poppedmusic

Kendal Calling

July Lowther Deer Park, Lake District 26-28th July

So this is the first full on festival review we’ve done this year and well technically we weren’t supposed to be doing one (although we did ask!) and Rosie and I were there for fun not to review but I decided to anyway and hope that next year it’ll be official!

OK so before I even talk about the bands I want to talk about some of the technicalities of a festival; not the putting up the stage stuff but the stuff that really matters to the customers – that includes me. Firstly everything I say in this bit was discussed by both Rosie and I and we both agree:

1.The people! It was said to be a family friendly festival and the vibe was spot on. Almost every single person was polite, from people working, to people queuing for the loo,  people giving out free cider and indeed ice cream and 98% of the ticket buying public we encountered.

2.Toilets – these are always an issue at festivals, no one can really say they’d like to use them but these were pretty good, at least in terms of the number of them. The longest I waited was around 5 minutes. They could have done with someone refilling the toilet paper and hand sanitizer though, I suppose most people are used to taking their own stuff?

3. Food and Bars – OK so actually I just drank coffee and water the entire time, but I could see the queues for the bars were never overly long – ALWAYS  a good sign. I take it that it was because they were quick and not that people weren’t drinking! Food was always easy to find with a reasonable selection and some places even had a spot for you to sit down at a table and chairs- how very civilised! There was even a Nandos!

4. Cleanliness – You’re outside it’s hardly going to be clean and tidy but KC’s policy on collecting empties was fantastic and certainly kept the kids busy whilst parents enjoyed the bands. I saw kids running around everywhere desperate to pick up litter so they could cash it in! This kept most places tidy and litter free most of the time. There were lots of bins and recycling bins dotted around – some people need to learn to use them though!

5. Size – It matters! When it comes to enjoying a festival size is key for me, if you get greedy and overfill your festival with people it becomes uncomfortable and a bit of a mission to do anything and then can become stressful. This has happened to many of the festivals I used to go to (note I say used to, as my experience of all of the above points become worse then they up the capacity). Here there was just the right amount of space, I even heard that camping wasn’t too bad either – though KC peeps if you’re reading please don’t make us Pass Out people feel bad about not camping! It’s not nice to feel you’re an inconvenience by needing a piece of paper for your car. Can we just not all have a sticker next time?

MUSIC!

FRIDAY

I will admit that I did take it pretty easy and staying off site meant we got there later than expected each day – especially the Friday as we didn’t get there until 5pm and had missed so many good bands it was untrue – but we did what we could and every moment of it was a blast.

After spending a while checking out the site (and watching a bit of Foy Vance!) we eventually headed off to watch Public Enemy who for a lot of people were a complete unexpected addition when they were announced. They’re totally not shy of self promotion and did it in a fashion that was both OTT (of course) and funny – not only that but they actually got down the front with bags of swag after the set and started selling merch and signing it! Brilliant. Their set contained a lot of swearing, as you’d expect, but I did find it funny and sweet when an apology was made to the kids and then just saying “f” instead of fuck. Twenty minutes later this was all forgotten and it was back to full on profanities. A great set mingled with lots of political messages (some not necessarily relevant to a UK crowd but hey ho).

I also popped along to The Lightning Seed’s acoustic set was so packed out for the Calling Out tent that there was half as many people outside as there were inside – and they were all singing along like crazy too – it was pretty cool to be a part of, though I wish I would have got there early enough to have been inside!

Basement Jaxx certainly knew how to keep the crowd up and jumping following Public Enemy. With a set that contained most of their popular hits and a lighting show that would have made the rest of the headliners envious the first night of Kendal Calling ended in style making sure everyone wanted to come back for more.

SATURDAY

The starting place and general meeting point over the weekend tended to be at the brilliant wooden hut that was Tim Peak’s Cafe and it was here that I found myself thoroughly entertained by Tony Husband, cartoonist, giving a master class on how he works. Following that he was kind enough to stay to draw out requests from the crowd, things from two people brewing beer, the royal baby and it’s parents to a dinosaur.  This was one of the funniest moments of the weekend and I’m really thankful to have had that opportunity to have witnessed this. After that I pootled off and caught a bit of the rearranged Dan Croll set which was great, followed by a Haunted House Party set from Hatcham Social who didn’t go the traditional festival set route and treated us to songs from their new album which is out in October. It seemed to go down pretty well and the band sounded on top form, actually maybe one of the best I’ve heard them and the new stuff is sounding pretty good!

Over at the main stage I caught an amazing set from Ash who, despite the rain, kept everyone jumping and singing along. It had been well over a decade since I last saw them and they know how to work a festival crowd that’s for sure. Brilliant! Next up was I Am Kloot – now I personally would have had him play before Ash but that wasn’t the case. We were brought back down to the ground with a slight bump with very good but not particularly upbeat or loud tracks but the banter was hilarious and I’d never seen him before. I enjoyed it but I was waiting impatiently and in anticipation for the main attraction of the weekend overall (for me)/: The Charlatans. They didn’t disappoint and again knew how to rally the Kendal crowd into huge dance and sing-alongs and one of the longest versions of Sproston Green in ages.

SUNDAY

I practically ran through a very very muddy camp site in my wellies on Sunday morning to make sure I hit up the Chai Wallahs tent to support Sam Bradley who was looking a little nervous playing to a total room full of strangers when I arrived. He seemed relieved to see someone he knew pop up and he played a great set to include covers as well as his own material. I found it funny that his song “about nothing” was the one that went down best and had audience anticipation with lots of clapping. I think he did himself proud and pretty sure he will have picked up some new fans on that one.

Through the twitter grapevine I then heard that Tim Burgess was going to do a secret set over in his Tim Peaks cafe (well I guess it was only right!) so I hot footed it over there to see what the deal was. Once I got there I was handed some free Yorkshire tea flavoured ice cream (YUM!) and waiting for the crowd to move out from the previous guest. Then it was time to grab a space – and a goodun at that. Disappointing though to find I had to sit through an acoustic performance of Twisted Wheel first.

Tim wasn’t alone for his set, nope he had his full backing band which includes 3 of Hatcham  Social and The Charlatans guitarist Mark Collins. They were all in high spirits and seemed to revel in playing this set to a now totally packed out hut. It was so packed out that people were watching from the outside windows behind the guys – much to the amusement and pleasure of Tim and Mark who turned round to chat and wave and play in the round.

Sunday ended up being the day I saw more bands than any other day – maybe because I realised I’d been so busy having fun and chilling out that I’d not seen anywhere near as many as I’d wanted to! I managed to catch snippets of Hudson Taylor, Public Broadcasting Service, The Wave Machines and a full on set in a completely packed out tent from The 1975.  Now these guys were interesting because they don’t even have an album out yet the tent waited the full set to hear the band’s only two singles Sex and Chocolate. I’m really looking forward to seeing how their sets go down once the album is released and they head off onto their reasonably large venues – will they still keep the same amount of atmosphere and will they have made a good enough album to keep their current fans happy. It’s exciting to think about.

Other sets I caught include Johhny Marr (though not for long admittedly) enough to hear a Smiths song to keep me happy! Also the Mystery Jets thoroughly entertained, though I felt they could have pulled a few more of their well known tracks out of the bag sooner rather than making every one wait. I now vow to see them play more often thought as they were great.

Ok lets get this thing wrapped up then just like Primal Scream did – with a set that was bordering on boring at first, we were on our way to the Calling Out tent when they stepped it up so we threw ourselves back into the crowd and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the set with all the classics (which is really what a festival crowd want!). It all went off and in the end I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end a great festival. Can not wait for next year!

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