This Festival is over three days and it took place in the heart of Bingley West Yorkshire in Myrtle Park on the 4th, 5th and 6th September a week later than last year’s event! With record ticket sales and the nice weather it was a recipe for a great successful event. It’s been running now since 2009 and has grown into one of the best festivals in the country, featuring a wide range of different music genres to meet everyone’s taste. There has been some top artists enjoyed playing this festival such as Chic, Maximo Park, Razor Light, and The Charlatans. It also gives a very good platform for new artists/bands to ply their talents and to show them off. I was very impressed with the standard of the up and coming artists on The Discovery Stage who are the future of live music so we all need to support these guys or live music will slowly die out!

The festival is very family friendly and the organisers take a lot of pride on creating that kind of atmosphere and put a lot of hard work and effort to make this happen which is quite apparent. There are plenty of activities for all the children to join in with and all I saw all weekend was happy smiling faces so I think it was a job well done!

On Friday the weather was nice and the gates opened at 3 PM and the crowds started flowing in to enjoy the day’s music and activities which kicked off with Apollo Junction on the main stage and opening proceedings on The Discovery Stage was The Turning. As the music played and the day went on the crowd grew and the grass disappeared! The line up For The Discovery Stage was as follows Model Aeroplanes, Weirds, Fickle Friends and headlining was Rae Morris who is a singer songwriter based in Blackpool and if you want to catch her she is playing Bestival on 11th September and a host of other dates to follow around the country! I do recommend you go to see her she was fantastic!

Next on The Main Stage were Holy Esque, Gallery Circus, The Beat, Cast and James Headlined! 

Apollo Junction are from Leeds/London and formed in 2012. They are an Indie pop band that has a melodic sound! Gallery Circus consists of two Identical twin brothers based in Newcastle in the U.K. but originate from the States. They had a feel of Royal Blood about them but with a much better vocal range! 

Next to hit the stage was The Beat from Birmingham who had numerous hits in the charts in the early 80’s with the likes of “Mirror in the Bathroom”, “Too Nice to Talk To” and “Hands Off... She’s Mine” They got the crowd dancing, Jumping and swaying their arms in unison and even threw in a cover of Rock the Casbah by The Clash, they went down very well with the audience. Now for the Liverpudlian’s Cast, they hammered out some of their back catalogue of hits to a wanting crowd who by now were on each other’s shoulders, this band has 3 top ten albums and 10 top twenty singles... Good pedigree if you ask me great choice, to set up the finale which would be in the shape of James.

James does not need much introducing, a lot of people who I spoke to over the course of the day were here to see James and they did not disappoint as they were on top form. James had the crowd totally gripped from the start as they joined in with the singing, dancing and clapped all of the way through the entire set. Mr. James (Tim Booth) claimed he is the only person insured for stage diving as the crowd always handle him gently but after they see this audience he might not be able to be get insured any more, I love his humour. He then proceeded to do some crowd surfing, he loves connecting with his audience! His last song “Sometimes” was about a boy who wanted to be struck by lightning, Just a couple of weeks ago he done this song in one of the worst thunder and lightning storms I have ever witnessed and the setting could not of been more perfect. A great ending to the day how on earth are they going to follow that, can’t wait to find out!

Day 2 at Myrtle Park and the sun was shining once again it’s an earlier start to proceedings today as the first bands hit the stage at midday! We had the likes of April, Randolph’s Leap, Meadowlark and Deaf School on The Discovery Stage. On the Main Stage the running order was Nervous ‘Orse, Will Joseph Cook, Room 94, Natasha North, Hurricane #1, Funeral For A Friend, Carl Barat & The Jackals, Ella Eyre, Ash with Labrinth headlining.

The crowds gathered early even though the big main acts were not on until much later, but there were lots of new talent to behold on both stages! The find of the day was finally catching up with Deaf School which was recommended to me by a friend and they are not exactly new! It did seem to me to be so weird having this band on The Discovery Stage when they have been around for so long, they even made me look young! They were definitely the wild card and were not like any other band at the festival all I can say catch them if you get the chance and you will see what I mean. They were the talk of the festival the next day so entertaining!

