is back for 2018. The four day sold out event was mostly bathed in glorious British sunshine, a huge improvement on the torrential downpours and mud baths from last year. In my opinion it has been one of the best yet. With an fantastic lineup on offer, it was one I couldn't miss. For the first time and fresh for 2018 the organisers introduced an early Thursday entry ticket which meant you could be one of the first to see the site and grab the best camping pitches. It also meant that that ticket holders for this date would be able to view some additional acts.
2018 saw a more compact layout for the site, compared to previous years, which actually worked out great for myself as it meant it was much easier and quicker to move from stage to stage. There were a wide selection of food vendors around the site, including a food tent which was run by the Faringdon District and Rotary Club with all proceeds going straight to charity. The Rotary Club is a great addition to the festival as it includes people from the local community.
The festival was headlined by Peace, Friendly Fires, George Ezra and The Courteeners.
The weekend was quite the scorcher with high temperatures and the sun beaming down on us all. Although Friday evening brought a short downpour of rain, it certainly didn't dampen anyone's spirits. People wanted to party!
There were a huge number of bands and artists performing over the weekend on different stages. The Apple Tree was new this year which was hosted by Magners, in which there were acts playing on their stage and DJ sets by bands too.
Also on the site there were kids activities, water stations, fairground rides, food vendors, bars and a selection of stalls selling clothes, glasses, hats and more.
Our photographer Kane Howie was there to document the weekend. Check out some of his work below.
Anteros on Truck Stage
Dream Wife on Market Stage
Friendly Fires on Truck Stage
George Ezra on Truck Stage
Goat Girl on Market Stage
I Cried Wolf on The Nest
Pale Waves on Market Stage
The Courteeners on Truck Stage
Paint Fight at Truck Stage
Sumo Wrestling at Truck Festival
Swing Carousel at Truck Festival
Crowd at Truck Stage
Magners, The Apple Tree at Truck Festival
We cant wait to see whats in store for next year. You can now purchase early bird tickets HERE!!
Deichband festival is a festival with a bit of a twist. Located just a few km from the coast of the North Sea, Deichbrand has branded itself as the festival ‘on the North Sea’. And while this is not completely true, it does do hourly trips to the sea, where punters are offered the chance to try paddle boarding and surfing. In previous years there’ also been the opportunity to fly over the festival in a helicopter, though they’ve had to cancel it this year for various reasons. Though a lot of people were upset, most of the punters I spoke to say they were glad they weren’t going to have to deal with a helicopter over their campsite every twenty minutes.
There’s a huge variety of food a drink across the main site and throughout the fields with the smaller stages. The food ranges from typical German fast food dönner (similar to our donner kebabs) through to a Pakistani company serving tradition food, the noodle place and of course the German favourites of ‘pommes & wurst’ (sausage and chips), burgers (including wild boar and rib burgers) and ‘pommes am stiel’ – chips on a stick. There’s also vegetarian options, and what’s more, there’s variety in that as well. There’s your standard pasta – in this case gnocci – but there’s also vegetarian kebab wraps with halloumi or vegan ones with falafel.
As with every German festival, Deichbrand supports ¡Viva Con Auga! A charity that improves the drinking water and supply in developing counties such as Cuba, Kenya and Nepal. To help with this almost all German festivals have a ‘pfand’ (deposit) of €2 for all the cups bought at the bars onsite. You then have a choice to return the cups to the bar and get your ‘pfand’ back – in which case, well done on cutting down on waste – or, you can give it to one of the many volunteers onsite who will then recycle it for you and get the ‘pfand’ for their charity. So it’s really a win – win for the environment and the charity. It’s an excellent idea, and though I’ve said it before it’s worth mentioning again, it should be implemented at UK festival in order to cut down on the waste that festivals always cause.
As well as the music, Deichbrand offers a number of workshops, which though common in UK festivals isn’t something I’ve seen much of abroad. There’s the classics, masseuse training, morning yoga and circus school, as well as a few more unusual act ivies like beer yoga (like normal yoga but you’ve got a cold beer in your hands and you can’t spill it) rock-climbing and parkour sessions.
