Why Guilfest really does have something for everyone

United Kingdom | by Sara Wright, Roy Mussell | 21 July 2004

If you're 25 wanting to dance yourself into oblivion, 35 and looking for something a little less frenetic, 45 and wanting to entertain the kids, or 55 wanting to rediscover your youth - Guilfest has got it.

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Set on the edge of this Surrey commuter-belt town just half an hour from central London, Guilfest has a little something that sets it apart from that ever-increasing number of oh-so commercial festivals, which fill the seemingly ever decreasing weeks of the British summer. There is a real sense of community here that is unmistakeably one of the festival's unique selling points. Friends greet one another at every turn, and new acquaintances blossom into the sort of life-long buddies who you can see meeting up to camp together in future years.

Looking around, the arena is filled with families reclining on an endless sea of green foldaway chairs and sprawling on rugs surrounded by picnic hampers. The event seems to positively encourage people to take their own food and drink - meaning that the food stalls can focus on quality rather than quantity.

The atmosphere is safe, relaxing and laid-back, rather than the crowded and frantic scenes so often found at many other mainstream festivals. Even the toilets manage to stay reasonably pleasant, and it is a refreshing change to see a clean, almost litter-free arena without a single flying bottle of piss! All of this helps Guilfest appeal to a slightly more mature breed of punter - whilst not putting up any barriers to the traditional teens-and-twenties market so beloved of Guilfest's big brother events.

The festival has, as always, attracted a huge local crowd - no doubt tempted by the great line-up coupled with the siren call of their own beds each night. It's also near enough to London and the South Coast to have lured punters from the capital and further afield. Camping numbers are up this year, no doubt helped by a reduction in the price of bringing a tent - and as always, a bonus for those under canvas is that the nearby local lido means a refreshing swim can get every day off to a clean and healthy start!

One big section of the crowd looks as if they have long grown out of going to gigs, and sport decades old, but proudly worn band T-shirts. Their children are now the latest generation of live music fans, and they are here with mum and dad this weekend to catch a taste of the sounds that switched their parents on to rock 20 or so years ago. The main stage line-up is peppered with bands who filled stadiums in their day. Each seems to have their own legion of devoted fans trying to regain (or possibly remember) their mis-spent youth. That said, over 40 brand new acts play on the Anderton's Live Stage alone, and that's not to count all of the DJ's and live bands who perform in the Tropical Dance Tent and in the Ambient Lounge over these three days.