Still recovering from a few days at Kendal calling.
For those of you that don’t know (and you really should) its a brilliant outdoor festival that takes place in Lowther Deer Park, near Penrith in the Lake District.
Started in 2006 by two young local lads, Ben and Andy, it quickly outgrew its original site and moved to Lowther Park, which is a beautiful setting.
If, like me, you are not really that fond of all that outdoor lark then this is probably the one to at least give a go. Its a great site, its not too big (around 12,000 this year), a friendly crowd, great music, real ale, hardly any queues, and lots of interesting things going on. Its an independent festival that’s delivered with a lot of love and care and it really shows.
Some of my memories are a bit fuzzy but here’s a few personal highlights.
Young (they’re about 15/16) Liverpool band The Ladykillers opening the festival on The Calling Out stage on Friday afternoon and got a great reception. I kept bumping into the lads throughout the weekend and they were having the time of their lives at their first festival. On the Saturday Sound of Guns, now with their debut album under their belt, gave it their all and won over a sizeable crowd. They are a natural festival band.
On the main stage my favourites were great sets by the Wild Beasts and Doves on the Saturday. On the Sunday Badly Drawn Boy brought his lovely brand of melodic whimsy to the party and seemed genuinely overwhelmed by the reception he received. He even brought on his young daughter Edie to do a couple of songs with him which brought the house down (if you can bring a house down outdoors). Cumbrians British Sea Power were well received and the main stage was closed by a typically brilliant set by The Coral. They don’t say much, they’re not interested in playing the game but their latest album is as good as anything they’ve done and they remain one of the best bands around.
I caught up with loads of people in the Green Room area. Festival Directors Ben and Andy looked remarkably relaxed throughout. Legendary (and often rather reclusive) La’s singer Lee Mavers was out and about and thoroughly enjoying himself. Craig Charles turned up ahead of his closing DJ set, and was joined by the lad who plays Graham in Corrie, who proved to be just as funny as the character he plays in the show.
Lessons i’ve learned: Lakeland ale is great, don’t let yourself be coerced by a child into getting your face painted, you can never have enough pork pies and crisps for emergencies, and above all else Kendal Calling is definitely one of the UK’s best festivals.
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