Deichbrand is a small festival, with four stages, two big ones (fire and water). The first act of the afternoon is double act the 257ers. And when I say double act I mean it in the comedic sense. The band have produced five albums, which pretty solidly consist of comedy songs. Their last album ‘Mikrokosmos’ (Micro-cosmos) reach number one in the German charts, with songs such as ‘holz’ – an entire song dedicated to how much they love wood. Not the kind of wood you’re thinking off right now, just normal wood. From trees. I know, they are a bit weird. But that’s why we love them. Their performance is littered with costume changes, including going from their Adidas shirts into their captain kit for their Pirate song (a weird sea-shanty type song) and into orange (Dutch) football tops. The costume changes do take a minute or two, and while they get changed we were entertained by their DJ who played an interesting mix of songs, from Whitney Huston to Crazy Frog back to Papa Roach back through to Beyoncé. He then got out from behind his decks and gave one end of a massive tube to the crowd, while he poured beer down his end, creating a kind of oversized beer straw for the people in the crowd. During the next song, the 257ers got down from the stage and sprayed a foam cannon out to the crowd, who were going wild and feeding off the energy that was being thrown from the stage. During one of the mosh pits they’d encouraged the audience to create they spotted a man in a knitted octopus mask, and shouted ‘Zoidberg! Three years!’ – Apparently this guy always goes to festivals with this mask on, and it’s paid off. 257ers noticed him, and they’ve even made note of how many times they’ve seen him. I think it was pretty cool that not only did they notice him but they also made a point of pointing him out. They’ve also got songs like ‘Holland’ which is an ode to the country of its namesake, with lines like ‘Nobody’s aggro, everyone’s tripping, Holland is the boss, I think windmills are cool’ which, I mean. They’re just such good fun, both to listen to and to watch up on stage.
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Friday evening was officially started by Scottish singer Amy Macdonald, who played a fantastic set. Though many of her songs are sung with an American accent, as soon as she spoke to the audience it was clear that she is Scottish through and through. The audience knew this, which was evident from the amount of St. Andrews’ crosses strewn across the crowd. Macdonald commented on the weather (and the dust) and how she couldn’t cope Scottish skin. During her set she tried to read a few signs in the audience, a classic ‘we love you’ sign that she comment on and thanked the people that wrote it, saying it ‘looked like it’d taken them ages to make’ and she saw a sign further back that she commented on but couldn’t read. Later in her set she spotted someone holding a sign and asked them ‘you’re asking to sing someone else’s song on stage? What would I get out of it? It’s not in my setlist’ – someone in the crowd had made a sign asking if they could sing Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in The Dark’. Macdonald then conceded, saying ‘alright then, get up here’ and this guy was brought up onto the stage. He was completely star struck, as you would be, Macdonald kept asking him his name and all he could do was gasp. Eventually, with some whispered encouragement from the guitarist, this guy manage to speak into the mic and tell us his name was Patrick. Macdonald then said they couldn’t do the whole song, but they could do a verse and a chorus. So, they started singing as Macdonald played along with her guitar, and it turned out that Patrick could sing. And I mean *sing*. He had an absolutely amazing voice, and what’s more is that it
harmonised perfectly with MacDonald’s. It’s not hard to imagine how WILD the crowd were going as soon they realised he could sing. It was evident he was still star struck, but the fact that he managed to not only sing, but sing well in front of an audience easily 5,000 strong. After they sang together Patrick was quickly ushered off the stage beaming and passed onto security backstage, where he was greeted with high-fives. Macdonald resumed the show and finished off her set with her chart topping single ‘This is the Life’.
Casper headlined on Friday night, and, unusually for him he came on stage full of colour. He was wearing a yellow jacket and seemed a bit livelier than in previous times. Whether this is a move away from his generally darker rap or just a blip, is still undecided. The amazing light show was the perfect ending for the energetic day that had been Friday.
Saturday
Saturday afternoon started off with London shanty punk band Skinny Lister jumping on to the stage and immediately energising everyone in the area. Skinny Lister have the ability to turn a gig, no matter the size, into a party where it feels like everyone’s been invited. A lot of the crowd clapped and swayed along in time to the music, but part of the crowd (arguably the better part) started dancing, jigging and stomping along to their hearts content. The jumping/dancing/jigging caused all the dust in on the ground (which I have decided is probably at least half of the entire world’s supply of dust) went up into the air, obscuring the band and pretty much everything else. They did comment on it, vocalist/guitarist/stomp-boxist Dan Heptinstall saying ‘we’re in the Deichbrand Dustbowl’ and vocalist Lorna Thomas later commented that they’ll be touring (though probably not until the new year when the next album is due to be released) and we could go and see them in a less dusty setting. As always, Skinny Lister provided the audience with refreshments in the form of a jug with a mysterious mixture of what one can only assume is just alcohol. The Jug (affectionately referred to as the 7th member of Skinny Lister) was passed around the audience as everyone took a sip on it, before being passed back up to the stage – now empty. The free alcohol is one of the bonuses of seeing Skinny Lister live, though the main draw is the amount of positive energy that comes pouring off the stage when the play. It’s also worth going just to watch double bassist Scott Milsom lift his double bass over his WHILE playing it. It’s a pretty amazing thing to watch.
