Shambala 2015!

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.

Festival Friday! Secret Garden Party

I'm finally back, it's finally Friday, both of which mean it's Festival Friday! This weeks Festival Friday is Secret Garden Party.

Based in Huntingdon, Secret Garden Party first opened it's gates to 1000 punters with one stage back in 2004. It opened as an alternative to the more mainstream music festivals. Now it has grown massively and has over 15 stages, as well as more than 26,000 punters flood through it's gates every year. However it has never lost that alternative or independent feel. 

One of the great things about SGP is the amount of care, time and thought that goes in to the site. Everywhere you look there is cool things to see and do, art work to admire, a hidden stage to find, a lake to swim in, and so much more. Each year there is a new theme, this year it was 'Childish Things', last year its was 'Beyond the Yellow Brick Road', the year before that it was 'Superstition', you get the picture. The themes are always well thought out and the site decorated accordingly. The punters take the themes very seriously as well, dressing up to the 9's and are so imaginative with their costumes. There is a huge variety of music at SGP, I would say pretty much every genre of music is covered. The line up is usually full of up and coming bands and artist, with some classics and big names thrown in. Previous headliners have included Gorillaz,  Blondie, Fat Freddy's Drop and Javis Cocker. 

Secret Garden Party supports lots of charities, but one that stood out for me was C.A.L.M. (Campaign Against Living Miserably). It's aim is to prevent male suicide in the UK, as it is the single biggest cause of death for men aged 20-45 in the UK. Personally I think many people don't realise how bad the situation is and don't fully understand depression and anxiety is not something you can just 'get over'. SGP had The CALMzone tent, where you could sit and chill on big sofas, take a load off and enjoy a good, free cup of tea. The CALM crew were there to chat to about the charity as well as anything and everything else you wanted to talk about. Follow C.A.L.M. on Twitter @theCALMzone, you can also use the hashtag #CALMSGP to find out more about C.A.L.M.'s work at Secret Garden Party.

Now for this year, Thursday 23rd - Sunday 26th July 2015

Headliners: Jungle, The Cat Empire, Caravan Palace

Other artist include: Will and the People, Jack Garratt, Public Broadcasting Service, Lianne La Havas, Kate Tempest, Gentlemen's Dub Club, Natty, Honne, Temples, Roots Manuva, Kawehi, Darwin Deez, Beans on Toast, Rhodes, The Rumble, Ian Siegal, CC Smugglers, The Urban Voodoo Machine, Fleetmac wood, Chainska Brassica, Nizlopi, Rum Buffalo, Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate, Temple Funk Collective, Dizraeli, 

Links

SGP Website

What to Pack

C.A.L.M. Website

Green Man Festival 2015

What a wonderful, muddy weekend in the welsh mountains! 

Green Man festival is always a pleasure and high light of the year for me. Although I spent the weekend not feeling very well, Green Man and the awesome people around me, cheered me and made me feel better. Work, the rain and not feeling too good kept me from venturing in to the festival as much as I usually would. However I still got to see the site and see the acts that I wanted to see, as well as some that had been highly recommended. Being the 10th anniversary since Green Man moved to Glanusk Park, all effort went in to making this the best year so far. The line up was superb, the site was as stunning as ever and the atmosphere was full of excitement.

I arrived on the Thursday evening, unpacked and rushed straight off to catch Leftfield on the Far Out Stage. They had been recommended to me, and although they weren't really my cup of tea, they put on a great show.

On the Friday I should have taken it easy as I wasn't feeling too good. However after I had finished work I was too excited and just wanted to go out and explore and dance. I managed to caught the Headliners Hot Chip, who were awesome. They performed with so much energy and got the whole crowd going. I managed to catch the beginning Dizraeli and the Small Gods, who I had seen a few years back at Green Man with friends. I can't say much about their performance here as I literally caught the first 30 seconds before I had to rush off. Unfortunately they are on their farewell tour at the moment, so I was pretty gutted to miss the second half. However I did manage to catch their set at the next festival luckily (more about that in my yet to come, Shambala review post). I spent the late evening dancing in The Walled Garden to the Heavenly Jukebox DJ set, which blasts out a mix of disco tunes with dance anthems and keeps you dancing into the early hours of the morning.

 I think I may have over cooked it for the friday however, because Saturday hit my like a ton of bricks. I felt awful when I woke up, some sort of stomach bug I assumed. However this wasn't going to stop me having a great time. I finished work and took it easy for a couple of hours, before heading out to catch Charles Bradley. Cool fact, He got his big break when he was spotted as a James Brown Impersonator in 1996. His music is a mix of soul, funk and R&B, so right up my street basically. I hadn't listened to much Charles Bradley before, but after see his fantastic performance at Green Man, I haven't stopped listening to him, and will be recommending him to everyone.
So here is a link to some of his music!

