Deichbrand Festival 2018 – Full Review!

by

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.

 
There was an error connecting to flickr. Please try again later.
1 Message:
stream_socket_client(): SSL operation failed with code 1. OpenSSL Error messages: error:0A000410:SSL routines::sslv3 alert handshake failure stream_socket_client(): Failed to enable crypto stream_socket_client(): Unable to connect to ssl://api.flickr.com:443 (Unknown error)

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.

 
There was an error connecting to flickr. Please try again later.
1 Message:
stream_socket_client(): SSL operation failed with code 1. OpenSSL Error messages: error:0A000410:SSL routines::sslv3 alert handshake failure stream_socket_client(): Failed to enable crypto stream_socket_client(): Unable to connect to ssl://api.flickr.com:443 (Unknown error)

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.

 
There was an error connecting to flickr. Please try again later.
1 Message:
stream_socket_client(): SSL operation failed with code 1. OpenSSL Error messages: error:0A000410:SSL routines::sslv3 alert handshake failure stream_socket_client(): Failed to enable crypto stream_socket_client(): Unable to connect to ssl://api.flickr.com:443 (Unknown error)

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.

Farr Festival 2018

by

 

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.

 

Photo credit @jamesnorthphoto and @hirobjones

 

 

Bedford Park 2018 Preview

by

Last year, I had a great time spending a weekend at Bedford Park Concerts.  It was certainly a weekend that I won’t likely forget.  So, of course, I am very excited to be able to attend again this year.  I also have no doubt that it will be another great weekend for all, jam packed with entertainment for all ages.

Friday 3rd August 2018

To begin the weekend’s event Bedford Park will be welcoming headline act, the legendary Billy Ocean.  The legend himself has sold over 30 million records all over the world in his career to date.

Billy is known for his hits “Love Really Hurts Without You”, “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going” and “Caribbean Queen”. So warm up those vocal chords to a huge sing-a-long!

Also on the first night of the weekend (Friday 3rd August 2018) Billy will also be joined on stage by supporting acts including:

Jaki Graham

A soul singer with a powerful voice who is known to put on quite a visual show.  You can expect to hear hits “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” and also “Round and Round”.

ASWAD

ASWAD has spent two decades on the music scene and have also released an impressive fifteen albums! They also remain to be one of the best love British Reggae bands and are known for their singles “Don’t Turn Around” and “Shine”.

Loose Ends ft Carl Mcintosh

They will get you moving and grooving with unique take on the British soul sound.  They are expected to perform hits including “Hangin’ On A String” and “Slow Down”.

Last but not least of Fridays night’s support acts is The Christians.  A band that stormed their way into the British pop scene in the 80s and early 90s with singles including “World”, “Born Again” and “When The Fingers Point”. Their version is “Harvest For The World” also raised millions for well known charity Unicef.

Saturday 4th August

This date is probably the most anticipated date of the entire weekend.  Bedford Park Concerts have continued to provide us with another amazing line up to to reel us all in.  The evening will see support acts including rising pop star Hannah Jane Lewis which will be a first for the singer. Also Sam Wills will be performing too.

But of course this night will focus on the evening’s well known acts Basement Jaxx and headline act, the almighty Jess Glynne!

Basement Jaxx

Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton aka Basement Jaxx began their career as underground producers and event promoters in back in 1995.  The pair have seen huge success and have known sales of more than three million albums!  Their infamous debut album “Remedy” and their collection “The Singles” took the world by storm.  They also received a Grammy for their third album “Kish Kash” and are double BRIT award winners for the title of Best Dance Act.  They are known for their huge hits “Where’s Your Head At?”, “Romeo” and the bonkers dance anthem “Red Alert”.  Basement Jaxx are continuing to work on new projects for 2018 including working on music for a TV show which will feature on ITV.  I have no doubt that their DJ set will get everyone in a great mood.

Jess Glynne

Glynne was introduced to the music world back in 2014 as she featured as a vocalist on Clean Bandit’s Grammy Award winning “Rather Be”. Since then she has given us hit after glorious hit!  She has in her own right become one of the biggest female breakthrough artists of the UK in recent years.  Other singles fans will recognise include “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself”, “Right Here”, the more sombre “Take Me Home”. She is also now back in the charts once more while providing vocals for Rudimental’s newest single “These Days”.  I personally guarantee you will be in for an amazing set from this artist. I have seen her perform live once before and she completely dominated the event she was playing at.  

Sunday 5th August 2018

Sunday sees the return of the very popular Bedford Park Proms.  This year’s event will feature the soloist known as the one and only English Soprano Lesley Garrett.  Not only is she an incredible musician but she is also known as a broadcaster and general media personality.  Leslie has an impressive cross-over repertoire that stretches from Mozart to Meat Loaf while performing in numerous West End Musicals.  Alongside Lesley will also be Tenor Jeff Stewert, his dramatic voice means that he is always in demand not only in opera but other musical platforms too.  The Bedford Park Proms is self described as “an evening of pomp and patriotism that the whole family can enjoy”.  With over 120 performers on stage this will surely be quite a magnificent event. We will also see the return of the extraordinary London Gala Orchestra who will be conducted by Stephen Bell as they take to the stage to perform pieces including Handel’s Zadok The Priest.

