Kendal Calling Festival 2009

Day 1

I'll start with a confession... I didn't camp in a tent for Kendal Calling. After the winds at Benicassim, and the rather poor weather forecast for Cumbria, we decided that the safest course of action would be go in the campervan. Although a campsite has the traditional festival atmosphere, sometimes it's nice to get a decent night sleep, a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea in the morning, and a clean toilet every day. As Kendal Calling was in the Lowther Deer Park, we were also lucky enough to see the deer wandering around their home that we had invaded for the weekend.

As we arrived at the campsite on the first day we noticed a circling aeroplane towing a banner, which we finally figured out was an advert for "The Streets - Go Low" - Impressive for a festival of this size (6000 capacity). We picked up our wristbands and failed to notice for the first two days that they read "Kendall Calling '09", however this minor spelling mistake only endeared us even more to a festival organised by only six people, an incredible feat.

The site itself is lovely and small, the campsite is literally in the next field to the main arena, so no long hikes back. Unlike large festivals there was plenty of places to sit, with plenty of benches built on-site in creative styles and surroundings adding to the feel of a welcoming, local festival. Everybody, from wristband exchange, to security, to the stewards (Provided by Climate Camp) to the Police were all happy, friendly, and very welcoming. The lack of sponsorship from a huge larger brewery gave the local ales a chance to flourish in The Holy Quail pub, where a selection of Cumbrian ales were on offer, all sampled, and all enjoyed.

The first day was the shortest of the weekend, with the first bands on stage at 5.30pm, but with acts going on in the dance tent until 3am there was a party atmosphere from the beginning. First up on the main stage were Riot Jazz, and their name is certainly apt as their brass band with hip hop and rhythm and blues could be heard echoing around the hills for miles. Middleman followed on the main stage, a recurring theme in summaries of Middleman is "bouncy". Fun tracks designed to get you dancing with strong pop chorus kept us watching for the whole set.

Goldie Lookin Chain are fantastic live and are the perfect band for a festival. Their combination of catchy chorus tunes ("Your Missus is a Nutter") with comic lyrics and cringe-worthy vulgarity in their interactions with the crowd combine to create the perfect parody band. Approaching their tenth year together, GLC continue to show their wit in their new songs and the love the crowd has for hits like "Half Man Half Machine" and "Guns Don't Kill People".

The Streets headlined the main stage, and having advertised themselves from the air had a sizeable audience for their set. Having just seen GLC do "You Knows I Love You", hearing "Dry Your Eyes" did make me chuckle. Mike Skinner has built up a reputation for being a showman live, and when one woman went topless at the front, Skinner followed suit. "Don't Mug Yourself" was the highlight of the set and the closing song "Blinded By The Lights" finished the main stage evening nicely.

Meanwhile, over on the We Are Calling stage, Fight Like Apes were headlining a packed out tent and anyone who chose Fight Like Apes over The Streets were treated to an energetic, crazy dose of fun. Fight Like Apes clearly love music and having a good time and combine the two for a powerful set. MayKay's vocals are witty, funny and bitchy, pulling you in then slapping you in the face.

The Comedy Tent and the Dance Tent carried on late into the night, so far so good!

Day 2

The Saturday at Kendal Calling was a day for exploring. At the entrance to the arena was a full size inflatable church where you could get 'married', apparently Jake Shears had married himself some time before. We also went over to the 'SnoZone' Where 50 tonnes of snow had been shipped in to form a toboggan run, and a rather muddy / icy off piste bar. We also found the extremely enjoyable Kids Zone, where kids (and grown up kids) can go and bash the drums and make lots of noise while having fun. I've always enjoyed the family feel of the smaller festivals, and Kendal is extremely child friendly.

One of our party arrived on Saturday, so we missed the first couple of acts waiting for him, but for such a long day of music we let him off. Red Light Company were taking to the main stage when we entered the arena and although I had expected them to be good, I hadn't expected them to put on as brilliant a show as they did.

Manchester band May 68 then provided the pop-disco, lead from the front by their female singer, Jude. I just wished the band had danced as much as the crowd, because their fantastic tunes were let down by a static feeling on stage. The singer from the next band on Dutch Uncles (also from Manchester) then joined them on stage for a fun duet, where there was finally a bit of dancing on stage, but the crowd definitely showed them up.

