Feature article: Glastonbudget Festival 2010

This page is our coverage of the Glastonbudget festival. To see the main, official web site click on the logo above.

The weekend (28th - 30th May) saw the 2010 Glastonbudget Festival taking place at Turn post Farm, Back Lane, Wymeswold, Loughborough LE12 6ST.

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As the huge main stage gradually comes down and the marquees are packed into lorries, it seems like only yesterday I was standing in a field in Wymeswold listening to some top class music. Well, yes it was yesterday.

With the bands of Europe's biggest Tribute and Original Acts Festival still ringing in my ears, I wonder if it will continue to grow and perhaps one day even get as big as Download. Maybe, who knows? Glastonbudget may not be the only tribute bands festival in the UK but it is the biggest and the only one to also feature a full line up of original bands and artists. With its huge main stage, original acts big top and a variety of other stages, the sixth GF attracted a gate in excess of 7,000. Fans and bands came from far and wide to rock out at this mammoth party - from all corners of the UK and from across Europe.

More bands than ever before

New features of this years event included the BBC stage, the re-positioning of the new acts Marquee back to where the open air stage was originally and the inclusion of LOROS as the festival charity. For the first time, local original bands played on the main stage and a few tribute acts played on the original bands stage.

Taking to the main stage was a lineup of top tribute bands: Blurb, Oasish, the Fillers, The Four Fighters, Dubpeche Mode, Mercury (as in Freddie). State of Quo, Guns 2 Roses, Green Date, Cold Place, Blings of Leon, Stereotonics and many others. Some of these tribute bands are officially recognised by the bands they are tributing. All of them are top class musicians and they all provide the crowd with a delicious diet of well-known popular rock music, over two and half days.

The main stage production was much improved on previous years, with new lighting features such as the video wall behind the stage. In the New Acts Marquee, where the original bands played, production facilities were of a good standard and the sound systems in all the smaller stages were also well up to scratch. With increasing ticket sales, the organisers are investing in providing the best possible sounds.

Leicester's young bands did well

Though many of the new acts came from all over the UK and Ireland, Leicester's top bands were much in evidence: Ashdowne, The Boobytraps, Skam#, The Pennyhangers, Enraged, Go Primitive, Ictus, Smokestacks, and a good smattering of the best younger bands including The Heroes, Formal Warning, Kicking Habits, The Weekend Schemers, The Stiggz, Neon Sarcastic, The Dobsons ... nearly all the bands that have contributed so much to making Leicester a great music scene, were there. Some very notably exceptions were absent and not all of Leicester's bands sees Glastonbudget as a must-do event but for the young bands, especially, this was the first time some of them had played a festival and for them it was an exciting experience.

The party begins at midnight

After the main stages had closed for the night, a thousand music hungry party-goers crowded into the campsite marquee for a massive sing-song. Friday night has become the traditional slot for Oasis classics and some of the acts on this stage, such as Dan White and his band and Armson, got to play to a thousand strong audience. Not something that happens much in the centre of Leicester. This is a feature of the GF experience: late night drinks and a chance to sing along to some of the best loved songs of recent years. As with most other rock festivals, music does not come to an end when the official programme closes. Many musicians picked up their guitars in the camping area and jammed the night through.

You don't go to a festival to sleep and for some, like me, three nights in a tent is enough for one year. For a quite a few however this is the first festival of the season and they will soon be packing their tents again for Download, Glastonbury and later for Reading and Leeds and may be also the Isle of Wight. From now until the season closes in the autumn, there will be at least one live music festival somewhere in the UK, every weekend.

Bands came from far and wide

A big posse of local bands took to the GF stages and they were joined by bands from many parts of the UK. I managed to get to see Abduction of Margaret from Newcastle Upon Tyne, Sons of Beaches from Kidderminster, Primal Device from Milton Keynes and Swift Flasby from Burton on Trent.

With so many bands playing at the same time on different stages I couldn't be everywhere at once, but here are some the acts I did manage to see.

On the BBC stage on Saturday, Northern Quarter from Loughborough put on a set of their likeable acoustic songs and got an appreciative crowd on the grass. Tribute band Oasish did an acoustic set and we also heard some Reggae and Soul from Leicester singer Nathan Murray with some help from Leicester's Tom Johnson. Ashdowne, also from Leicester, did an acoustic set as did Steve and Matt from Skam#.

On the stage of the Showcase marquee (the main stage for the original bands), The Weekend Schemers put on a crackin' performance of their own songs, one of their best performances yet. In the Campsite Marquee, Silent Resistance gave us an electrifying performance of their wonderful, hard, nu-rock songs. From Loughborough, dubstep rappers Shelly Soljaz put on an amazing set of their top class raps and RnB hits. Indie songsmiths The Pennyhangers were another big draw with a great performance from front man James. Leicester's Room 300 gave us a really nice set of songs, fronted by Daisy Richards. Power rocknroll was in good supply from the excellent Skam#, a veteran of the GF stages, and Steve and Matt did an acoustic set on the BBC stage. Geordie rockers Abduction of Margaret introduced us to their fabulous new sound and a raft of new songs, with their new red bodied dancer, Ryan. Neon Sarcastic brought us a delightful half hour of their pop-punk classics and IggyPop lookalike, IzIggy and the Weird Sinners and definitely was the re-incarnation of the young Iggy Pop. They got a mention in the centrefold coverage of the festival in The Sun newspaper.

Kicking Habits headlined the Original bands stage on Sunday; they filled the Marquee and had a packed throng of supporters down at the Crush Barriers. Great set which brought their songs alight. A great set from the pop-punk heroes Neon Sarcastic was top, on Saturday and they also managed an acoustic set on the BBC stage. From Burton on Trent, Swift Flasby gave us a goodly set of their energised rock songs and The Heroes played the Charnie Arnie stage in great style. An almost headline slot from Formal Warning was another stunning performance from this popular and impressive show band, with a goodly posse of their fans cheering them on. They were followed by the electrifying Leicester band Go Primitive with a thundering set of hard rock power songs, which brought Saturday's main new acts stage to a resounding close.

Sunday morning got off to a good start with a set by the excellent blues rock trio Smokestacks. The Dobsons came on with a set of their crackin' indie songs, followed by Coalville band Identity Parade (now renamed City of Dan) featuring the vocals of Zack Wisehall from Third Time Lucky, who played the Campsite Marquee on Saturday.

Pop punkers Ictus played a vibrant and thoroughly enjoyable set in the Charnwood Arts tent with quality vocals from Aaron, Adam and Chris and they have a new single coming out next month. A good set of booming sounds was delivered with bite and energy by White Fix on Sunday, followed by a superb set from the Aromatics featuring drumming and vocals by Jordan Birtles from M48.

All good bands playing fine music and putting excellent performances. For me personally the best set of the whole festival came from Primal Device, on Sunday. The hard rock band from Milton Keynes are pure magic with razor sharp playing and hair-raising vocals from their lead singers. Their set ticked all the boxes for me and topped the whole event. I heard them and went home happy.

Ok so I missed the Rugged Sound System, which was shame but I working elsewhere on Saturday when they on. But people said it was a fine set. Leicester tributers Blings of Leon went down well with the crowd in front of the main stage, by all accounts.

It was an exhausting but deliriously enjoyable three days of music and I think the record crowd will be back again next year for another weekend of partying and bucket loads of rock.

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