On this date the organisers encourage you to bring picnics and your own drinks along too.  There is a VIP option available as well as general admission to the site.  So dust off those candelabras and get out the best plastic silverware you can buy! Because it’s Proms night!

For more infortmation and tickets visit https://www.bedfordparkconcerts.co.uk/

Bloodstock Open Air: PREVIEW – 3 WEEKS TO GO!

by

The countdown is on, three weeks until Catton Park is overrun by a hoarde of the weird and wonderful, your punks, goths, metalheads, geeks and freaks. Yes, it’s almost time for Bloodstock Open Air – the UK’s premier Metal fest.

Let’s take a look at what BOA 2018 has to offer…

BANDS

Headlining Friday night at BOA are the mighty Judas Priest, tipped to be bringing some ahem, serious fire-power, alongside material from their new album… ‘Firepower’. It’s going to be a memorable show that’s for sure, but it’s not all about the headliners at Bloodstock – Friday offers up a plethora of bands we rarely get to see at other festivals in the UK, like Emperor and Suicidal Tendencies. We also can’t wait to walk with zombies Wednesday 13 and get our thrash on with Onslaught, we are coming fully prepared to leave this festival with RSI of the neck.

On the Sophie Lancaster stage we’ll be looking out for metal goddess Doro, and we’ll definitely be checking out the New Blood stage to fill our boots with brand new music to add to our playlists.

Gojira are back after a year off, but this time taking the Saturday headline slot to showcase their unique brand of metal and having seen them hit BOA in 2016, it’s pretty clear we’re in for an incredible night. Also on Saturday’s menu, the beautifully weird juxtaposition of Scotland’s own pirate power-band Alestorm, followed by New York death metallers Cannibal Corpse. I’m down for that sort of variation, it keeps things interesting. We’ll also be turning out for Combichrist, and Israeli band Orphaned Land over on the Sophie stage.

Sunday’s finale spot, perhaps somewhat controversially goes to Nightwish, a band who are no stranger to drama throughout their career. Indeed this will be the third time the band have headlined the festival, with yet another different vocalist – Floor Jansen. However Nightwish undeniably deserve the accolade of closing out Bloodstock, having topped the bill twice before and drawing from a massive eight studio albums worth of music, we’re catching them on the ‘Decades’ tour, which is bound to be celebratory. Also on Sunday, SFG are looking forward to At The Gates, Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed fame, and Evergrey but the biggest hype by far is for American rock crooners Mr. Big. We simply cannot wait to karaoke the hell out of ‘To Be With You’ in the cheesiest way possible. Might even slow dance. There’s something fantastic about Mr. Big featuring on the same bill as Watain – over on the Sophie stage, who we will also be sure to catch. If you’re heading there too, take a poncho for the gore and keep your phone in your pocket. Trust us. It’s gonna be a wild one.

ENTERTAINMENT

If the music isn’t enough to satiate your appetite over the weekend, or there’s a bit of a lull in your lineup, you’ll find plenty of other stuff to see and do at BOA this year. Take a stroll through the BOA RAM Gallery which features the incredible artwork of Paul Raymond Gregory, various photographers’ shots from previous years, and new this year – an entire Judas Priest wall.

Meet your heroes and get your stuff signed! Bloodstock has always had a great band-to-fan signing tent with loads of opportunities to meet and greet, so make sure you take along any special CD sleeves for your favourite band and check the signing times.

Muscles 2 the Masses – BOA’s very own Strongman/Strongwoman competition now has an amateur division for festival-goers (who have competed in qualifying heats already) to be crowned Bloodstock’s Strongest Man, in a series of events which centre on… well, you know, lifting stuff up, mainly. If that doesn’t take your fancy, we’ve heard Battle Reenactment is back on the menu – who doesn’t love armored dudes beating seven shades of hell out of each other?

Late night DJ’s and movie screenings after the bands are finished are also being laid on for the drunks and nosferatu among us, so if all your mates have crashed and burned for the evening, pull up a pew for Spinal Tap and make some new pals.

FOOD

There’s no slacking on the food front either, for a smaller festival the options are excellent whether you’re a straight up carnivore, a vegan or somewhere in between. Grab yourself a brisket sandwich between bands, pick a veggie paella or an entire Sunday dinner in a Yorkshire pud, but for my money – I’m making room for a crazy hot chili in a bread bowl also known as Bunnychow. Oh and you’ll find your morning hangover cure over at the famous Motley Brew, I particularly love their ‘Sweet Chai o’Mine’ mugs and the fact that you can also get a massage while you convalesce.