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The next act of the afternoon are indie pop band Von Wegen Lisbeth from Berlin. Von Wegen Lisbeth are a quirky pop act, using steel drums and xylophones in their music as well as the standard keyboards, guitars bass’ and drums. They had the stage covered in greenery, plastic leaves, vines and branches littered the set. Behind them they had the letters ‘V’ ‘W’ and ‘L’ lit up on big squares – you’ve got to admit that’s a lot easier than spelling out their lengthy name.
As we wander towards the end of the evening the Fire Stage is hosting Brummie indie-rockers, The Editors. Their dark, synth-y sound and ambiguous lyrics do feel slightly out of place in the afternoon sun, it’s still 24℃. What’s more, is that they came on stage to Abba’s ‘gimme gimme gimme (a man after midnight)’ – again, a stark contrast from the broody and moody set they are known for. They opened their set with the first track of their new album ‘cold’. In fact, a lot of their set was taken from their new album, ‘violence’ as was the back-drop for the show, three naked and dirty people wrapped around each other. It’s very…Hannibal-esque, actually. But I guess that does fit with their image. They did of course play crowd favourites, including ‘Sugar’, ‘Munich’ and ‘Papillion’. They ended their set with Magazine, another one from their new album. It was a really good set, overall. It would have been nice to have a little bit more interaction with the crowd, but apart from that it was a nice, standard Editors show.
As the sun had finally set the crowd gathered around the fire stage for the final act of the night. The Killers. The band coming towards the end of their European tour – which this time around has included the festival circuit, playing at the Isle of Wight Festival as well as TRNSMT in Glasgow and Summer in the City in Dublin.
They opened with their newest track ‘The Man’ and the crowd due fully danced along, but once they’d finished, lead singer Brandon Flowers asked the audience if they were ready to party with the killers – all in German, which was pretty impressive. After the resounding ‘JA’ from the audience they went straight into ‘Somebody told me’ which had the entire crowd going absolutely mad. They followed it with ‘Space man’ and Flowers’ was dancing across the stage, in full glory with his gold and black shiny jacket. Clean shaven and boy-faced, he looks decades younger than his bandmates, all of whom are bearded and looking somewhat grizzled. As he danced around the stage the dust had been blown onto the stage and by the third song – – Midnight Show – (a throwback from the 2004 album Hot Fuss) Flowers’ had a facemask made entirely of dust and dirt. The set list was a good mix from all their albums, though after his attempt at German Flowers’ was lacking on the audience interaction. However, this was probably because he didn’t have much breath left what with all the singing and jumping and running the entire length of the stage for each song. Something should also be said for the visuals, the lights were great, as most big production shows are, with enough lasers and strobes to fill a boat. But what was really nice was the attention to detail. The confetti shot out of the cannons the second time round was in the German colours, which I thought was a nice touch. The first lot of confetti was pink, and I think it surprised everyone when it came out at the start of ‘somebody told me’. I don’t know what it is, but we in the crowd never seem to expect confetti at the start of a show. In the middle of the set they played ‘Runaways’ which bled seamlessly into ‘Read my mind’ which then again blended into ‘All these things that I’ve done’ which was not only incredibly interesting and pleasing to listen to, but also really quite impressive.
