This small festival on The Browns family Farm in Essex has slowly gained momentum and now boasts major headline acts that you would expect to see at the larger festivals.

This is down to a dedicated team alongside the Brown Family who work tirelessly to provide a diverse line up covering different genres of music and now comedy as well.

New to the festival this year was The Tree House stage built by Anna Brown and run by Noise Kitten which had both bands and DJ sets, looking down over the festival. This turned out to be a lovely spot of an evening to sit on a straw bail and chill and was a popular choice for many over the weekend. The sheer awesomeness of seeing a stage raised 7 feet in the air seemingly placed within the trees was worth gazing at alone and this was definitely clear amongst the crowd. It was also streamed live on BBC Essex Introducing on the Friday night.

Another new feature this year was The Stumble Inn run by Gist and Magma. On Saturday they played some Underground Music including House, Techno, Garage and a bit of disco for good measure. Walking into the Inn was like stepping into another dimension and had a totally different feel to the other music stages. The Stumble Inn much like the Tree house stage seemed to be an incredibly popular area with queues out the door all weekend, Brownstock managed to know exactly what it was those attending their festival wanted and provided it with seemingly no issues or hesitation.

A firm favourite of the festival goers is The Piano Bar perched by the camp site which was full to capacity till 3am on the Friday and Saturday nights. Even our own Dave and Luke gave an impromptu sing along on a piano which is part of the Browns ethos “anyone can join in “.

The pianos placed outside of the piano bar also provided great entertainment for those who wanted to stand and chat outside with many people taking requests from anyone that walked by creating an incredible sing-a-long amongst Brownstock’s festival goers. It’s like an overgrown sitting room with sofas, board games and gives everyone at the festival a chance to be part of it and sign up for an open mic session. It also played host to a full blown Barn dance.

Then there was The Story Box, Dance Workshops alongside The Official Comedy Club. The Park was also back with skateboarding and tightrope walking and this year saw some free runners around the site. Then, Brownstock would not be Brownstock without Tenbomb who returned and upped the anti with artwork, Tiki Parties with Hawaiian skirts and garlands. Should we mention the 6 ‘o’ Clock rising of the cock!!

Friday on the main stage saw Essex night which gave local bands a chance to shine, these included  Shoot The Dead (OK only 25% from Essex), who got the weekend off to a great start with a dance infused rock set full of energy. Crème De Chevre are a Brownstock favourite with their folk interpretations of some of the greatest songs of the 20^th century. A particular favourite of the evening was is Killing In The Name, especially when heard in the hometown of RATM for No 1 founders. The Friday night headliners were Magistrates, whose indie style performance was a great way to close the main stage on the first night.

Saturday is traditionally the day when the Brownstock bookers pull out the big guns, and this year was no exception.  During the afternoon we were treated to one of those ‘I was there’ moments as Angelos Epithimiou, performed a DJ Set of sorts. He is either a brilliant actor or a novice DJ, but whichever is true it was totally brilliant.

Local lads Stealing Signs are also  regulars to Brownstock and got a great response from a crowd which was getting bigger by the minute. Saturday’s main attraction was Labrinth who whipped the crowd into a frenzy wearing his Brownstock Ray Ban sunglasses.

As Labrinth finished Grandmaster Flash gave us a night to remember in The Good Shed big top tent. Run by Doorly and his record label Pigeonhole This! and the Brownstock black sheep Mat Dixon. Grandmaster Flash showing us that his DJing skills are as good as ever. 

Zane Lowe was up next, doing what he does best, getting the whole place bouncing for an hour and Nero pumped up the base to ensure nobody had an early night. Doorly finally closed the Saturday night session bringing the night to a climatic close.

Sunday started with the traditional blurry eyes and heavy head, but it wasn’t long before we were back in the swing, thanks to a quick cider. Although Saturday had the ‘bigger’ acts Sunday had some of the standout performances of the weekend, from The Cuban Brothers, The Milk and The Futureheads.

The Cuban Brothers are a Festival favourite and well oiled machine. You know what you’re going to get, it can be crude, it’s funny, its athletic and sometimes includes some nudity. Their enthusiasm was delivered in buckets, including some Essex accent’s and was totally brilliant as ever. What wasn’t expected was an accident with Miguel pulling a calf muscle and having to finish the set on an office chair which some thought was part of the act! He was later taken to A&E .

For The Milk this was a homecoming, one day before the release of their first album Tales From The Thames Delta. The local soul boys were on top form and clearly enjoying themselves, with front man Rick Nunn trying to include as many local areas as his could during their performance.

The Futureheads closed the Main Stage with a mixture of classic rock and catchy acapella songs which have remained in our heads ever since, they finished with Hounds of Love to rapturous applause.

A special mention goes to Farmer Browns food village where burgers are made from the cattle reared on the farm pure 80% Aberdeen Angus beef. Also a special mention for the full on roast dinners which everyone raved about. Let’s not forget Woodham’s Eatery in the camp site as usual to feed the campers keeping it local.

Brownstock’s clear focus on the quality of food doesn’t end at the food product itself, this year they took last years “Farmers Kitchen” (A small dining area with tables and chairs for people to take a seat to eat their meals). The “Farmers House” created an incredible section of the festival with a dining area, sofa’s, tables, cabinets and even board games. This was a fantastic interactive area which allowed everyone to enjoy their food in a peaceful and homely environment or for people to just relax on a sofa, which really, is what everyone would love to do for just five minutes at a festival!

This is an organic festival, which has carefully grown to its current size over the years, quietly becoming increasingly popular for all of the right reasons. With the addition of so many stages and features this year 2013 looks set to be the year in which Brownstock becomes the festival that receives the attention that it rightly deserves.

There are few festivals that can provide so much in such a small space, with the capacity and creativity behind it to expand to something even more truly spectacular in the years to come. Thanks to the guts, hard work and determination from The Brownstock team, one can only dream of what they have in store for us in future years.

If you want to be part of it watch this space as 2013 tickets will soon be on sale. 

Some of our photos along with photos courtesy of Tracy Morter video by Inline Film Music by Shoot the Dead