The World (Is Going Up In Flames) is also What's The Set List's Track of the Day!

After Charles Bradley, I went to explore the site a little more, grab something to eat at La Grande Bouffe (The Big Nosh), and check out some of the cool shops, such as Fairy love and Fire Toys. Until at 11pm I went to go and see Super Furry Animals. Having seen them before at Ben and Jerry's festival, I knew they would definitely deliver, and boy did they deliver! What made it especially exciting, was that this was one of the first live shows they have done for 6 years. So their Headline spot on the Mountain Stage was a must! Unfortunately by the time they came on I was shattered from feeling ill all day. Which meant I couldn't enjoy the set to its full potential. My aim was to see Jamie XX on the Far Out Stage after Super Furry Animals, but I barely made it through Super Furry, so I decided to call it a night. I lead a very Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle, can you tell?

On the Sunday, I decided I would power through as best I could, with the help of Paracetamol of course. I powered through work, ate some lovely Falafel for lunch, got loads glitter on my face, finally bought myself a Growler, and went to enjoy The Staves on the Mountain Stage at 7pm. I was a couple rows from the front, which meant the atmosphere was incredible. I have been a fan of The Staves indie-folk sound since I first heard them at Green Man in 2012. The release of their new album was a big deal for me and hearing live was almost too much for me, especially because I was so tired. I did manage to hold myself together and absolutely loved their set. The song choice and order was perfect and their voices, like the paracetamol, made me feel better. For all these reasons, The Staves were my favourite act over the whole weekend.

After The Staves I went to see Courtney Barnett after having several recommendations from my friends to go and see her. Her almost deadpan and witty delivery and her garage rock influenced sound makes her music really interesting and very memorable. I was very glad I saw her and throughly enjoyed it. I didn't manage to catch St. Vincent which was a shame, I have been told she put on an amazing show and was mesmerising. However instead I went on the Ferris Wheel and got a good spot for the burn and fireworks at midnight at 12am. This is always one of the highlights of the festival, when everyone gathers together to watch the Green Man burn and the fireworks. This year was no different and although there were no loud banging fireworks, the show was still spectacular.

Overall, even though I felt ill, I still had a great time. Seeing music I love, finding new music to love, spending time with people I love, and playing in the mud, which I love. Another awesome year for Green Man!

Festival Friday! Green Man Festival

Festival Friday is back and this week it's Green Man Festival!

Green Man is a family friendly festival based in the heart of the beautiful Brecon Beacons, in Wales. It's really relaxed and is always a pleasure to come back too. The line up is always fantastic, with a wide range of acts, some of which you have heard of and love, others who you discover and become your new favourites. Green Man is always growing and every year I seem to find something new.
One of the coolest things about Green Man is the Green Man himself. Every year he looks different, and is always magnificent. The past couple of years punters have been able to go inside the Green Man over the course of the weekend and leave messages or wishes. On the evening of the final day of the festival (Sunday), They burn the Green Man and have an amazing firework display. This always brings the whole festival together creating the most incredible atmosphere to watch such a marvellous spectacle.
The 10 different areas at Green man mean that there is always something on or to find or do. The Walled Garden is one of my favourite areas, with a smaller stage and the high wall surrounding several stalls as well as the stage, it creates a really intimate feel.
One thing to mention about Green Man is their Welsh Ale and Ciders which, if you are old enough, I highly recommend. I suggest having a Growler and getting your boogie on. You can't go wrong!
Green Man, now in it's 12th year, is always a highlight of the festival season for me and this year is set to be no different.

This year the dates are: Thursday 20th August - Sunday 23rd August 2015

Headliners: Leftfield, Hot Chip, Super Furry Animals, St Vincent

Other acts include: Villagers, Natalie Prass, Temples, Teleman, Emmy The Great, Dizraeli and the Small Gods, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Jamie XX, Hooton Tennis Club, The Carraways, Father John Misty, The Staves, The Antlers, Courtney Barnett, Goat, Public Broadcast Service, Aurora, Me and My Friends, The Gypsies of Bohemia

Links:
Green Man Website
What to Pack

Secret Garden Party 2015!

Sorry about the long break on posts, I have been super busy and catching up on sleep. However today is a new day and a new week, so I decided to get my act together and finally post my (rather short) review of Secret Garden Party. 

