Tunes with a view to die for
MIKE KELLY COUNTS DOWN TO A FESTIVAL WITH A STUNNING OUTLOOK
IT’S just over a week to go until the Lindisfarne Festival which boasts The Levellers and Happy Mondays as top of a bill that includes an impressive 150 acts.
With more than 80% of the 4,500 tickets already sold, organisers are very hopeful that with a glorious summer hitting its twilight period, music fans not already going might want to see it out in style by snapping up the rest of them.
It’s an exciting time for festival founder Conleth Maenpaa and vindication of his original idea to establish at its beautiful site overlooking Holy Island in Northumberland.
However, to be frank, when I speak to him on the phone, he sounds less excited and more, to put no finer point on it, knackered.
His response begins with a voluble sigh that comes out like a strong gust of wind.
“Right now I would say it’s absolutely manic,” he said.
“It is the most difficult time, not just dealing with the festival’s 150 bands, making sure they know their start times and where they should be and when, the building of a small town in the space of a few days, making sure you do this correctly, within the road system and the public not being inconvenienced; it’s just non-stop,” he said.
Conleth grew up in Cambridgeshire and in 1993 came to the North East to study economics at Northumbria University.
He said he loved his time living in Newcastle and really enjoyed the music scene. It stayed with him even when he ended up in London where he launched a recruitment company. His partner, Catherine, is also from the North East and his ties to the region helped him spot a gap in the market. A seasoned festival goer, he noticed that while there were many one-day events in the region, there was a lack of two-day camping festivals.
The thrill of a new challenge and the couple’s mutual love of the North East drew them back to put his idea in practice.
Northumberland was their preferred choice and Beal Farm, with its beautiful view of Holy Island, ticked all the right boxes.
In September 2015, the Lindisfarne Festival was born when a crowd of 2,000 revellers attended which saw it receive three UK Festival Award nominations – making the shortlist for UK’s Best New Festival.
It returned to Beal Farm in 2016 with a slightly bigger capacity – 2,500 – and an even bigger line-up and an extra night of awesomeness.
The three-night/two-day festival saw performances from more than 70 acts including headliners Reef and British Sea Power as well as a crowd of homegrown talent such as Little Comets, Molotov Jukebox, Cuban Brothers, Fatherson, James Taylor Quartet, Kathryn Tickell & The Baghdaddies.
Last year, the crowd was bigger still at more than 3,500 and the number of acts went over the 100 mark.
As well as The Fratellis, there was The View Fun’ Lovin Criminals’ Huey Morgan and Norman Jay MBE.
To make this year’s event bigger and better, a crowdfunding appeal was launched last October which hit its £70,000 target in a matter of weeks.
As a result, fans can enjoy 150 acts over nine stages and the fact The Levellers are headlining as well as the Happy Mondays is no accident.
After last year’s festival, revellers were asked who they would like to see.
“Foo Fighters featured a lot in the responses but more realistically they asked for The Levellers,” said Conleth.
The folk rock band this year celebrate their 30th anniversary and are a perennial favourite on the festival scene.
It might come as a surprise to some that the festival scene itself is not the preserve of youth. Over 40% of festival goers are aged 35 and over, something the Lindisfarne Festival has tapped into.
“Our age group is mainly 30 to 40,” said Conleth, who is 42.
Not everyone is a fan of music festivals, not least people living near Beal Farm who not surprisingly had concerns about having their peace disturbed over the course of the event.
Conleth recalled: “It was tough initially. The feedback was that the locals didn’t want it.
“But we’ve done exactly what we’ve said we’d do, we haven’t caused any issues and we’ve brought that bit of business here. I think it’s positive what we bring.”
He added that of late “we haven’t had any feedback at all really – its a case of no news is good news. But we have an open line of communication to them. We’re not here to inconvenience them.”
And, for the time being at least, Conleth hopes they are here to stay. He and his independent company which runs it have no big corporate backer which means that even though it is just one event, it is a full-time job.
“We have about a three-month break at the end of the festival and then we start all over again,” he said.
Conleth said there’s still room to grow which is not just good news for music fans but local bands as well – over half of the groups that perform there are from the North East and Scotland.
As the festival approaches, it’s almost a 24/7 job with little or no time for himself and his family. He lets out another sigh at the thought. So why do it? “Good question,” he says and his mind goes back to last year’s festival. “It was a really, really good festival. There had been no negative feedback, which is important and a relief, and the Fratellis were on and their set was amazing. Everyone around was enjoying it.”
Lindisfarne Festival, August 30 to September 2. For ticket sales go to lindisfarnefestival.com/2018-tickets