No major changes on the site itself to mention this year. The Silent Disco was now in the Garden stage area, and there was a sizeable Fox at the top of the field for the Woods stage and an elephant hanging from a hot air balloon in the Big Top tent. The woods themselves were a myriad of colour and sounds with many delights to be discovered.
Sunday was glorious weather; the rest of the weekend was overcast and generally autumnal. Less of a family feel this year with the kids already being back at school but an increase in the pre-Uni crowd was evident. As ever a decent vibe and many smiling faces.
Palma Violets were a rocking start for the early arrivals on Thursday with a crowd surfing, stage invading set and the festival as a whole kicked off on Friday with a laid back, jam orientated Ryley Walker on the Garden Stage just after midday on the Friday.
Loose Music's Andrew Combs brought a fine country vibe to the Woods stage followed by a trio of ladies who stormed the rest of the afternoon. Frazey Ford stared off gently with some very fine songs from her solo album followed by the rising star that is the formidable Nadine Shah who put on an electric performance in the Big Top tent. The trio was completed by a sonic if somewhat distance performance from Torres.
Back to the Big Top for a superb show from a psychedelic driven Pond who really excelled as did, the fun filled Diagrams in the Tipi (Uncut Stage) tent.
TY Segall's Fuzz blasted the last remains of any Friday daylight out of the sky and plunged the world into darkness with their sonic horizon filling sound. Final choice of the day was Tame Impala or Low. I went with the latter and was rewarded with a spell-binding set from the band containing a lot of new material.
Low seem be to on a creative high again. Adam mentioned that he was surprised to be invited back to the festival where last time he threw his guitar into the crowd (not gently either). Thank heavens they were asked back though, this was a show totally focussed on the music, no major lighting or videos, just the music.
Saturday started with a soon to be indie Welsh legend, H. Hawkline. Huw and the boys really had some cracking songs in the sunshine followed by The Duke Spirit who delivered a rocking return on the Woods Stage.
Madisen Ward & Mama Bear gave a delightful show of country blues to a packed and overflowing Tipi tent audience after which Stephen Steinbrink brought some heart wrenching solo tunes to the same stage followed by a young Flo Morrissey who then charmed another substantial crowd on the Uncut stage with her angelic voice.
A sojourn to the tented base camp was followed by a widescreen rock show from My Morning Jacket who packed a 60 minute set with as many songs as they could. Leaving time for an encore, I got the impression that they left the stage, only to be told there were no encores?
Tonight's Saturday headline for the 10th anniversary of the festival was the much sought after Surfjan Stevens, whose shows the previous week leading up to the festival were given 5 star reviews across the board but, could that translate to a festival field? Well quite frankly, yes. I don't think I have ever seen a festival audience so quiet and reverential. Dawn Landes was in Surfjan's band this time around and the whole unit seemed to gel exceptionally well together. It's just hard to actually find anything lacking in the performance, stage lighting, sound or enthusiasm of the band; this was darn near as perfect festival set as you could wish for. some more thoughts on this particular set are HERE.
Sunday was a slow peaceful start but we did make it to the Woods stage for the rather excellent Houndtooth who were just beautiful in the sunshine. The Black Tambourines from Nottingham lived up to their growing live reputation with their Stones like riffs and retro reverb filled tunes. Ultimate Painting followed, these guys part Mazes, part Veronica Falls are a really first rate outfit. Marika Hackman underlined her performance at the Green Man Festival with another fine set, just one woman and a guitar (and amp).
Sunshine, main stage, Alvvays, what more could you need for a teatime slot, just glorious, the band from Nova Scotia relay delivered even though lead singer Molly Rankin was suffering with a sore throat.
A Giant Sand gig is always an intriguing affair and after a storming set at Glastonbury hopes were high for End of the Road show. Endless tuning meant the band where fifteen minutes late on even Howe quipped, "we only have time for one song now, but, it will be a good one". Howe never really seemed to have his heart in it and although the remaining forty five minutes sparked occasionally, overall it was a sense of what could have been.
Future Islands on the other hand exceeded expectations with a thoroughly entertaining set as day turned to night. Headliners for me were The War on Drugs who wound up the festival on a terrific high. There must be a new album soon and still more to come from this great band.
Highlight's of the late night sets in the Tipi included Jaco Gardner who had everyone dancing on sore feet and Ex Hex who just rocked the place to the ground.
So, the Tenth Anniversary is done and dusted and an excellent event it was as well. Here's looking forward to 2016!
Pete