Secret Garden Party was first and foremost, very muddy and wet. This, working long shifts and not having enough sleep put me off venturing out into the festival as much as I normally would. So unfortunately my review for SGP will be a bit shorter than my usual festival reviews. 

I did manage to venture out on the Thursday and Friday before things got too muddy. However this was mostly to see arena its self.  What makes SGP different is that they take a lot of pride in the small things. The theme this year was childhood things, and as always there was artwork and installations all over the site to do with the theme. What made it extra special for me this year, was that one of my friends, Jess Grimsdale, an Illustration Student at Falmouth Uni, had her artwork up all over the festival. She had created SGP's Secret Alphabet. So there were 26 Letters dotted around the festival. Each had a word that was associated with that letter and SGP. For example, T was for Tomfoolery. That one was my favourite and is now on my wall at home. 

I didn't see anyone I had planned to see, because I was working and the mud meant it took twice as long to get anywhere. Hopefully I will catch them at later festivals. I did however come across Honne, who I hadn't heard of before, this English duo have a sort of futuristic soul sound and were great when I came across them on the main stage at SGP. They are playing at Electric Picnic, a festival I'm going to in September, so hopefully I will manage to catch their whole set there. 

Although the rain and mud prevented me from seeing many acts, I did have a really good time at Secret Garden Party. The arena its self this year was awesome, so well decorated and there was always something new to see. SGP always has brilliant acts that are always up for getting/ keeping the party going. Last year for example, they had Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, which was just incredible (one of my favourite performances I have ever seen). This year was no different, I just didn't manage to make it through the mud to see all the incredible acts.

If you managed to survive the mud and dress up to the 9s all weekend, let me know! I would love to hear from you. Let me know who you saw as well, it's always great to hear who you loved seeing.

Festival Friday! Latitude festival, 2015

Time for another Festival Friday! This week's festival is Latitude Festival. 

Latitude takes pride in having not only amazing music acts but also the best aspects of film, literature, poetry, culture, theatre and everything in between. It's a very pretty festival as well as not being too big, so it's easy to keep track of where you are. From the multi-coloured sheep to dancing in the woods, there is a lot to see and do. I found that I went to see just as many comedians, poets and writers as I did musicians, which was great as every stage had equal big names and people I wanted to see. Last year I saw Craig Charles do a DJ set in the woods, which is where all the late night DJs play. The woods seem like a completely different place during the day, but at night creates the most amazing atmosphere. The Main stage has seating going around the back, not enough for everyone obviously. But it comes in handy in between acts when you want to sit down, or when you have danced too much, or if you are short and actually want to see what's happening on stage.

Here's a little history and information about Latitude. Based at Henham Park, in Southwold, Suffolk, it will be 10 years old this year. It's always been lucky enough to have a good line up, but that is thanks to it being run by Festival Republic. Festival Republic also run Reading and Leeds Festival, Electric Picnic and ran Glastonbury festival for 10 years. Latitude also is a good place to find up and coming acts, especially on the Lake Stage. Speaking of the lake, this year is the first year you can swim in it!

Now for this year, Thursday 16th - Sunday 19th July 2015

Headliners: Alt-J, Portishead, Noel Gallagers High Flying Birds

Other Artists include: Laura Marling, Lianne La Havas, Santigold, Jon Hopkins, The Vaccines, SBTRKT, Catfish and the Bottlemen, La Roux, The Boomtown Rats, Seasick Steve, Manic Street Preachers, Kwabs, SOAK

Links
Latitude Website
What to pack
Festival Republic Website

Latitude Festival 2014

Glastonbury 2015!

So after a week at Glasto, I'm finally home again and fully recovered. Sorry about the lack of posts, it's been pretty mad and I was having too much fun at Glastonbury. I did have my first Festival Friday post scheduled to post on the Friday, however for some reason it didn't post. Oh well! 

I got to Glasto on the Tuesday last week, I started work on Wednesday doing the morning shifts throughout the festival. I went to see The Vaccines, The Courteeners, Billy Bragg, Gregory Porter, Pharrell, Kanye West, Lionel Richie, Lianne La Havas, Jamie T, The Who, Chainska Brassika and that's just the music acts I saw!

