Sitting in a Field…

This year we went to a new festival (new to us that is as it has been going for 27 years). We drove down to the boarder of Dorset to the Larmer Tree Festival, where Deb, Sue and I set up our campsite in a dry, hot field. Sue had to take it easy as she had just found out she had developed shingles (I had it a few weeks before, and we thought it was not supposed to be contagious).

The site is spread throughout the beautiful establish grounds of and grand house, and it offered a variety of areas to explore – the traditional large open area with the majority of the stalls and performance tents, a secluded main stage area surrounded by trees, a wooded alternative therapy area near the silent disco, a children’s area with activities, and many more.

There were a great variety of acts on including kid’s performers, literary talks, comedy and music of all genres. There were not many acts we knew but half the fun is find new music. We saw the following performances:

Jake Bugg (the bluesy singer songwriter still grateful to be billed as a headliner) 

First Aid Kit (country-folk-pop sisters with great harmonies and big sound) 

Public Service Broadcasting (a multimedia electronic outfit with a reputation for forensic, historic storytelling)

Roo Panes (a mellow singer songwriter)

Elephant Sessions (Scottish indie-folk band with a high-energy set) 

Broken Brass Ensemble (a Netherlands brass band that fuses hip-hop, funk, soul, dance and jazz into a lively performance)

Goat Girl (a young, edgy band from London with potential) 

IDER (London duo poised to break into the mainstream) 

Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker (seen before, this duo combine haunting vocals and expert guitar playing into a sophisticated elegant sound)

Tom Speight (Tom and his female partner on stage make a lovely sound together) 

Laura Goldthorp (a mesmerising singer songwriter receiving some well-deserved plaudits) 

Noah’s House Band (an entertaining novelty act where each song is based on an animal, such as the hydrophobic whale and a duck-billed platypus with an identity crisis) 

Guns of Navarone (a foot stomping 10-piece Ska band) 

The Olde Boston Tea Party (an old-school bluegrass/Americana band with heart and humour) 

Owl in the Sun (a lively Americana/gypsy-jazz outfit) 

Professor Elemental (a novelty ‘Steampunk’ hip-hop act) 

Selby and the Dharma Blitz (an alternative hip hop funk project that provide an infectious groove to their performance) 

Thunderbridge Bluegrass Band (a traditional bluegrass outfit of accomplished performers) 

Jones (Cherie Jones is a British alternative pop singer with a great stage presence) 

Overall, apart from Sue struggling with her illness, it was a very good festival, great hot and dry weather, tasty food and drink, and fabulous new music.