MERCH

BOA’s main arena boasts a massive array of shops in which you are sure to find anything and everything a metal fan needs – you’ve got your patches and pins, your leather chaps, extremely obscure black metal tees, jewellery emblazoned with skulls, studs on absolutely everything and of course, viking drinking horns. If you’re looking for rare vinyl or CD’s – Bloodstock has your back, particularly brilliant if you’re looking for something better than the programme to take into the signing tent (I once found a vinyl of The Final Countdown and got Europe to sign it, they were not thrilled to recall their hairstyles…).

As for official merch, you’ve got your straight up festival tees with the incredible Bloodstock artwork, and a heap of other stylish variations, but this year I’m after some of the new offerings, particularly the leggings, hip flask and leather cuff. It’s great to see BOA venturing into more merchandise variation, and we’ll definitely be getting hold of the branded reusable cups for our beers too.

So what are you waiting for? Tickets are on sale HERE

See you down the front! m/

 

 

House of Vans first ever festival appearance: Bestival 2018

by

We are very excited indeed to announce that House of Vans will make its first ever UK festival appearance at Bestival this 2-5 August. Hosting a brand new den of creativity, House of Vans will feature live acts, art and ingenuity, with innovative, offbeat and original music curated by House of Vans, Sunday Best and DIY Magazine.

Rob da Bank says: “Just when we thought we couldn’t get any more of the best new up-and-coming bands and DJs in the world at Bestival, we’ve only gone and teamed up with Vans for their first ever festival appearance. The House of Vans is a brilliant new venue designed collaboratively between us and them and boasts a killer line-up booked by yours truly and Vans including Besti faves Kurupt FM alongside a UK festival exclusive from YOTA plus the likes of Jimothy Lacoste, The Xcerts and Superfood. Vantastic!”

Dropping big time garage bangers and spitting essential South London consciousness, we are ecstatic to reveal the mighty Kurupt FM headline Friday night in House of Vans. Brentford’s finest pirate DJ crew, Kurupt FM have never been less than sensational at Bestival so don’t miss out.

We also have unmissable performances curated by Sunday Best, DIY Magazine and House of Vans over four days from blistering noiseniks Spring King, a festival exclusive appearance from Yota: Youth of The Apocalypse, eclipse-swerving quartet The Big Moon, heads-down power-poppers The Xcerts, alt-pop chanteuse Laurel, chameleonic duo Superfood, and bedroom pop trailblazer Jimothy Lacoste.

Plus, we’ll have even more music across the weekend from Anteros, Riko Dan, Nimmo, Chelcee Grimes, Xylaroo, Biig Piig, Mellah, Lost Colours, Lady Bird, Walt Disco, Pearl City, Holiday Oscar, Lauran Hibberd and Zandi with one more very special guest to be announced.

Taking its place among an array of awesome venues, House of Vans’ sleek warehouse will entertain a live music stage with its own bar, and a vintage photobooth. There will also be a workshop space with screen printing hosted by Lovenskate, who’ll rework a range of festival essentials including bucket hats and bum bags for festivalgoers. Hair braiding gurus Keash bring their mobile braid bar to the space providing free braiding throughout the day. Alongside the workshops there will be skate film screenings, merchandise giveaways, and an outside courtyard with plenty of space for all to lounge with live art installations and delicious food and juice concessions.

A must for new music lovers, don’t miss House of Vans at Bestival.

Geronimo Festival 2018 Review (Knebworth Park)

by

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.

Photos by Kane Howie

For more photos CLICK HERE!!

 

 

Amprocks Festival 2018 Review

by

This weekend saw the return of Amp Rocks! The live music concert is part of the annual three day event, Ampthill Festival.  Amp Rocks is known for taking ticket holders back in time to hear music that we may not have heard for decades.  This year was no different.  The organisers of the festival also have a tradition of supporting local music by inviting the latest local Battle Of The Bands winners to perform on stage to open the weekend event. The band that kicked off the event this year was The Kazoos. The battle of the bands winner took over the stage by performing covers of hits including Florence and The Machine's "Kiss With A Fist" and the hugely popular "Valerie" – made famous by the unforgettable, late Amy Winehouse.  