Lionel got the biggest crowd, which is unsurprising as he was brilliant and played all of his best hits. The Who put on a great show and although there was no guitar smashing, they did pull down the drum screen and knock over a couple of mics. However, from the moment he first got announced, to The Who making a dig at him during their set, Kanye West has to be the most talked about act at Glasto. There seems to be a divide between all that saw him. Some absolutely loved it, some absolutely hated it! From watching it again on BBC iPlayer, it looked better on telly than it did live. In my opinion, it was unrehearsed and I don't think Kanye was used to doing that sort of performance. I found that the long gaps between songs and the fact he kept stopping during the songs unprofessional and ruined the atmosphere. Not that there was much atmosphere as every time he got going and started to get the audience involved, the song would change or he would stop the performance. I'm not a giant fan, but I do know the big hits. I gave Kanye the benefit of the doubt and stayed for the whole set, many people left after 4 or 5 songs. The lighting was awesome, even if he did hit his head. Lee Nelson running on for less than a second to imitate the Taylor Swift incident  wasn't funny, and 'Touch The Sky' on a cherry picker was actually pretty awesome. There was a lot of booing and when he tried to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and claimed to be the 'Biggest Rock Star on the Planet' while rapping 'Gold Digger', well I wasn't really sure what to make of that. I think I mostly found it funny, typical Kanye and all that. The fact is, he probably is one of the biggest stars on the planet at the moment. However I think 'Rock Star' is the wrong claim as that title was taken by the likes of Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury and now maybe Dave Grohl. But as you can see, he got me, all of Glastonbury and all that watched it at home talking. But was it talking for the right reasons?

My favourite act was Lianne La Havas, she was amazing, her voice was incredible as always and her set was perfect. Couldn't fault it. I also met the wonderful Gregory Porter after watching his set at West Holts on the Saturday. I embarrassed myself by being super uncool as usual, and then he made me feel worse by being super cool about it and signing my vinyl record of his latest album, Liquid Spirit and getting a picture with me. So that made my day/ year really.

This year I managed to have another explore, so found a lot more stuff and little stages than I did last year. I also was told to go and see Arcadia Metamorphosis, which was incredible! I also managed to get in to Shangri-la and all those areas, this time at night, so I got to see the full effect, which was amazing and felt like you were is a completely different world almost.

I think this year was better than last year for me, although nothing can beat seeing Dolly Parton live really, I got to see more acts that I really wanted to see and some I had seen before, so I got to appreciate them more. I saw a lot more this year as well and got to explore all the different areas properly. The weather was better as well which helped. 

Glastonbury 2015, you were awesome!

Let me know about your Glastonbury festival experience or what you thought about Kanye's performance in the comments or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Festival Friday! Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, 2015

With Glastonbury already in full swing, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start Festival Friday.

Glastonbury festival is awesome! The line up, the atmosphere, the location, everything! Glastonbury can always be relied upon for a brilliant line up across all of the main stages. The site is huge, which can also be crowded, meaning if you are in a rush to get to a stage it can be difficult. The site is so big, it's been split into different areas. Each of theses areas are so unique and different from each other. From Block 9, to Arcadia, to Green Fields, each has a lot to offer throughout the day and night. To get the best experience I recommend exploring as many areas as you can, although the main acts are usually at the Pyramid Stage, most of the magic happens in the outskirts. As I said each area is so different, they all have a different, positive atmosphere, except when they are overcrowded perhaps. But I think navigating your way through the crowds is all part of the fun really. I worked at Glastonbury last year which meant I felt I didn't have enough time to explore and get to see everyone I wanted to. However, as a normal festival goer you have plenty of time to see the acts you like as well as explore. 

Here's a little history and information about the festival. Glastonbury Festival (formally known as Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts) was founded in 1970 by Michael Eavis. Starting the day after Jimi Hendrix died, 1500 people attended, it cost £1, including the free milk from the farm. It's amazing to see how much Glastonbury festival has grown since then. After going through a couple of name changes, growing to the size of a city, expanding to all types of art forms and music genres, and having crowds of up to around 150,000 people. However throughout the 33 times the festival has been held over the 45 years since, they have always wanted to make a difference. This difference has made millions of pounds in donations to charities such as Greenpeace, WaterAid and Oxfam.

Now for this year, Wednesday 24th - Sunday 28th June 2015

Headliners: Florence + the Machine (Replacing Foo Fighters), Kanye West, The Who

Other Artist Include: Lionel Richie, Paul Weller, Patti Smith, Paloma Faith, Rudimental, The Chemical Brothers, Hot Chip , Super Furry Animals, Jon Hopkins, The Moody Blues, Billy Bragg, Buzzcocks, Grand Master flash

Links

Glastonbury Website

BBC Coverage

What to Pack

If you want to come find me I will be working at The Hurly Burly in the Circus Area!