CockRock is a lovely local festival and provided a really enjoyable weekend for our FFA reviewers. 

Set in an absolutely gorgeous location deep within the Cumbrian hills, the festival is a real asset to the area and something the local community should strive to retain within their treasure chest. With a strong ethos of nurturing local talent, including stages dedicated to promoting Cumbria’s young stars of tomorrow and all profits going to local charities – CockRock is rightly a source of local pride.

The Cockermouth Rock Festival (to give the festival its official moniker) is held on a large farm in the Lake District with plenty of camping space and decent facilities, with the arena hosting no less than ten stages and performance areas. In the beautiful weather that blessed the weekend, the arena provided loads of sheltered hideaways and splendid bar spaces to while away the lazy summer days. Once again, Northern Value played its part with excellently priced food from the plentiful stalls, and alcohol at £2.50 a can. No complaints there! Add to that some excellent local real ales available in some of the many bars, and excellent locally sourced ice cream at £1.50 a pop, this is certainly a festival you can enjoy on a budget. Plus, of course, a friendly crowd of diverse ages and backgrounds to boot.

With a large main stage, an absolutely kicking bar stage, and numerous smaller acoustic stages hidden within the nooks and crannies, there was always someone to watch. Add to that the great scenes in the dance tents and some top flight reggae in the excellent Jambeater Reggae tent, plus circus stages hosting comedy and much more… it’s no wonder there are over 150 acts of real quality on show over the weekend.

Although a 5,000 capacity event, numbers were down on 2012 as the recession bites many a festival. This reviewer is not too sure if the strident police presence helped or hindered the situation. We looked on in total bemusement as sniffer dogs worked both the arena and the camping fields throughout the weekend. It’s simply not that kind of festival and perhaps an area the organisers may wish to consider for future events.

We had a great time, particularly sat around the campfire listening to some top quality artists performing on the atmospheric Gatherers Stage. Musically, although badged as a ‘Rock Festival’, the festival offers something for everyone, and given the scale of the performance areas – there was always something to satisfy your musical thirst.

Funnily enough we kicked off Friday with some fine classic rock from local band Raw Deal over in the bar (where else?). Raw Deal provided an indication of the excellent talent on offer across all stages and a great marker for the days ahead. The day just flew by with the undoubted highlight for this reviewer being the superb Highly Strung in the bar. (You noticing a pattern developing yet?). They ticked all the CockRock boxes – local lads (yep), Talented (yep), Entertaining (Yep), appearing in the bar (yep). With an infectious blend of first class soul underpinning a strong rock and funk background there is real talent here. As home penned songs begin to challenge the extremely imaginative covers on their set list, this band could be one to watch out for.

Saturday we chilled to the excellent deep bass Manc-Scouse Reggae of Ring The Alarm in Jambeater and flitted between the stages enjoying both the sunshine and the talent before a brilliant main stage set from local favourites Reverend and The Makers. (Sorry Pikey Beatz, we heard you produced yet another excellent set – but The Rev won the stage timing clash this time around).  The band, as always, were superb and had the lively crowd absolutely bouncing during their 45 minute set. Great stuff and over much too soon.

Next up on the main stage was some bloke who told the world in advance he did not want to be there, and then was apparently surprised by a mixed reception from the audience. From what we witnessed, the majority of the young crowd were happy to simply dance and enjoy the beats. 15 minutes later he left. Youthful petulance?...the man is 34 years old for goodness sake and was old enough to be the father of some of the younger kids at the front… to this reviewer there appeared to be a lack of respect for both an audience and his trade. So, quickly moving on….. A BIG UP for the festival organisers who reacted promptly to the Saturday Night Headliner walk-off.  Within a few minutes they managed to get the excellent Colt 45 up on the main stage – and the party began.

In a little special festie moment, which will be remembered long after WheresWiley, Reverend and The Makers agreed to come back on stage. Jon McClure ambled to the front of the stage solo with acoustic guitar and fired up the bubbling crowd with A Message To You Rudy which had the audience singing every word. A magical moment when artist and crowd are at one – sharing the wonder of impromptu performance. One by one the rest of the band came on stream as equipment was hastily sound checked to deliver a great on-the-fly set. Colt 45 and The Rev’s are Real Professional Musicians. ‘Feeling Love Is Paramount’ indeed.

To finish a great night with a flourish, it was back to the bar to catch a marvellous set from Wigan boys Boomin. This was everything a festival Saturday night should be – packed tent with splendid energetic musicians producing a set full of anthemic pop / rock classics. Splendid dance and sing-along stuff. Excellent.

Sunday was rather a blur – but special mention to main-stagers Dreadzone, who once again delivered a set of sublime psy dub reggae. These guys are seasoned professionals and never fail to disappoint. A great atmosphere front of stage. Likewise with Five and and Dangerous over in the bar. Certainly the best Thin Lizzy covers band we’ve ever heard – and all played with their own inimitable style to keep everything nice and fresh. A great Rock show from an excellent band. To wrap everything up - Kids In Glass Houses closed the main-stage with an absolutely pulsating performance of dynamic guitar based alt rock. All in all a great performance to finish a great weekend. Thank you Cockers.

See what you missed HERE.

Article by Barrie Dimond