Festival aura hard to beat
FROM early evening last Thursday to some un-Godly hour on Sunday morning thousands of revellers enjoyed arguably the best sited music festival in the UK, overlooking Holy Island.
The Lindisfarne Music Festival was back for its fourth year and around 4,000 turned up to the event in beautiful Northumberland.
They included headliners The Levellers and the Happy Mondays, and groups of every genre you can think of – Rock, Blues, R&B, Folk, Hip-Hop, Dub, and Ska – and some from a genre you can’t quite categorise.
While their fans – and there are many – might disagree, I suggest Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5 fall into the latter category. Or maybe they won’t disagree and instead just like to rejoice in the band’s otherness. If you like the colour yellow, inflatable fruit and interacting with the band they’re the group for you. The audience went crazy – in a good way – so while not exactly my thing, I’m not complaining.
Among the many pluses the festival had was the friendly atmosphere which was maintained throughout helped by the genial nature of staff. Booze and crowds can sometimes be a toxic mix but not here. I particularly liked the set up of the site with its grand circle of stalls selling drink, food, clothes and arts and craft stuff.
If it took your fancy you could do a bit of yoga, have a Turkish bath or, like I did with my partner, just meander around, drink in hand, taking it all in with the occasional wistful glance over to Lindisfarne. What would St Cuthbert have thought, I wondered. Maybe he’d have had a tankard of Lindisfarne mead and partied down to Holy Moly and the Crackers.
It was the first time I’d been to the festival, arriving at around 6pm on the Friday which meant ending up in a distant car parking spot.
As cars aren’t allowed onto the camping site – unless they had a disabled sticker – this meant having to yomp all our camping gear to our pitch.
It resulted in a one mile walk and much grunting and groaning. Next time we’ll get there earlier and pack a little less to leave space for a trolley.
If privacy is your thing then staying at a nearby B&B might be the best plan if you plan to go next year. The tents were pitched so close where we were they were nearly double decked.
However, festivals are meant to be convivial events and a good place to chat and get to know strangers. You can also pick up tips about good bands to watch and get an alternative view on things.
Apparently the Happy Mondays proved a lot more controversial than I believed. I thought they were pretty good, however our camping neighbours and others thought otherwise. The band started about half an hour late and Shaun Ryder was grumpy which seemed to twist their melons man. They walked out after two songs and instead went listen to Bessie and the Zinc Buckets, who they raved about. The blessing of having a wide variety of bands on offer – around 200.
The festival is the brainchild of Conleth Maenpaa who had a kind of ‘Field of Dreams’ moment when seeing the Beal Farm site of the ‘build a marquee and they will come’ variety. For setting and atmosphere it takes some beating and hopefully it will be here for years to come.