Brownstock 2015 summed up everything that is great about small British festivals, great music, great food and punters who just want to have fun, plus fortunately no rain.

Over the years Brownstock has evolved into arguably the best festival in Essex and certainly best value for money. The festival has a delightful mix of major artists and local talent, plus plenty of activities to keep you amused and a good selection of local food. 

New for 2015 was a B-Pampered spa area which allowed VIP customers to sample a variety of treatments, and in true Essex style it was busy all weekend. Then there was the addition of The Bump Roller Disco, additional fairground rides and Football Zorbing to keep the crowds entertained away from the music.

One of the best new initiatives for this year was (for those who choose the comforts of their own bed rather than camping) the Brownstock bus to and from the local town for just £2, eradicating extortionate taxi prices. It was a no brainer and full of inebriated festival goers and made for a hilarious good natured journey home. It felt just like being back on the old school bus! 

Brownstock’s audience appears to be made up of a number of tribes, the Drum and Bass crew, who tend to spend the weekend bouncing to the banging sounds from the Good Shed, the hipsters who spend their day in the Tree House Stage with some of the best indie sounds you will hear in Essex. The guys that are clearly too cool for school will be found in the Stumble Inn listening to some of best house an deep house you could ever wish to hear, while the music snobs can be found in the Slippery Saddle Saloon Bar with a great selection of blues and classic rock, hosted this year by Blues In The City.

Brownstock has a reputation for throwing a great party, so what better headliner to have on Saturday than Basement Jaxx. 

Basement Jaxx are so much more than just a band, they are a force of nature, delivering brilliant tracks, wonderful singing and musicianship, all the colours of the rainbow, gorillas on scooters, a trumpeter in a bird outfit, plus costume changes galore and so much more.

The set kicks off with ‘Good Luck’, main singers Vula Malinga and Sharlene Hector shaking their booties, as if their life depended on it. The set is a ‘best of' and includes ‘Never Say Never’ with Shakka (with two k's) joining them after a previous slot at the festival, ‘Red Alert’, ‘Oh My Gosh’, ‘Romeo’, ‘Do Your Thing’ the set concluded with a triumphantly chaotic rendition of ‘Where’s Your Head At’ with a cast of what seemed like hundreds on stage.

Friday had seen the festival kick off at 6:00 o’clock on the dot Grizzly Bear opened the Main Stage with rock infused covers set including ‘Gangsters Paradise, ‘Hammer Time’ ‘Drop it Like it’s Hot’ to name a few. The audience which was steadily growing played along with the band with grizzly bear paw shapes and roars.

Next up Brownstock stalwarts Crème De Chevre, their uke inspired covers of ‘Get lucky’, ‘The Final Countdown’ and ‘Earthquake’ get the crowd singing and dancing plus a lot of smiling it’s safe to say the party had started.

The Friday night headliner was DJ Fresh aka Daniel Stein, and attracted a huge crowd. Fresh who bagged the UK’s first dubstep No. 1 with ‘Louder’ and further No. 1 with ‘Hot Right Now’ is clearly a figurehead of his music genre. From the outset he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand, his energised set saw a packed out main stage in party mood singing along to all the mixes. ‘Gold Dust’ was also thrown in along with some Co2 canisters and Confetti cannons throwing colour into the air, the set finished all too quickly closing Friday night on the Main Stage.

The night's entertainment continued for the majority in The Good Shed, The Silent Disco and The Stumble Inn hosted by Too Damn Glam allowing punters to party into the night.

Saturday the Main Stage played hosts to a number of unsigned bands, including the wonderfully named (and exceptionally talented) Tony Blair Witch Project, alas the majority of the punters prefer to stay in the camping area and chill, or just have fun on the fun fair rides until early evening.

The Tree House Stage played host to a takeover by local indie band Stealing Signs the area was standing room only. The takeover started with The Legion of Doom Drum Group, performing in front of the stage, there was also an air guitar Darkness completion, plus the offer of a free beer which saw the area packed out.

Up next was the ever popular The Hoosiers who were earlier caught chilling backstage and playing football with some of the other acts. Absolute professionals the band played their hits including ‘Worried About Ray’, ‘Goodbye Mr A’ and ‘Cops and Robbers’.

Sunday, has a slow start as the impact of two days of partying started to take its toll, however this didn’t stop a big crowd appearing for Beardyman take to the Main Stage and although his body was in Essex his mind was on Mars. His set seemed improvised as ever taking in several different directions sometimes all at once. Although his beat boxing is second to none it did feel a little outdated although the crowd were enthralled, he even managed to work in some beat boxing asking instructions to the sound desk!!

Sunday evening saw the first ever metal band grace the Main Stage: The Darkness, this was a huge gamble by the organisers which paid off, as the band attracted a huge crowd. Frontman Justin Hawkins is a born entertainer, conducting the crowd, even when doing a hand stand clapping his legs together to get the crowd to clap along. He also found a Go Pro on stage and put it down his trouser (obviously).

The set kicks off with ‘Black Shuck’ which triggers the first mosh pit of the day. The animated band manage to get a couple of tracks from their new album Last of Our Kind, including the Cult inspired ‘Open Fire’ and ‘Barbarian’ with Dan’s driving guitar riff and Justin’s operatic’s, it has all the makings of another Darkness classic. The final track of the set is (unsurprisingly) ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ the crowd screams along, flares in the crowd and some crowd surfing, Brownstock has never seen anything like it, but maybe there is room for another tribe!

The headline act on the final day was Example who had played at the festival in previous years. This year’s set was accompanied by DJ Wire the set was to be a mash up of Examples hits along with some of his favourite tunes.

The weekend finished in the Slippery Saddle Saloon Bar with most of the Brown Family watching Pie Face, the ultimate party band performing Small Faces & Faces cover's, their final track summed up the whole weekend:

 ‘I was glad to come, I was sad to leave, but while I was here I had me a real good time’

Tickets for the 2016 event are now on sale.

Review by: Linda Game

Photos: Tracy Morter