Willowman sits just of the main A19 trunk road in North Yorkshire, not far north of Thirsk, the venue is will signposted, well drained and well organised with camping area’s well defined, a well laid out arena which had some super traders and food stall and is kept spotlessly clean, but what about the music, is that any good? There is always an eclectic mix at Willowman with both local North East and Yorkshire acts and major recording artists as well, with 2016 being no different.

The Thursday night has in the past seen various DJ Sets, but this year a David Bowie tribute act played the second stage in the Wibbly Wobbly Tent, as this is where the real ale is served from the super bar. Ultimate Bowie as the act were named, went through the entire Aladdin Sane album, in order, and were joined on stage by non other than Mr Willowman himself, Steve Williams. While I am not a fan myself of tribute acts, they were rather good and pulled off the Bowie sound very well, almost as good as the real thing.

The Friday saw on the Main Stage, Stereo MC’s and The Beat, while the Wibbly Wobbly Stage was opened by the lovely Charlotte Yani and her band Fickle Lilly, sorry guys she is betrothed to Kev Charlton of Bessie and The Zinc Buckets. Also on the same stage later in the weekend were John Robb and his band The Membranes with John sweating and bouncing over every energised inch of the stage.

Other notable acts were Mad Dog Mcrea with their Celtic inspired punk style rock, 70’s Cop Show who played instrumental funk and from Bonnie Scotland Esparenza with an undoubtable Ska feel to their music which went down well with this gathered in the tent.

Main stage acts included Kingsley Chapman and The Murder, Kingsley dressed in an all over sliver suit played their described as Cabaret Death tracks Fevers and Into The Dark with heavy deep guitar riffs and haunting violin sounds, worth listening to, but if you are feeling down! Hartlepool legends The Jar Family, all twanging guitars, harmonica and driving bass also produced a welcome festival sound to keep the punters happy.

The headline acts also didn’t disappoint, The Beat with Ranking Roger as front man know how to play to a festival crowd, and despite the drizzling rain soon had the ensemble dancing to the hypnotic Ska/Regge beat, with in particular Mirror in the Bathroom going down a storm.

The other headline act The Undertones were outstanding, with a huge back catalogue of songs and hits its difficult to choose any highlights as they were that good, but mention must be made of Jimmy Jimmy and Here Comes The Summer, and of course Teenage Kicks. If you like your festival’s, friendly, clean, with a good choice of traders, eclectic music, and what I could almost describe as bespoke, then Willowman is calling you.

Willowman 2017 is on from the 15th to the 18th of June.

Reviewand photos: Dave Hudspeth