As well as the band on stage, they had three women doing the backing vocals, all of whom had absolutely stunning voices and really gave some depth to the whole show. They finished their set with ‘When you were young’ to 50,000 voices singing along, and fireworks coming down from the top of the stage. They thanked the audience as they walked off stage. No one left the arena, we all knew what we were waiting for. We couldn’t see The Killers and have them NOT play it. We waited, anticipation building, cries of ‘encore’ and ‘one more song’ erupting now and again from various pockets in the crowd. The screen on the stage went black. The large, orange words appeared on it. Three words. Are. We. Human? They came back on to cries and cheers and woops, as we knew they would. The first few notes were played, and though it wasn’t the song we’d waited for, the crowd still went mad, dancing and moshing and singing along. Once it was over there was barely a pause before Flowers’ started singing – with heavy auto-tune – ‘coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine…’ and the this was it. This is what almost everyone there had come to see. The first verse was done with heavy auto-tune – it was a remix, what this effectively meant was that we got an extra verse. Once the auto-tune verse had finished, Flowers’ started singing without it, and ended the night in a spectacular way.
Sunday
I wasn’t sure why Alligatoah was playing early on the Sunday morning. Well, early in the festival bubble, he was onstage at 12pm, and the first act of the day. I knew a couple of songs from him, and though he was performing an acoustic set, I still wasn’t convinced that he was the right person to start off Sunday afternoon. However, any doubts I had were quickly put to rest. He had an extensive set for an early afternoon act. The stage was set up like a building site and Alligatoah was wearing blue overalls and a builder’s hat. Throughout his set he clambered up and down the ladders and across his ‘building site’ and when he started singing ‘Willst Du’ – one of his more famous songs – he was singing it to a traffic cone in a very loving manner. His set was full of character in a very gentle way. He was friendly to the audience throughout his set, and the lazy Sunday morning vibe was helped by the fact the crowd in the first wave were all sitting on chairs that had been set up for them – presumably by the festival rather than the artist. Alligatoah also explained that he should have had a red balloon at the top of his building site set so it looked like something out of Stephen King’s IT, but it had blown away. Halfway through the set Alligatoah revealed that one of the bin bags that had been put on the stage around the building site set had been hiding a piano, which was actually a pretty cool reveal. I was impressed with the set and thought it was the perfect kick-off for the last day of the festival.
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Not knowing any songs from Bosse, I was unsure what to expect from the singer. I’d heard that he was really good and was surprised at the range of people in the audience that came to see him. It seemed as if Bosse ws something that everyone was excited for. The crowd was a mixture of all ages and people from all walk of life. The sizable band came on stage, followed shortly by Axel Bosse, running onto stage. Wearing a ‘Refugee’s Welcome’ Shirt, he danced around on stage like a man possessed. He didn’t seem phased by the heat which I can only imagine was even more intense on the stage that it was off it, he ran from each side of the stage and onto the catwalk, all the time dancing and singing and not pausing to take a breath.
SDP are a two-man band (not including the drummer and a dj of course) who have an astounding amount of energy on stage. The lyrics to the songs range from the heartfelt (Candlelight dönner) to the ridiculous (deine freundin) to the absurd (ne leiche). And of course no SDP set would be complete without stage antics, blow up sex dolls and fireworks and pyrotechnics. Honestly, it’s like giving over-grown children full control over their own birthday party. Halfway through the set they brought out their sex doll (see what I mean) and tried (and failed) to perform CPR on it, before launching in to ‘Ne Leiche’ (literally – ‘a corpse’).
Final act of the evening – and the weekend – were German super band – Die Toten Hosen. Everyone in Germany (and Argentina for some reason) knows about Die Toten Hosen. Toten Hosen have been around for over 36 years, one of the bands that started the punk movement in Germany in the 80s during the latter years of the cold war. The band have been prolific since their creation in Düsseldorf, releasing albums every few years which means their back catalogue is impressively huge. Their set included the best songs from their discography, including old favourites like ‘Bonnie & Clyde’, ‘Pushed Again’ and ‘Paradies’ as well as classics from their early, un-polished days, like the show opener ‘Opel Gang’ and of course songs from their new album. They also played a number of covers that are new for this tour, most notably ACDC’s ‘T.N.T’ as well as Iggy Pop’s ‘The Passenger’. Toten Hosen frontman Campino has boundless energy – especially for a man his age – and routinely got up close and personal with the crowd. As you would expect with a band that size there was of course two encores, and the night was ended with two classic Toten Hosen songs, ‘Tage wie deise’ (this is the day) and a cover of the Liverpool FC anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, which might seem a bit odd to people not familiar with band, but there is a reason for this strange choice of song to finish off a weekend in Germany. Campino is and has always been a big fan of Liverpool FC, and they’ve been including it in their set for at least the last 20 years. It was a perfect ending to the festival, the entire crowd was singing along and we all got swept up in the moment as they finished the show and the festival.