After the performance from the local group there was a short interval, this gave me some time to take a wonder around the site.Just as the previous year had seen, there was plenty of facilities on the grounds. An abundance of port-a-loos, two bars and a lot of food vendors.  When in the food court area, I could see burgers, fries, hot dogs, an ice-cream van, a sweet stall and stone baked pizzas.  Although the range was good, I do have two little niggles regarding the food court.  Firstly, which actually surprised me, there did not appear to be any vegan food options other than perhaps a portion of chips, which cost £5. One food vendor even decided to charge another £1.50 on top of that if you wanted sauce on those chips/fries so if you were in the mood for cheesy chips it would have cost you £6.50. Although, I have since been informed by one of the organisers of the event that there were indeed some vegan food options, including tacos . This may have just been something that may not have been advertised as loudly as it was expected to have been.  Regarding food prices, I understand that the food vendors need to cover the cost of being at the event and they also need to make a profit, also food at events such as this one tend to be on the expensive side, but the prices these vendors were charging were verging on extortion. In this present time, Veganism is taking over the world. More and more people are choosing to live a vegan lifestyle, particularly when it comes to their diet.  So having no vegan food options was quite unusual to see at a festival scene nowadays.  The other problem that I had with the food court was where it was situated.  Last year, food vendors were set up just behind the main stage. On level ground.  This year, the carts, vans and stalls were set up at the top of a steep grassy hill with no ease of access for people who are less able.  This meant that it was quite unlikely for someone who may be wheelchair bound to be able to buy food on site.  There also appeared to be a lot of people wondering round the grounds on crutches, I saw one person on crutches struggling to climb up that hill.  

The intervals between acts were fairly short, so for the rest of the evening, I was stationed right in front of the stage to make sure I had a great view of the artists.  By this point the arena was becoming a little densely populated as more attendees filled the stage area to see the next act perform. That of course was British indie rockers, Reef.  The band are well known for their hit "Place Your Hands" and were a big deal in the 90s music scene. They have also previously played gigs at the almighty Glastonbury and Reading Festivals.  Reef are back and are currently on tour to promote their fifth studio album, titled "Revelation" which was released back in May this year.  The band were known to be rather energetic on stage in their classic years and nothing is any different now. They still have plenty of energy and charisma while performing live. Front man Gary Stringer, along with his fellow band members performed classic Reef singles including "Consideration", well known anthem "Place Your Hands" and a little preview of their new music from their current album including the titular song "Revelation" and new single "My Sweet Love". 

 

For me and I'm sure many other people that attended Amp Rocks on Friday evening, the night's next act was by far the biggest set of the entire gig.  That set was brought to us by Example & DJ Wire. The London rapper and DJ pair have played for audiences all over the world and wowed them all! They have previously played at the infamous Glastonbury Festival with singles including "Changed The Way You Kissed Me" and "Stay Awake". This set provided ticket holders with plenty of anticipation as DJ Wire first took to the stage alone to take his place at the decks.  While going 'solo' he mixed a variety of well known releases including "Sweet Dreams" by The Eurythmics, Skrillex's "Bangarang", The Prodigy's bonkers "Firestarter" and Bastille's huge hit "Pompeii".  People in front of the stage, including myself loved every minute of this extended and nostalgic intro. There were hands in the air, people up on the shoulders of their friends and relatives and a lot of dodgy dance moves.  Around 10 minutes in, on walked British rapper Example.  As he walked to the front of the stage he was singing the lyrics to his single "Say Nothing" which of course everyone else was also singing along to also.  He then went on to perform another single "Stay With Me" before then bringing the show to a brief pause to introduce himself by going on to say "Hi, I'm Example and I'm an up and coming artist from London".  Yea sure, he's not already famous at all. Haha! The bonkers set continued with performances of other well known singles including "We'll Be Coming Back" which was a Calvin Harris hit that he had featured on, also "Kickstarts" and his debut hit "Changed The Way You Kissed Me".  DJ Wire and Example put on one of the best live performances that I've seen to date. Despite Example looking a little tired (understandably) half way through his performance, he still gave us 110% to wow us all right until the close of the set. There were a lot of people there that evening all agreeing on one thing. DJ Wire and Example should have been the night's headline act.

The evening's headline act was female 80s pop trio Bananarama.  This is the first time that the band's original line up of Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodwood has been seen performing live since the 1980s.  So this really was quite something to see.  Their performance at Amp Rocks was a first for the three ladies of the band as they have never performed live at a festival event before.  The band are very well known for their hit "Venus"

 

Before the ladies made their appearance, the stage was filled with warm lighting, pink and red in colour.  The band were given a lengthy instrumental intro by the musicians who also accompanied them on the stage.  The Bananarama ladies all looked stunning in their fitted black sequinned attire.  Their set really was a giant step back in time.  With a performance that included their classic catchy pop hits "Cruel Summer", "Rough Justice" and "Robert De Niro's Waiting".  During their show, the ladies were so perfectly in sync with their moves. While showcasing vintage choreography, it was like watching an Olympic synchronised swimming team, so easily breezing through their segment.  As much as I enjoy listening to the old Bananarama pop songs and they always put me in a great mood, but I must admit, the ladies are actually far better live and worth a watch.  

On multiple occasions throughout the evening, there were random outbursts of people going into full on karaoke mode to sing the infamous "Three Lions" in homage to the current football world cup event.  Both, Example and Bananarama sang along with crowds to show their support for England. It was quite the memorable moment during both sets.  

