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DANNY ROBINS' TRAVEL GUIDE - 1ST JULY
Post categories: Danny Robins
|15:45 UK time, Thursday, 1 July 2010
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 FESTIVALS - SMALL BRITISH FESTIVALS
In the last few weeks of the Indie Travel Guide we've been focused on festivals as we work our way Around The World in 80 Festivals - last weekend we had the biggest UK festival at Glastonbury, this week a look at some of the smallest.
There are officially more festivals in the UK than there are people. Look at some countries - North Korea for instance - and they hardly have any but for some reason we really are a nation of festival-goers. Perhaps it's because they involve all the things we Brits traditionally look for in a weekend break - bad weather, dodgy food, and being trapped in close proximity to people we secretly find quite annoying.
Anyway, what seems to be happening now is that there is saturation with the big festivals, so there are lots of smaller ones popping up that offer a more intimate chilled out experience without the queues and crowds.
Some of the best...
Obviously Latitude was an inspiration for a lot of the new style of festivals that have sprung up so that deserves a mention (15th to 18th July), though that definitely qualifies as one of the big boys now.
At the forefront of the mini-festival revolution is Kendall Calling - it was nominated for best small festival at last year's UK Festival Awards and it's in an absolutely beautiful setting amongst rolling green fields in the Lake District. They've got Doves and The Coral headlining and support from Badly Drawn Boy, British Sea Power and The Futureheads.
The Truck Festival in Oxfordshire (23rd-25th July) also needs a mention. It's been slowly building each year over the last 13 years. It's organised by the guys behind Truck Records and started out as a small thing they just invited their mates to - it now attracts about 5000 people. They've got a good rep for spotting the next big thing when they're still small enough to play there - in 2009 they had The XX, The Joy Formidable and Crystal Fighters.
A lot of people complain about festivals being too expensive - both of those are around the £80 mark for the weekend which makes a big difference from Glasto's £185, Bestival's £150 and Latitude's £155.
It's looking like it's going to be a hot summer, so I've found a festival with a swimming pool...
This is Standon Calling (no relation to Kendall Calling) at Standon Lordship, Hertfordshire (August 6th-8th). This festival has a lot to recommend it - it claims to be the only festival in the UK with a swimming pool; it's set in the grounds of a lovely 16th century manor house which makes an idyllic setting for the bands; a no sponsors policy so it's free of corporate interference and they claim to have so many showers there's never a queue and toilets so clean you could sleep in them(!). They also have a nightclub in a cowshed that is open all night.
One really lovely touch is that the 'Standon Fairies' leave a 'revitalising drink' outside each guest's tent in the morning. You wouldn't get that at a bigger festival.
Like Truck, this started off as a party for friends and has grown from there. The first Standon featured 25 mates, a set of decks and a barbecue - this one features These New Puritans, Liars and The Magic Numbers. Standon's also got a reputation for seeking out the best up and coming bands - more than half of last year's Mercury nominees played Standon on their way up (they can't afford them now!).
Oh, and they even lay on a coach from London.
What makes a small festival a success?
It's hard to say what makes one of these festivals that starts out as somebody and their mates camping in a field catch on, but I guess it depends on the personalities of the organisers - the best festivals are imaginative and thoughtful and keep improving.
Fancy dress seems to feature heavily in a lot of the smaller festivals (something which perhaps grew in popularity out of festivals like Bestival and Secret Garden Party which have now grown into bigger beasts - and there's something to be said for that idea of creating a fantasy world that everybody enters into together and the whole thing of people looking forward to it and planning what they are going to wear.
Setting obviously helps massively - the more beautiful the better. Ultimately though it's about building up regulars who come back year after year and bring more mates each time and there's only one way to do that - make sure it's a great festival with great music and that comes down to the acts you book as much as the vibe you create.
It's fair to say that a lot of people will go to certain festivals for the atmosphere irrespective of who's playing but I still think most people are drawn at least initially by the line up - unfortunately the better the line up, the higher the cost for the orgainsers and that's why festival ticket prices are creeping up across the board.
Urban Festivals
Festivals don't necessarily need to be in a field in the country. If you're scared of cows there's a lot of small inner city festivals springing up.
Victoria Park in Hackney in London, plays host to a couple this month. There's Lovebox, the festival founded by Groove Armada, on the weekend of July 16th-17th with Roxy Music, Dizzee Rascal, Grace Jones and Hot Chip - they're billing the Sunday as a 'polysexual party' (ooh-er)
And on July 31st, there's Field Day - an inner city festival that styles itself as a village fete, with things like coconut shys, sack and egg and spoon races, cake stalls and a real ale tent and music from Mouse on Mars, Archie Bronson Outfit, The Fall and Phoenix.
Up in the North East at The Sage in Gateshead there's a 4 day festival of alt.country, blues, Southern soul and gospel called the SummerTyne (see what they did there?) Americana Festival with a bit of a famous children vibe going on - Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne Case and Bob Dylan's son Jakob Dylan are both playing, plus The Handsome Family. There's a whole evening devoted to murder ballads too.
A festival for the little people...
LolliBop in Stoke Newington in North London (July 17th-18th) is a festival for the Under 10s - there's music and comedy from comedian Phil Kay, who'll be doing a special child-friendly set. Jarvis Cocker was meant to be Djing but has sadly had to pull out, though don't worry, you can still take your kids to the world's smallest nightclub, Miniscule of Sound, or get them to sing at Babyoke. It must be the only festival where adults pay less to get in than kids.
I'm sure if you're a parent it sounds great. To a childless grinch like me, it sounds like hell on earth.
And one last tip to finish off the summer...
Well, Bestival's sold out so if you fancy continuing the party in September, how about End of the Road at the Larmer Tree Gardens, Salisbury, Wiltshire (10th-12th September). Larmer Tree plays host to two summer festivals - there's also the Larmer Tree Festival (www.larmertreefestival.co.uk 14th-18th July) - it's a lovely place for a festival, in the grounds of a big house out on the Wiltshire/Dorset border.
They've got pianos positioned around the site for impromptu singalongs, trails through trees lit by fairy lights and the main stage is next to a big lake. There's an emphasis on Americana with Wilco, Modest Mouse and Yo La Tengo headlining.
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