Off The Tracks, that excellent, intimate, and magical event in the Midlands held the first of its twice yearly bashes over the Bank Holiday weekend - Off The Tracks Spring 2014.

Now in its 26^th year, OTT is a really special thing – perhaps more house party than festival – and offers a completely different take on the conventional festival experience. Our reviewers simply love this one (Read the Festivals For All reviews of last year’s SPRING and SUMMER events) … so how did 2014 Spring fare? Once again our reviewer had a great time …

Last year we went to Summer OTT, which we really enjoyed, but we decided to swap things around and go to the Spring one this year. It was difficult to tell which was busier… it felt like Summer was but with stages in different places it was tricky to judge. The covered main stage moves into the Courtyard for Spring, and that was where we spent most of the daylight, and the barn moves into the main building.

Those are the only main changes we could remember. The real ales and ciders are still great value with a fantastic range of ales starting at just below £3 and I didn’t register paying any more than £3.5 for the stronger ones. The ciders started off being sold in the barn but moved to the real ale area as some of the barrels emptied.

There was also a smaller area in-doors for kids, which was the same as Summer, and I did catch a bit of some DJ set late one night when I nipped to the toilet on my way back from the real ale area. Between the Courtyard and in-door stage there is a permanent bar and food area (this being a caravan and camping park usually, meaning great toilets and £1 showers - which this crusty didn’t visit).

I’m not sure if this is the ale or garlic mayonnaise/American mustard talking, and our respective kids agreed, that the chips from the permanent eating area were the best we’d ever tasted! To the extent that we were spending £20 a time on the £2.5 cones... due to gluttony not small portions!

Before I move on to bands, I’d also like to mention the stewards, who all seem to be there not to get free entry but because they believe in OTT and want it to succeed. They all have permanent smiles and could be seen leading the dancing when on and off duty. Both they and the crowd all seem to buy into making OTT special. Do people still say hello to strangers walking on canal paths or in the country? You feel the same obligation here with everyone so friendly.

We got there late Friday so the first band we saw were Damn Vandals in-doors. They were great but I did feel it my duty to give Big Country the benefit of the doubt. I never really got them when they were originally out and time hasn’t changed this. They sounded like they should and my more musical friends felt they played well but I was happy to wander back to Damn Vandals to pretend I’m young. Highlight of the night though was the Hypnocoustics, an ideal full moon party band. Perfect sound and visuals for the post-midnight slot and really suiting both the in-door decoration and OTT crowd.

Saturday was the wife’s birthday so again we started quite late, preferring Champagne outside the arena first. Another great thing about OTT is that they allow bottled drinks outside the arena in the permanent camping area. I’m not aware of any other festival that allows glass but for this connoisseur, wine and ale both test a lot better out of a bottle.

Although the party was in full swing I nipped off on my own to see Po’ Boys after a late lunch, watched one song then went back to get a mate to share this amazing band with. You can get from bed to stage in about 3 minutes. The lead singer was very charismatic and somehow managed to make an Accordion sound cool as he played it like a metal axe hero. The only sour note for me was when he mashed a Bob Marley cover at the end into one from Phil Collins. I felt my trust had been betrayed when I realised and was still singing along. Another good thing about OTT is that the bands stick around and are happy to chat, allowing me to voice this displeasure later. He denied liking Phil Collins but his friend seemed to suggest this might not be the case!

The free programme described Hallouminati as “high octane, gypsy, punk, ska, Greek, ragga, jazz, mash-up... sweating it out for all to hear”. All I need to add to that is great party band and if they could add a bit of folk and rave would sum up the whole OTT line-up in one go. These were followed by the Moulettes who were less of a party band and more of a watch, listen, absorb and enjoy proposition. Playing various string instruments I’d never seen before and ones I had in ways I’d not heard before. A great example for my daughter, who is learning violin, in how you can approach an instrument in a different way.

We went in search of food and drink, arriving back in time to see Fragile Souls, a band I’d not heard of before. Sorry, we were all dancing too much to remember anything specifically to say.

I had intended to see some of Glow People but once Neville Staple started I couldn’t tear myself away. It felt like you knew every tune but the highlight for me had to be “A message to you Rudy”, an absolute classic that I never dreamt I’d see sang live by an original member. Worth the admission price alone but he was followed by another youth memory relived in the in-doors arena, the fantastic Eat Static. I spent 2 hours head down dancing apart from the odd glance at the mesmerising visuals both projected and on stage. It was a proper “back in the day experience”, even down to the making new friends, as I’d lost mine by this point to bed.

When I read a festival review I’m more interested in what stages there are, the vibe and the facilities. I’m not so interested in one person’s view of the bands, so I’m going to stop wang’ing on about bands. You can’t top Neville leading in to Eat Static for me anyway, and so I’ll just give a quick mention to three highlights from Sunday; The Social Ignition (Ska/Reggae), Seas of Mirth (great party band with loads of humour) and Jesus Jones (who pleasantly surprised me).

With it being Sunday night I had intended on an earlier night but “glanced in” at Cloudbase Club Night, I sat at the back with a newly made friend but the bass in the first song felt like it was pulling my heart out of my body, forcing me to dance. 3 hours later I traipsed back with my tail between my legs. At my age you should know better than to stay out until it finishes on the last night but men are easily led astray by bass!

Article and photos by Bill Dean