 

The organisers of Ampthill Festival have once again, put on an amazing Amp Rocks for us all. I had a great night there.  I cannot wait to see what they will have in store for us next year.  

Photos by Kane Howie

For more photos click here!

Community Festival 2018 review

by

With a stickiness lingering in the hot air, we could have easily been heading to a music festival in a bustling city in Southern Europe. But, no, it may have been 30 degrees and sweltering, but instead, we were making our way to North London’s Finsbury Park, home for the day to Community Festival.

Celebrating the best of British guitar bands and new music, my companion and I were both excited and curious about the day ahead. For me, a UK summer festival exclusive from indie gang Two Door Cinema Club and sets from The Vaccines and pop rockers You Me At Six were the main draw, as they were each a band I fondly remembered listening to rather frequently in my late teens.

As we slunk our way through the gates it soon became evident that the bands still attracted a similar clientele: the crowds were young and excitable, though seemingly harmless and friendly.

After sipping a cider or two under the rays, it was time to head over to the main stage to catch the first on my hit list: You Me At Six. I instantly became awash with nostalgia, as the familiar punky vocals flooded the arena, provoking lots of movement within the crowds. The boys treated us to a selection of newer and older hits, the obvious favourites of mine being ‘Underdog’, ‘Loverboy’ and ‘No one does it better’ from their first couple of albums.

‘We are young, we aren’t dead, we are reckless’ stated Josh Franceschi, the band’s jubilant frontman, before leading into their hit ‘Reckless’.

A scrumptious portion of Pomodoro pasta from one of the many varied food stalls fought off those hunger pangs and made for the perfect set break. And, before we knew it, we were soon bouncing around to The Vaccines’ indie belters, a mix of catchy hits including the likes of ‘Post-breakup sex’, ‘No hope’, ‘I always knew’ and ‘If you wanna’. With the crowds swarming with energy, the balmy summer atmosphere paired with well-received tunes made it seemingly impossible not to let loose and revel in all the day’s glory.

It was time for the concluding set: our Northern Irish boys, Two Door Cinema Club. Donning eclectic outfits including the likes of a studded denim jacket, a bright red shirt and a trilby hat, the team’s combined fashion choices immediately set them off with an intriguing stage presence. Settling somewhere mid-way in the crowds, we were impressed with how spacious it was; we could actually watch the headline act at a festival and breathe comfortably at the same time.

The feel-good, tinkling indie tunes proved to be the ideal material to finish off a sublime day of music in the sun, including a string of fan-favourites such as ‘Undercover Martyn’, ‘What you know’, ‘Come back home’ and ‘Something good can work’. It was heart-warming to notice that intimate groups of dancing friends had formed, stretching back as far as the eye could see.

‘I’ve never been to a festival where everyone looks so happy, where everyone is dancing so much’ my friend’s voice muffled in my ear, whilst I tossed my arms up into the sky. It seems that summer Sundays really don’t get much better than this.

Hurricane Festival 2018 – Full Review!

by

Friday

Hurricane Festival is in the north of Germany, set in some fields in Scheeβel between Hamburg and Bremen. The current version of Hurricane Festival has been going since 1997, though there were two previous attempts of festivals in the area in 1973 and 1977. Hurricane sells itself as a mainstream/alternative festival, however, in recent years there has been more emphasis on the mainstream and less on the alternative. This year’s line-up is what I would describe as mainstream, however there are a few acts here and there that are showing the alternative past of Hurricane.

Friday started off wet and windy, as is the trend with most festivals at the moment, and was opened by the Hurricane Swim Team on the Green Stage early afternoon. The Hurricane Swim Team was created in 2016 when the festival was a total wash out, and is essentially a hype team that get the crowd grooving in even the most abysmal weather. Luckily, by the time they’d left the stage the weather had in fact improved and we were able to enjoy the sun for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening.

We got to the second stage – blue stage – to see George Ezra perform in the afternoon light. Ezra has a stunning voice and it he proved that it was not just the studio doing all the work in post processing. He was chatty onstage, and (like a lot of the British and American bands) tried his hand a bit of German, to the glee of the audience. The cherry on the Ezra-shaped cake was definitely the small brass section he’d brought with him, it really added that extra depth to the performance.

 

Experienced punk rock band The Offspring took centre stage on the Green stage (main stage) on Saturday evening. They know how to keep tantalise the audience, saving their three most well-known songs until the end, including Pretty Fly for a White Guy and ending on Self-Esteemed to an audience that was easily two decades younger than them, if not more, which is a pretty good achievement for four shouty guys from California.

The blue stage was again graced with a talented vocalist, this time in the form of Hannah Reid of London Grammar. A far cry away from The Offspring, London Grammar definitely calmed the audience down rather than psyched them up. The mosh pits of Green Stage were replaced with gentle arm waving and head nodding.