Deichbrand is a great little festival that’s had a solid line up since it was founded in 2005, and this year didn’t disappoint. Everyone is so friendly during the festival and it is a festival that holds itself to an extremely high standard. I would recommend anyone that’s into rock, rap and pop should go and experience the only festival on the North Sea.
Amongst sun glistened corn fields, just 50 minutes away from the hustle and bustle of London, the majestic Farr Festival is set. In its 9th year, this boutique festival boasts a pumping line up with beautiful surroundings and a like-minded, hedonistic crowd.
With a small scale yet fresh, inventive program featuring artists from across the electronic music spectrum, its capacity of just 3000 allows for high-profile acts to perform in unique, intimate settings. Comprising of just 6 stages, crowds can flock via dusty paths from one to another in no time at all, with no worries of missing one set over another.
A new addition to the grounds, The Factory, resonated industrial rave vibes with it’s stacked shipping container walls and was home to the headline acts of the weekend. Filled with 2500 ravers, highlights of the weekend saw Jacques Greene, George FitzGerald, Mount Kimbie and Hertfordshire’s own Maribou State smash the stage with their precise, imaginative and heart racing performances. Shy Fx, turned it up a notch playing tune after tune – regressing onlookers to a moment in time of utter elation, resulting in a crowd of uninhibited, ecstatic dancers.
The woods, which boasted hot tubs, hammocks and artisan touches scattered among it’s charming aesthetic, was the go-to place no matter the time of day for and glitter engulfed good times. Mr G delivered a faultless, energised set, while techno masters such as DVS1 allure the crowd into a mesmerising trance that is hard to escape. Where noise limitations in previous years have occasionally let some incredible artists down, this year, the sound system did not hold back, blasting through until 6 am leaving no eardrum disappointed.
It would be fair to say that delivering talented artists and producers is this festivals priority, and oh how we danced, revelled amongst the copious amounts of dust and became a patron of the relentless heat to thoroughly engulf the amply versatile lineup. A highlight for many, the World Cup Sweden vs England semi-final refreshed the festivals main stage on the Saturday into a viewing area for fans and meant that spirits were high throughout the whole festival.
A refuel at one of the many independent food stalls, and another scorching day saw hunee revitalising goers with his woven house, disco and funk selections. As the sun set, a live reel to reel tape set form the unsung electric pioneer Ramjac Corporation regressed the festival back to the heady days of the Summer of Love in 1988, with his own sampled beats from Atari, Emulator and dual records. An idyllic, closing choice for the last day.
“It’s like being at Glastonbury’ is heard bellowed over the fields as one attendee leaves the merch tent, and there are elements of truth within this excitable statement. Very little phones in sight, a consistent energy transpiring through the crowds and a sea of utterly beaming faces recycled the buzz of a festival built on real heart and soul. A rare find in 2018.
Summer 2019, sees the festival move into its 10th anniversary and the dates will be revealed soon, keep checking www.farrfestival.co.uk for more info.
It's the ultimate family festival in the UK and The Sunday Mirror have labelled it as "Glastonbury for kids!" Yes, this review will feature the brilliant Geronimo Festival. For 2018 Geronimo was brought to ticket holders at two different locations. The first being at Cheshire's Arley Hall and the second being Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the two day event at Knebworth Park on the weekend of 30th June – 1st July.
With Geronimo being the ultimate family festival, I made the most out of the event by taking my three year old son along with me. The line up was jam packed with well known CBeebies presenters, characters and many other recognisable faces that my son believes to be his idols, so there was no way I could leave him at home with the grandparents for this one.
The site was easy to find, although we did have to queue in a lot of heavy traffic outside of the park at the top end of Stevenage. I believe we sat in our car and waited for around 20 minutes. The organisers of the festival had hired traffic control teams and stationed them outside of the park to help to manage traffic levels in a more effective manner. On Saturday morning, the workers that were taking on this role, actually appeared to struggle with the amount of cars building up, as traffic could be seen queuing onto the A1. Although by Sunday the problems had been resolved and it was far easier to enter the site straight away without any problems at all.
