What a brilliant weekend! LeeFest not only ticked all the boxes, but added a few more and ticked them too! LeeFest prides itself on its community spirit, not just the punters but the artists too helped to create the happiest ‘vibe’ I have ever experienced at a festival.

Situated just outside South East London in the rolling hills of Surrey, you could easily be mistaken that LeeFest was a village fete, until you hear the bass from The Temple of Boom. The festival takes place in an arena about the size of an average school field, but they manage to cram in 2 live music stages and 2 dance areas (including a beach) plus other attractions. The layout of the site maximises the space available, with straw bale viewing platforms including hanging washing baskets, shaded areas, inflatable slides, swing ball areas, bars and food vendors and the rest.

The festival attracts people of all ages, and while not a ‘family’ festival it has enough activities to keep the kids happy, I can’t recollect seeing a single tantrum which is no mean achievement bearing in mind that it was the hottest weekend of the year. It appeared that everyone had come with a common view ‘to have a good time’.

The line up welcomed back many artists who had appeared in previous years, together with some of the hottest new acts. Unlike many small festivals which are genre specific, the Leefest line up covered multiple genres ranging from jazz to electro and folk to reggae via all forms of rock, plus plenty of EDM.

There were many musical highlights throughout the weekend including:

King Charles who entered the stage with moccasins as bright as the day; his set was full of great pop rock songs including ‘Mississippi Isabel’ and ‘The Brightest Lights’ which got the whole audience dancing.

The Lava Lounge was crammed to the rafters for the appearance of London Grammar, they overcame a few technical issues to deliver a wonderful set of haunting music and the soulful voice of Hannah Reid.

Saturday’s headliners the Noisettes filled the Main Stage with colour and feather boas, coupled with a great set of pure pop songs. The highlight of the set was a rousing rendition of 'Don't Upset the Rhythm (Go Baby Go)' which had the whole crowd singing and dancing along.

Back in The Lava Lounge Lulu James was a vision in black, she treated the crowd to an hour of soulful blues.

Despite the heat and the inevitable Sunday hangovers the audience were up and dancing early on Sunday afternoon. Local folk band Keston Cobblers Club played a set which was ideally suited to the weather and the tranquil surroundings.

An unexpected delight was the Hackney Colliery Band, a great jazz outfit who had an interesting interpretation on drum and bass classics including Goldie’s ‘Inner City Life’.

Man Like Me are simply a great live band, their on stage presence is to be admired, with a full brass section that brings their songs to life. Front man Johnny Langer spent the first half of the set performing with a Lidl carrier bag, for reasons best known to him, for the rest of the set he was bouncing around in his shorts.

Sunday afternoon in the Lava Lounge was curated by To Kill A King and there were a number of good artists, but the stand out act was Phillious Williams, playing a splendid blues set.

The final performance of the weekend was from Public Service Broadcasting, their audio visual set was simply the icing on the cake, effortlessly merging electro beats with various instruments all perfectly synchronised with their black and white archived film footage. Throughout the set not a human word was spoken.

There were other great performances from Thumpers, Eliza and the Bear, The Skints, Misty Miller, Stealing Sheep, and To Kill A King, who probably came out with the quote of the weekend “Your singing like angels, hot dirty, sweaty angels, but angels all the same”.

Sunday also included the annual paint war, where veterans and virgins throw dry paint at one another as Festival Organiser Lee Denny runs between them, a great spectacle.

In summary LeeFest was one of the most enjoyable festivals I have ever attended, no festival achieves perfection but LeeFest came pretty close. There is certainly a need for more food vendors, plus maybe some merchandise without Lee’s face on. 

Photos: Tracy Morter