Keeping in the UK-indie theme that the blue stage seemingly has had all day, the following band are none other than Two Door Cinema Club, who arrive onstage to a rambunctious welcome. Two Door Cinema Club are the first band that have brought an impressive set on stage, a set of LED squares with bright strobing lights behind, all of which is made more impressive in the dying light of the evening. The crowd happily bopped along to the music, enjoying the show in the dying light.

The green stage was again keeping its theme of emo-punk and rock, with the headline of the night Billy Talent.  The band appeared on stage as the audience cheered and wooped, bassist Jonathan Gallant and guitarist Ian D’Sa started playing the introduction to ‘This is how it goes’ as Benjamin Kowalewicz burst on to stage to rapturous applause and started singing. He had so much energy on stage, dressed like an emo from the late noughties with his skinny tie, skinny black jeans and his converses. In fact, the whole band looked as if they were 15 year olds trapped in the bodies of middle aged men. They acted like it too. Jumping up and down and across the stage, swearing jovially at the audience ‘Welcome to Hurricane 2018 motherfuckers!’ shouted Benjamin after the first song, before launching in to ‘Devil in Midnight Mass’. The whole performance took me back to those angst filled days in high school, where we felt the world was ending and beginning at the same time, and that every song ever written about and specifically for, us. The nostalgia that came with watching Billy Talent was only amplified by the crowd, singing (and in some cases, screaming) along with the songs, as the band ricocheted from one song to the next. About halfway through the set Benjamin mentioned that their drummer – Aaron Solowoniuk – had been struggling with MS, and has been on hiatus since 2016. While Benjamin was telling the crowd this, he also mentioned that the band have been together for 25 years this summer, which is unbelievable. Arron was then introduced onstage as he made his way to the drums, and played with the band for the rest of the show. It was really great to see him playing again, and so obvious that he was thoroughly enjoying being back on stage after two years away. Aaron coming back on stage really gave the band more energy, and they turned it up to 100 for the rest of the show.

After Billy Talent’s finale, it seemed as if the entire crowd moved to Blue Stage, for final act of the night, German hip-hop artist Marteria. Now, I know those words don’t run together naturally, but stick with me here. My level of German is extremely basic (as I found out during a press-pass mix up that caused no end of trouble) but Marteria’s catchy lyrics and playful beats. As well as his skills on the mic he also brought to stage some of the most impressive and playful visuals of the evening. Later in the show he brought on his alter-ego Marismoto who delighted the audience with his high-pitch voiced and his more experimental music, straying from hip-hop and entering the realms of dubstep, reggae and EDM.  With the first night of the festival finished everyone headed back to their tents ready to do the same thing all over again.

Saturday

The campsite was up and bustling by about ten on Saturday, helped by the festival workers driving around on quadbikes using their megaphones to shout ‘time to wake up’ across the campsite. I’m not sure if it was part of their job description but it certainly worked in getting the campsite awake and running. Pretty soon there were queues to the toilet and every other tent was playing flunkyball across the pathways. The campsite radio (provided by Delta Radio) was on blast throughout the campsite, via speakers and radios campers had brought with them, meaning wherever we went we had a surround sound experience of the camp radio. There seemed to be an endless game put on the by the radio hosts, which was to play the Cantina Theme from Star Wars, (or at least an excerpt of it) and, once it had finished someone – either one of the hosts or a punter who had been accosted somewhere on the campsite – would say ‘play that same song again’ and so on and so on. So much so it became the unofficial anthem of the campsite, and probably the weekend.     

Hurricane festival is a lot smaller than most medium UK festivals, with only three stages all relatively close to each other. It means minimal walking between stages and the way that the stages have been positioned has been done with great care, as there is no overlap of sound when each stage has an artist.

Indie-pop act The Kooks took to the Green Stage on Saturday evening for a fun set. They’re still fresh from their ‘Best Of’ album tour, with Hurricane being their first festival of the season. Though they’re no strangers playing to big crowds – they’ve been around since 2004 – they have recently been touring as a warm-up act for The Rolling Stones. This hasn’t diminished their ability to get the crowd dancing, whatever the size. Though I was impressed that even a relatively light band such as The Kooks could get the crowd moshing. Lead singer Luke Pritchard danced around on stage with his tan-and-checked blazer and his skinny scarf, the embodiment of indie-brit-pop. The crowd were loving it and singing along to almost every track, which was pretty magical to listen to. The Kooks do have a new album out but didn’t fall into the age old pitfall of playing only their new stuff, they littered the set with classics as well as slipping the odd new song in now and then. They ended with two classics, Seaside and Naïve to the absolute delight of the audience.

Next up was Hamburg rapper Dendemann, who had a beat-filled set and had the whole crowd moshing along to his music. His music was good, though I’m sure I would have got more enjoyment out of it had I understood the lyrics – he uses a lot of wordplay so for a non-native speaker of German it can be a bit of a struggle to understand. I did understand when he said hello to the crowd and called them a town that certainly wasn’t Hurricane or Scheeβel. His drummer corrected him though and the crowd didn’t seem to care.

Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro have a solid fan-base in Germany and started off their European tour in Berlin early last month. Having last played Hurricane in 2010 they were due for a comeback. And the crowd were ready for it. Mosh pits left right and centre, the whole crowd was there for them. As per usual, all three members were shirtless, though frontman Simon Neil has got rid of the Jesus locks and gone for a cleaner, shorter cut, which if it wasn’t for the mass of tattoos and his roaring vocals he could be mistaken for a graphic designer, or someone equally ordinary. As always with Biffy, the show was intense and the hard rockers had all come out of the woodwork to head-bang their way through the set, as well as all the casual fans that sang along to their hits and mumbled along to the songs that had less radio-play.

Saturday was the first day we ventured to the Red Stage, to see Portugal. The Man. Now, I’m not sure what we expected but it certainly wasn’t what happened. They had a seven minute guitar heavy intro song played before they even came on stage. Once they were on stage the show really began. There had a projector projecting some spacey shapes and colours on the screen behind them. However, unlike most bands, Portugal. The Man had decided to put the projector in front of the stage, so each band member cast shadows throughout the set, changing shape and size as they moved around the stage. They started by playing a cover of ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd, which was an odd one to start with, however it really set the stage for the rest of their show, a spacey, guitar heavy extravaganza. After their first song some huge lettering came down on the screen behind them, declaring “We are not very good at stage banter so please enjoy these messages from the management, thank you for understanding”. Now, they certainly get points for ingenuity here, although it would have been nice to have a little bit of crowd interaction.  As promised, periodically through the show more writing would appear behind them, such as “that is some bad-ass guitar playing” through a particularly gnarly piece. One thing I particularly enjoyed from Portugal. The Man was the fact that they had a very varied set-list. Starting with that Pink Floyd cover to get the crowd in the mood, before playing and older, spacey track that was guitar heavy and a wee bit light on the lyrics going straight through to ‘Purple Yellow Red and Blue’ (2013) and ‘Live in the Moment’ (2017), two more recent songs that have had more radio play. The audience were a bit muted compared to the other acts of the night, I mean, it is hard to mosh to electro-guitar solos played over light keys and drums.

Going from the Portugal. The Man to The Prodigy was a bit of a jolt. As ever, the Prodigy had a stunning set, fantastic lasers, the crowd was already hopping by the time we got there. The band has been touring for almost three decades and know their stuff. They haven’t played in Germany since 2015, so it was high-time they came back. The set was littered with classics and the crowd went absolutely wild during voodoo people. I mean, it’s The Prodigy, it’s hard not to dance like a maniac with those beats and the amount of pure, raw energy coming off the stage. After the show most people were danced-out and made their way to their tents, the younger and drunker punters also went back to the campsite, but only to enjoy the Motorbooty rave that was going on until 4am the next morning.

Sunday

Security has been amped up to 130%, we were frisked each time we entered the main field, and no bags were allowed unless they were see-through and all pockets had to be emptied and checked. This meant more than anything that there were queues caused by this bottle neck. The crowd spent most of the time in the queues singing various songs which either went in rounds or sped up as they went along. It was amusing the first few times, but when someone in the crowd yelled the first line for the sixth time in a row I did groan inwardly. Fortunately, by that point I was almost through the gates, so didn’t have to listen to a half-hearted rendition of eisgekühlter bommerlunder again.

Once through we headed to the blue stage to kick off the afternoon with a bit of Mighty Oaks. Their folk rock was forgetting everyone off to the right start, despite the persistent cold and rain. Lead-singer Ian Hooper switched from German and English throughout the set, which is unsurprising as the very international band – members from US, UK and Italy – are currently based in Berlin. They had the whole crowd swaying in unison, and at one point encouraged everyone to get on someone’s shoulders and the crowd suddenly got half as wide and twice as tall, as almost everyone in the crowd was on someone’s shoulders or holding someone and singing along. It was such a nice, inclusive atmosphere and a great start to the third and final day of the festival.

Late noughties indie-rock Franz Ferdinand bounced onto the main stage as the afternoon was slowly becoming the evening. Full of energy and full of hits, frontman Alex Kapranos jumped cross the stage as he belted out the lyrics. The audience were bouncy along happily, and singing along, smiling in spite of the rain.