Walking into the actual festival site was like walking into a wonderland. There was so much to see and do. At the entrance there were dancing trees, a clown on stilts, floating bubbles, balloons, brightly coloured flags, music and more. This was a festival that had it all. At the back of the site there was access to an inflatable village, a fun fair with a large Ferris wheel, Helter Skelters, smaller rides, traditional fairground stalls and games. There was also a climbing wall, a real life arcade where children and parents alike could be part of games like Whack-a-mole, giant Jenga and Tetris. It felt like everyone was able to be a character from the blockbuster Ready Player one. I won't forget to mention there were also plenty of access to toilet facilities, water stations, nappy changing and breastfeeding tents as well smaller live shows including stunts, imaginative plays and a brilliant live Dino show which my son watched numerous times. Children were asked to volunteer to meet a 'real' baby T-Rex, aptly named Rex in a fun and interactive segment.
The whole weekend was presented by former CBeebies presenter Alex Winters. What a brilliant choice. Not only did he introduce acts on stage, he also entertained the audiences in between set times, he was also casually walking around the site meeting everyone and would cover all of the site to promote other events going on around the site that weren't featured on the main (Castle) stage. As the weekend event fell in the middle of a heatwave, what was also great about Alex was that he was there to be an assistance to parents to advise children to put on their sun creams, wear protective clothing like hats and drink plenty of water. This worked very well. Also regarding the heatwave – Winters was often seen on stage throwing out water balloons and buckets of water to the crowds of people in front of the main stage to keep everyone cool, which actually was really helpful in the scorching temperatures.
There was also a great variety of food provided by vendors at the event. On offer were ice-creams, deluxe milkshakes (at a whopping £8 each!), stone baked pizzas, the traditional burgers and fries, sushi, vegan and oriental street food and plenty of sugary treats for the little ones.
Before I get to the performers that were featured at the weekend event, I would like to share with you all just how much there was to do on site. We never once got bored as there was always something else to take part in or see. My son was able to part in a wide variety of craft activities, which was actually really lovely as it meant taking something home. All craft activities were FREE, but were happy to receive donations should ticket holders want to offer to support their organisations. An example of just some of the crafts included making bug bling and pine cone insects by the lovely people from The Fairyland Trust, wicker craft which meant shaping and decorating either balloons, wings or baskets, wooden staff carving – so ideal to bring out your inner explorer or wizard. Also clay modelling, soap carving, ceramic tile decorating inside the Messy Kids workshop tent.
Over the weekend there were so many amazing performances including shows from Sohan Bollywood – pretty self explanatory, but it was a colourful, fun and interactive Bollywood dance show where parents and children were invited up onto the stage to dance along. Also Junior Frood – a teen dancer who has amazing talent at such a young age. He does all of his own choreography, has already danced alongside pop star Justin Bieber and is soon on his way to Hollywood to work with celebrity choreographer Brian Friedman. Other very amusing and interactive shows came from CBeebies presenters Sid & Rebecca (who are well known for their imaginative TV programme "Let's Play") and also the very funny and cheeky pirates Cook & Line from the very popular children's television programme "Swashbuckle".
Here is some information of some of the most standout performances of the weekend:
Andy and The Oddsocks – Saturday
Andy Day is probably one of, if not the most famous of the CBeebies presenters. He is easily recognisable for his height, big hair and his smiley, jolly nature. Andy is well known for his many adventures on CBeebies shows including "Andy's Wild Adventures", "Andy's dinosaur Adventures", "Andy's Prehistoric Adventures" and most recently his "Safari Adventures" on the pre-school aged television channel. Now he will be known for something completely different. For being in a band! Andy and The Oddsocks have recently recorded and released their debut album, titled "Who Invited This Lot?" which is solely aimed at young children. At the beginning of the set, we got to meet The Oddsocks (Blu, Moxy and Mac) first as they entered the main stage. Of course there was a big build up to introduce the main man himself (Andy Day) as band member Mac worked the audience to encourage everyone to chant "Andy! Andy! Andy!"
Day ran onto the stage to greet the crowds of screaming pre-schoolers and some very enthusiastic mothers. Haha! The set was highly energetic and involved a lot of audience participation including bouncing giant inflatable footballs around the arena. The band told the stories behind each one of their very catchy songs that they performed including:"Aliens", "Ninja Pig", "Groover Hoover" – which saw the introduction of Hetty The Highland Hoover, "Dinosaur Football Legend Mega Match" and the song with a heartfelt meaning "Unique".
