poppedmusic

Saturday 2^nd July 2011

If you have a passion for food, music and all things cool and twee then this would have been the perfect festival for you. We went along to the 2^nd day of the three day festival which was put together by TV chef Jamie Oliver in order to raise money for charity. The idea was to enable people to purchase tasters from a menu created by invited restaurants who each had their own pop up tent. Trust us when we tell you this was hugely popular with some of the queues going on for ages and taking half an hour to get to the front (Canteen, Fifteen and Gourmet Burger we mean you!). We did indeed queue for ages and tried the most amazing fish and chips from Canteen and a delicious burger from Gourmet Burger Kitchen, we even grabbed pudding!

In front of the pop up restaurants was a really long table adorned with bird cages, pearl beads and a mish mash of vintage style chairs all around. It was a great idea, somewhere to sit and eat in great banquet style. That wasn’t it though, oh no there was much more food style fun on offer. A huge tent, which we couldn’t ever get in due to it’s popularity where Jamie Oliver and a selection of guests chefs gave demonstrations. There was also a huge BBQ tent which wasn’t as busy as I thought it might have been and a really twee tent that was the WI tent. Yes you heard correctly the WI is making a come back! With the likes of the Shoreditch Sisters and The Borough Belles taking over the WI tent it was pretty full the entire day with people chilling out taking part in arts and craft activities whist others queued forever to be involved with Lilly Allen’s vintage clothing and beauty concept Lucy In Disguise. What an interesting and very alternative tent to have at a festival, it really made the festival have a real family orientated feel, especially as around the corner was Little Dudes den, a place I didn’t even go to see as I didn’t have any kids with me, else I’m sure I would have popped in, for their sakes of course.

It wasn’t all about food and frolics though, oh no, we were there mainly to check out the music side of the event. There was a bandstand near the food tents which had a DJ and a few more diverse small and local acts. Whilst on the main stage we heard (whilst in the burger queue) Kurran and The Wolfnotes, and we then ran down to catch the amazing, but far to short and sweet set by The Mystery Jets. They seemed to fit the bill perfectly somehow; a great infusion of 80s pop and indie loveliness. They played a great set that included singles Two Doors Down, Young Love and Half In Love With Elizabeth as well as the more recent single Seratonin. They also played my favorite track, Flakes, which had me grinning like a loon. A perfect set to get everyone in the mood for the headlining act.

It is somewhat unusual for a headlining act to come on stage at 8.30 pm and plan an hours set but this was exactly the order of the day and it seemed like some members of the cowed might not have made it through to the end had it have been much later, having obviously already had plenty of alcoholic intake. I have to say that whilst we love a good Charlatans gig and have been to many this did seem like a somewhat odd choice if only going on the overall twee/vintage vibe of the festival over all. It didn’t matter though the crowed thoroughly enjoyed the set which included fan favorites such as The Only One I Know, Weirdo and North Country Boy. They also played a few more recent tracks including The Missbegotten, Oh Vanity and Love Is Ending.. The crowd loved the set so much that they went a little nuts at the end when it became obvious they were not going to return to the stage. It would have been nice to have had a little longer to watch them play a little longer but we sure enjoyed the mini aftershow provided by a group of lads who took up a swift game of cricket down by the stage! A perfect way to round(ers) (sorry!) off a great day.

Mystery Jets - Pic by Katie McGuinness