After a spot of comedy and Toung Foo Poetry it was over to the main stage for another Manchester band, Twisted Wheel. This time however we were back to the mainstay of Manchester music - simple, energetic rock. "We Are Us" was the most memorable song of the set, but Twisted Wheel didn't keep me captivated enough to miss Beardyman.

Appearances on Radio 1, YouTube and countless festivals have propelled Beardyman into the limelight with his incredible beatbox show. If you haven't seen him in action, I thoroughly recommend it.

A highlight of a great day was The Zutons, who closed off the action on the main stage. Mark Ronson may have made "Valerie" more famous with Amy Winehouse, but The Zutons remind everyone how good their song is, and how good their sound is with every note. The Zutons always chat to the crowd which with some bands can get annoying, but the Scouse banter is infectious and captures a spirit of having fun that runs through all of The Zutons tunes.

Although the Main Stage had shut up shop there was plenty more to follow as the excellent Frank Turner was just walking onto the Kaylied stage. This tiny, hand built tent was a perfect, intimate little venue for an artist that is about to explode onto the scene with his track "The Road". Unfortunately there were technical issues at the beginning of the set, however Frank got through it by singing a Chris T-T song a capella to entertain the crowd while the guitar was sorted.

The wonderfully interesting and funny Howard Marks was over in the Comedy Tent giving what I expected to be a talk, but turned out to be a sort of Q&A session about his "career". If I'd been able to get in I would have loved to sit and listen to him, but we were in the mood for a dance, so Stanton Warriors provided the beats, and the also the tent to shelter from the only massive downpour of the weekend.

The night wasn't over yet, as after witnessing Casiokids create a fantastic atmosphere with only 15 people watching in The Faversham in Leeds we partied out the evening with the Norwegian electro-pop group.

For such a small festival I really couldn't believe how much quality was packed into the three days.

Day 3

The final day of Kendal Calling arrived, and I must say we were quite excited as the Sunday was packed with bands we were eager to see. Being from York it was nice to see local band The Yards on the main stage, which by now had become quite a mud-pit, but this didn't dampen the spirits. The site isn't huge so we had little else to explore on the final day but the art installations around the site were constantly evolving, like the graffiti wall, updated each day to reveal the finished piece on the Sunday.

A band I never thought I would see, Cornershop, appeared next on the bill and, as expected, the crowd loved "Brimful of Asha", however they then abandoned the main stage after dancing their way through Cornershop's signature tune. It's a shame, because the britpop / Indian fusion was a lovely change in sound with the sitar drifting through the trees.

Rumble Strips shook up the mix again with their soulful, trumpet/sax laden set. Lead singer Charlie Waller certainly has the voice to propel Rumble Strips to the top, and possesses the right look for a front man, but he can become too overpowering and intense with such a talent that you can start to get too much of a good thing. Songs like "Time" do well in building over the length of the song without powering straight in, and this worked wonderfully well.

Chris Helm was now in the Kaylied tent on his own for his second session of the day after fronting The Yards earlier. He admitted that he'd forgotten he was playing twice so had already sampled a few of the local ales on offer. Live, Chris Helm is a seasoned performer and played a crowd-pleasing mix of old (Seahorses) songs mixed with new solo stuff, mixed in with real face-to-face banter with the audience (and the sound man).

Noah and the Whale then showed that they have grown up and have more to offer than last summers hit "Five Years Time". They still have the same folky sound but have a much darker overtone to their sound with the new materiel.

There was slight disapointment as Mumford & Sons arrived with only 3 members, their Banjo Player wasn't available to play, so we had a stripped-back version of the London band's songs which pulled their sound more in line with mainstream folk acts like Fleet Foxes. They still sounded great, but it did show that the banjo is as an integral part of their act as Marcus' voice, and surprisingly the key to what makes them special.

We closed the night with some excellent stand-up from Dan Nightingale, but not before Ash powered their way through a best of set that showed off the band's extremely successful back catalogue. All the hits were there with "Girl From Mars", "Shining Light" and "Oh Yeah". There was also news of an Ash tour, taking in 26 locations around the UK, one for each letter of the alphabet, unfortunately for us Yeovil beat York to the Y leg of the tour.

Kendal Calling provided the most relaxed and enjoyable festival experience we have had in a long time. The size of the festival enabled you to walk between stages in under a minute, rather than the expeditions undertaken at the larger sites. With great acts and a friendly atmosphere why wouldn't you want to come next year?

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