Radio one’s very own Scott Mills and Chris Stark Kept the crowd very entertained with their DJ set’s in-between band change over’s!

Following on fresh from headlining Leeds/Reading festival a week earlier with The Libertines, there had been a lot of talk that Carl Barat & The Jackals might pull out of the festival due to his Libertine commitments but thank goodness he did not, he was one of many highlights.

Up next was Ella Eyre who took full control of the stage using every inch and dominated from the onset, wearing an all in one Lycra catsuit. I have never seen such an energetic rhythmic aerobic display which the crowd absolutely loved. Her debut album Feline is flying up the charts at the moment, it’s looking very good for the relatively new artist!

Ash is a northern Irish alternative rock band was formed in 1992 and is just about to tour America, Canada and Europe promoting their newest album Kablammo! They rocked Bingley and even done a cover of The Undertones Teenage Kicks that went down a storm!

The headline act Timothy McKenzie better known as Labrinth is a singer songwriter from London. He is a multi-talented musician and producer! He was a favourite for many of the younger audience and a great way to end another special day!

The final day.... Sunday and it was the hottest of them all, sunscreen was a must. The Discovery Stage was very popular even more so today! I managed to grab the last few songs from Francis’s set and they were great the drummer managed to misplace his drum kit and improvised by drumming on everything he could find on the stage!

The Jacques, have just suddenly been discovered and are playing some top festivals. I was chatting with the guitarist who was sporting some gold spandex trousers and he said he was staying with family in Sheffield over the weekend. They are a Brit/Pop Grunge Rock band from Bristol who is influenced by the likes of The Libertines! I watched their whole set and tip them to be massive! I managed to get a CD from them too, happy days.

Two more bands I must mention are The Carnaby’s from London who I managed to catch last year while they were supporting Blondie in Sheffield. Also The Sherlocks from Bolton who I know quite well, they both rocked the stage and absolutely nailed their set’s, both having a very fast growing fan base too, I guarantee you will enjoy these boys so catch them if you can they are gonna be big!

On The Main Stage was a band called Vant, I was very surprised to hear as I was walking towards them that Mike their tour manager filled for Billy on guitar as he had broken his hand! They were amazing. I have never seen a guitar thrown so high in the air too, these guys rock.

Nothing But Thieves graced the Main Stage next, another band tipped for having a big future. I would describe them as Led Zep meets Muse, they even done a cover of Dazed and Confused which is not the easiest. Their debut album to be released next month!!!

This must have been my main highlight of the day seeing Peter Hook and the Light perform hits from the bands he founded, Joy Division and New Order! One of the coolest sets of the festival in the blazing heat, he enjoyed it so much they nearly had to drag him of the stage!

Leeds band Embrace gave a great set which was very much appreciated by the crowd, good to see these guys back! Idlewild are a Scottish band and I would describe them as indie rock with a melodic sound, which could have been influenced by the likes of R.E.M. and Blur. They reformed in 2013 and have release an album called “Everything Ever Written” at the beginning of this year!

Super Furry Animals headlined and I did not quite know what to expect from the band. Their lighting was quite dark and made it almost impossible for the photographer’s to focus but they did give us the full set to try to capture some decent shots. They entered the stage wearing white jump suits and held up word boards encouraging the audience to join in with the show. During their last song they transformed themselves into Super Furry Animals donning some extravagant costumes! They were furry good!

The Festival was extremely successful once again with record crowds which all seemed to have a tremendous weekend. The organisation of the festival was top quality. I did not see any hiccups at all so kudos to all the staff involved! Here’s looking forward to next year’s event, I wonder who’s going to be on the line up?!?!... Early bird tickets are available now so hurry up and get yours!

Review: Gary Urwin Photos: Dave Hudspeth