Now some of you may know I went away for two weeks with the festival catering company I work with, called The Hurly Burly (Great food, incredible music, the yummiest cakes ever, check it out). Anyway, the first weekend I spent at Shambala, a wonderful, little festival in Northampton. It's has one of the smallest sites I have seen this season, however still has 12 stages with plenty to see and do, even into the early hours of the morning.
So I got there on the Thursday afternoon, caught up with my lovely friends/ colleagues and went out to explore the site. It was great to see a different set of stalls to the ones you see at every festival and as this was my first time at Shambala I wasn't sure what to expect, so it made a pleasant surprise.
Friday was when the main music started! There were very few artist I had listen to before at Shambala, but lots of names I recognised from other festival line ups. So I was very excited to find new bands and artist to start listening too. The first band I saw after I finished work on Friday was this awesome band called Electric Swing Circus. They were on the main stage, although they did have their own stage at Shambala, called Swingamajig Speakeasy. If you hadn't guessed Electric Swing Circus is a Electro Swing band. They had me dancing from the get go! Straight after Electric Swing Circus on the main stage was Dizraeli and the Small Gods (In case you don't know, I missed them at Green Man festival, so I was desperate to see them before they broke up). I first heard Dizraeli and the Small Gods psychedelic hip-hop sound at Green Man 2012, I liked them so much I even bought a T-shirt. It was great to see them at Shambala, one of their favourite festivals, they bought so much energy to the stage and are really different to your average 6 - piece band. I spent the next couple of hours grabbing some yummy food, and shopping for sparkly things. Until 9pm when I went to see one of my friend's friend DJing at Swingamajig Speakeasy. After a good dance there and being mesmerised by the girl hooping on stage, I went to see Formidable Vegetable Sound System, (try saying that three times really fast!) after one of my friends explained she was desperate to see them. Formidable Vegetable Sound System sing about the brilliance of Permaculture to a Speakeasy/Electro Swing sound. With the use of Loops from a laptop, beatboxing, a ukulele, a violin, a variety of horns and some interpretive dance, Formidable Vegetable Sound System but on a show like no other I had seen. I absolutely loved them, and they just so happened to be going to the next and last festival of my working season. So I knew they would be one I had to see again. They were easily my favourite act of the weekend, and one of the top for the whole summer.
So that's why Yield, by Formidable Vegetable Sound System is What's The Set List's Track of the Day!
Saturday saw our busiest day at work all season. We were absolutely shattered when we finished work, so we went to Coyote Moon Spa and had a session in a hot tub. It did mean we missed Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate on the main stage, but after the day we had, we thought it was fair enough. I had a lazy evening on Saturday, gathering my strength to party into the night. So at 12am I was ready for Roni Size on the Kamikaze stage. It was awesome to see such a Drum & Bass legend doing his thing, the only problem I found was the tent was in was the temperature of the sun. I watched most of his set until the heat got to unbearable, and ended up listening to the rest of his set from the chair swing ride next to the tent.
Unfortunately I had a double shift on the Sunday, so I didn't catch any music. However I did manage to have a break to see the Fireworks, which were pretty cool. No one was sure when they were meant to start, so a lack of organisation meant I was standing there waiting for almost half an hour. But they were well worth it.
For my first Shambala experience I would have to say it's the most different festival I have been to all summer. Easily the best for dressing up though, everyone goes all out, all weekend and has several costumes with them it seem. I had a wonderful time, even if I didn't see as much music as I usually do. For such a small festival it definitely has one of the biggest party vibes.
No comments:
Post a Comment