I’ve Got Festival Fever…

In my opinion, British Summer leaves a lot to be desired. By the look of the sky today we have seen the best of the summer and should pack up our scanty clothing and drag back out the woolies. Unless of course, like me, you are coming down with a bad case of Festival Fever…

I love festivals. Love love love. I love getting muddy. I love camping. I love drinking with a BBQ breakfast and I love waking up with a tent dripping on my head. I love wearing scanty boho clothing despite it peeing down with rain. I love the fact that the best way to get clean is to carry around hand sanitizer because someone has probably used the stuff provided to set the portaloo on fire. With a boy inside. With his pants round his ankles. (Yes, I saw this happen.)

But every year I am spoilt for choice as to which festivals to spend my dosh on and use up valuable holiday time from work. So I will do my best to review the best ones for you, to bring you something that might help make your decision, since we all know that a festival is not just based on the bands that will be headlining.

Take, for example, The Great Escape in Brighton. We were lucky enough to have a weekend in the sun on the coast and boy did we not regret it. There were very few bands I had previously heard of but this didn’t stop me lapping up the atmosphere and throwing myself into the great musically unknown. The Great Escape is hosted by various venues across Brighton, some close to the seafront and others further into town. You simple purchase your wrist band and wander around, beer in hand.

A particular band that stood out for me was Ramona. Formed in 2009 by various chance meetings (my favourite kind), Karen-Anne, Charlie, James and Freddie are recording their first album and took The Great Escape by storm. The venue was packed out, with cheers that were deafening coming from their fans (many of which had faces painted like cats…).  Their casual enthusiasm is infectious and they were well worth the treck to a far away venue.

Other secret venues appear to happen around you at The Great Escape, including the one I unwittingly witnessed at the Donut Pier. A band called The Midnight Beasts have an enormous (and quite frankly ridiculous) teenage following. I felt incredibly old as I sat with all the other 18+ festival goers whilst young ‘uns screamed and chased their idols down the pier. I expected big things with an introduction like this, so was more than a little disappointed to see them waving around a fake pirate sword and start with the lyrics “I’m a ninja, on the dance floor.” I was immediately reduced to fits of laughter. However, much to my disappointment, I did (and still do *shame*) find their parody of Kesha’s Tick Tock incredibly catchy and actually quite enjoyable.

Needless to say my highlight of the week was Ellie Goulding. Effortlessly gorgeous and pitch perfect, she wowed us with every fibre of her performance. She is enchanting and captivating, so if you like modern, catchy without being cheesy, sing your emotions to music type artists, head over to Play.com and buy her album!

So where to next? The Isle of Wight? Secret Garden? Fingers crossed for The Big Chill….

This post was written by Teeny Tiny Leanne. Follow her on Twitter, or check out her acting portfolio or The Teeny Tiny Party Company website.

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Leanne

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