One of the most lively shows of the evening was brought by second to last act on Sunday – Kraftklub. In the last five years Kraftklub have risen from unknown band to the next chart-topping must-see band throughout Germany. The show starts with four red smoke //bombs// going off within the crowd. We can’t see exactly how they’ve been planted but they’ve been concealed for who knows how long. Kraftklub then appear on stage as the banner that has been covering the stage has been pulled down, and as they start their opening number (Karl-Mark-Straβe) the crowd goes absolutely wild. Now, I knew it was going to kick off. Sometimes you can just feel it. Through the first half of the show I was stuck between two mosh pits, by the second half I had decided I was fighting a losing battle, and joined them full force. The moshing continued for the full show, and Kraftklub left to cries of ‘one more song’ as they left the stage. They had twenty minutes left of their set, so we naturally all expected them to come back on stage. They did come back. Just not on stage. They had what can only be describe as a mobile stage, about two meters wide and four meters long, on wheels and being pushed through the crowd. They sang ‘ich will nicht nach Berlin’ before telling the audience they needed to get back to the main stage. The most sensible way to do this was obviously to crowd surf. On top of this, it had to be a race. They prepped the crowd in front of them, and after the third blast from the airhorn, they dived in. They were all scrambling to get to the stage as fast as possible and one of the stage hands was waving a giant checked racing flag as they got to the stage and he announced the winner.  

Headliners of the evening, Arctic Monkeys took to the stage under dark, moody lighting. Alex Turner’s slick-backed hair shining in the lights paired with the leather jackets gave the band a 50s vibe. The beat came in as ‘four stars out of five’ started playing and the start of the end of the festival had begun.  

The set was dotted with shout outs to the audience, mainly ‘vielen danke’ (thanks very much – for the non-German speakers) and the dulcet tones of Tuner briefly introducing the odd song. However, audience interaction was minimal, this grown-up band a far cry from their ‘crying lighting’ and ‘fluorescent adolescent’ days. The set-list was a good mix of songs, but focused heavily on AM and Tranquillity Base Hotel + Casino. Which makes sense, especially if they’re trying to move away from their young, almost post-punk rock of the early days and centre their attention on the more polished sound that the more recent albums have encompassed. If I was to sum up their performance I would have to use that word again, polished. Technically, it was a fantastic set, the sound was amazing, the band were in-sync with each other, though I felt like there could have been a bit more (one-sided, as ever) conversation from the band, but this performance, like the two most recent albums seems to have matured from cocky rock to sophisticated, interesting space-pop, but keeping some of that same cheekiness the Monkeys are famed for.

This year Hurricane had an eclectic mix of bands, which, in a weird way seemed to complement each other. If you were not into the headliners you would always find something that would satisfy your wants. However, it would have been nice to see a few more female artists on the mainstages over the three days, though this is something that all festivals could work on, and not just an issue with Hurricane. Personally, I am looking forward to the announcements for the bands next year, and I, like most of the punters, am ready to do the whole thing again next year.

 

Truck Festival 2018 Preview

by

The self acclaimed 'Godfather of the small festival scene' is back!  This annual music festival takes place in Steventon, Oxfordshire and with 2018 being the festival's 21st year it plans to dominate with yet another cracking line up.  For the first time, organisers have introduced an early entry ticket for Thursday the19th July before the main festival weekend begins. Upon purchasing early entry admission, ticketholders will be able to see performances from bands and artists including Peace, Jaws, Kandia and Little Brother Eli to kickstart the weekeend.

As always there will also be a wide variety of food to cater for all and also family friendly activities for those with children.  

This years lineup includes headliners: Friendly Fires on Friday, George Ezra on Saturday and The Courteeners on closing night which will be Sunday 22nd July.  

Also featured, will be performances from Everything Everything, Circa Waves, Jake Bugg and many more. There are several stages on site with a huge selection of all genres of bands and artists. Here are just a handful of acts that are worth checking out

Hellions – A hard core punk band from Sydney,Australia.  Their music can be likened to that of American pop-punk band Good Charlotte. They will be on stage at The Nest on Friday.  

Goldrush – An English 5 piece rock band. Band members Robin and Joe aka The Bennett brothers are also the founders Truck Festival and will be performing in their band for an exclusive one off set.  What better way to pay homage to the people that made this awesome festival a reality.  This special set can be seen at the Veterans and Virgins stage on Friday.  

Anteros – This dream-pop band quartet from London have previously played alongside Two Door Cinema Club, White Lies and Blaenavon (who are also playing at Truck this year) Anteros also played sets at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds.  Their single "Breakfast" is quite a catchy, happy go lucky kind of pop song.  These will be seen on the Main Stage on Saturday.  ]

Lady Bird – The trio can easily be likened to last year's performers Slaves.  Their music style is heavy rock with agressive riffs, their songs also have a literary vibe to them while narrating stories with their straight to the point lyrics. We will be seeing them at The Nest on Saturday.  

Hey Charlie – a three piece all girl pop punk band. Their vibe overflows with girl power while playing their sugary pop songs. They have previously been on tour with All Time Low.  These punktastic ladies will be performing on the Market Stage on Sunday.  

So whether you fancy riding "Shotgun" with George Ezra or want to enjoy "Junk Food Forever" with The Amazons, Truck Festival will no doubt keep you entertained all weekend long!