I was also lucky enough to meet Andy Day backstage for a chat before they were due to grace the main stage to discuss more about Andy and The Oddsocks. He was just as everyone imagines him to be, so down to earth and just lovely. My son was also clearly very star struck when he got to meet his hero. Thank you to Andy for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me.
To find out what's next for Andy and The Oddsocks and to check out my interview with Andy click on the video link below:
Katy Ashworth – Saturday and Sunday
Katy is best known for her presenting role on children's television programmes "I Can Cook!" and "I Can Cook With You". The presenter is currently heavily pregnant, but this certainly wasn't going to hold her back from putting on some amazing shows. How she had that much energy I do not know. She is a role model for not only children but mothers alike. She sang a couple of traditional children's songs, one of them being the very popular "Wheels On The Bus" and also songs from "I Can Cook" which I even ended up singing along to, but there was a lot of amusing puns and innuendo within her show aimed at parents so that it was certainly something that we could all genuinely really enjoy too. I remember at one point she asked parents "Who out there eats the children's left overs?"many people admitted to this so she continued with "Oh yes, a lovely soggy fish finger on a Wednesday night after Brownies!" Katy also had the audience interacting by playing a giant game of "Fruit Bowl" which is a game where children, mums and dads all had to impersonate and represent a piece of fruit whenever she called out it's name. Towards the end of her segment she also invited three dads up onto the stage to help her 'cook' were they helped her make a banana milkshake and the winner was presented with a wooden spatula with her name on it and the runners up being given wooden spoons with the same inscription.
Mr Bloom & His Band – Sunday
Mr Bloom is a very popular CBeebies character played by Cornish actor Ben Faulks. He is a keen gardener and has been involved in programmes including "Mr Bloom's Nursery" and "Here And There" where he teaches children about nature, the importance of gardening and also goes on day trips with children (or as he calls them 'Tiddlers') and their families. The famous gardener strolled out onto a stage that was surrounded by giant inflatable fruit and vegetables as he introduced everyone to his band before shortly bursting into song while playing his ukulele as they performed the well known theme tune for his programme "Here And There". The show included a fruit and vegetable guessing game to which children in the audience won whatever food item Mr Bloom was showing on stage. I've never known young children to be so excited over a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Many families could do with their own Mr Bloom in their households at mealtimes if that's what it takes to get children to eat their 5-a-day. Like Katy Ashworth's set there was also a lot of innuendo filled humour for the grown ups too. Even a discussion about the possibility of the band playing music by Metallica.
Justin Fletcher – Sunday
Justin Fletcher, MBE, is the man behind many lovable children's characters. He is most famously known for his TV show "Something Special" where he appears as a clown like character named Mr Tumble. He teaches children how to use Makaton in their daily lives. This form of sign language makes Mr Tumble a firm favourite in many family households and he is held dear to the hearts of families with children who may have physical or learning difficulties. His show started in the most spectacular way possible, he was supported by backing dancers as he came out singing original single, the infectious "Just Party" while confetti cannons were released and filled the grounds in front of the Castle stage with bright colours. He soon went on to sing "Happy Birthday" in case anyone at the event were celebrating a birthday around the time of the festival. Fletcher also went on to announce that his TV show "Something Special" is 15 years old this year and that he has been in the business for an impressive 20 years! He followed the announcement with a huge thank you to everyone for their support over those years. There was also a further announcement that the presenter had to share with his fans, he told everyone that there will be a new series of "Gigglebiz" on it's way and that there's only 2 more weeks of filming. Exciting stuff. As "Gigglebiz" was mentioned he went on to bring some other well known characters of his to life including Arthur Sleep, Keith Fit and Gail Force. His show also included a the biggest "Hokey Cokey" with the whole arena getting involved and other songs including "Let's Go Fly A Kite", "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", and "Wibble and Wobble". There was also a chance for both parents and children to show him their Makaton skills before he closed his set by singing "The Goodbye Song". Justin Fletcher not only put on an amazing show, but he clearly had an amazing time himself too.
My little family had the best time at Geronimo Festival, it really is a festival like no other and is perfect for the whole family to enjoy. This is a festival that I highly recommend to everyone and one that I hope to return to in 2019. Some details for the 2019 weekend have already been put into place including the line up. For more information about what Geronimo has in store for all of the Geronimites in 2019 check out their website.
