2008: Misfits, mud and mirth

We look back on another memorable festival year

Following 2007’s year-long downpour we all hoped we’d be treated to a well deserved rest from the rain. And while unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way as ever a bit of the wet stuff failed to put a dampener on the spirits of the singing and dancing fun-seekers.

More than 500 events were pitched at the beginning of the year and there followed some truly unforgettable moments and experiences shared. Glastonbury enjoyed just three hours of rain rather than its traditional three days and overcame months of media backlash by staging one of the best festivals of the decade, Jay-Z spearheading the fight back against the sceptics with his now legendary cover of ‘Wonderwall’.

Perhaps not so controversially, R.E.M. and The Verve made their UK live returns at Scotland’s T In The Park alongside the incredible Rage Against The Machine, whose Reading homecoming, as pinnacle as it was, passed by a little quietly compared to their Leeds show. Luckily, Metallica turned things up a notch as the festival’s three American headliners, coupled with The Last Shadow Puppets’ ‘official’ debut, made sure the post-Carling event maintained its reputation as the world’s biggest rock weekend.

The Isle Of Wight Festival, last year’s winner of the Best Major Festival award, had another three days of glorious sunshine to greet its latest batch of rock royalty, with The Police and Sex Pistols following on from where The Rolling Stones had left off. Organisers even found room for a new Big Top Tent and they weren’t the only festival to try a bit of spring-cleaning. Download bosses attempted some Feng Shui in early June, shifting the site from inside Donington Park racetrack to the outskirts so as to leave room for a second open-air stage.

Global Gathering managed to secure Kanye West on a UK exclusive in July, with the rapper requesting the entire main stage to himself for his Glow In The Dark show. But it was their other headliner Mark Ronson who made the headlines, claiming that the festival was ‘more special than Glastonbury’.

Following a week of rain, the southern leg of V Festival managed to stay relatively dry compared to its northern brother, thanks in part to a site reworking. Not that anyone cared about the mud, especially with Muse providing a set that was literally out of this world; satellites ‘n all. Kasabian and Fatboy Slim helped lift Creamfields skywards for the dance festival’s tenth birthday celebrations, but unlike Tom Meighan and co the event wasn’t Norman Cook’s only festival stop.

At his own request, the Brighton DJ appeared at Rock Ness for the second time in three years as the Scottish bash also secured a summer exclusive from Razorlight. But it wasn’t the only medium-sized festival spreading its wings as The Big Chill brought in a number of arts partners to further expand its creative scope. The Herefordshire laze fest also did its good deed for the year, by offering to help stage the beleaguered Sunrise Celebration which had been forced to cancel earlier in the year due to flooding.

The same fate almost befell Bestival, which experienced some of the worst rain and mud of the year as superstitious spongepants blamed the ‘30,000 Freaks Under The Sea’ dressing up theme for the torrid conditions. Those who, quite literally, stuck it out were treated to the reformation of The Specials under the guise Terry Hall and Friends, a special performance from Grace Jones and a not-so special showing from Amy Winehouse. Beautiful Days fans must have had that sinking feeling too when they checked Devon’s weather forecast for August - the main stage almost being swallowed up by the mud. Hydro Connect lived up to its name by being particularly ‘hydrated’, but the Scots are used to a bit of bad weather and nothing could dampen spirits for Franz Ferdinand’s only Scottish festival show.

Back down south the capital hosted another scorching edition of Lovebox Weekender with Groove Armada bowing down from bill-topping duties to allow Manu Chao and The Flaming Lips to make London the new festival hotspot. Elsewhere, Latitude’s culture vultures let their hair down a little to allow Ross Noble to lead a conga of fans around the festival site, while Sigur Ros provided the arts and music festival’s customary spine-tingling Saturday night.

Good fortunes shone on the likes of Glade and Wakestock (Abersoch), both of which lapped up better weather after being literally swept away in 2007, proving that lightening sometimes never strikes twice in two years. Take Wickerman Festival for example. The event endured relentless winds last year, but this time around the sun burned as brightly as The Fall, Gary Numan and their infamous flaming effigy did over the weekend.

It was the sunburned students at Beach Break Live who got the pick of the summer weather though, the country’s scholars revelling in midweek madness and some very late nights. Not so for some of the country’s youngest festival-goers at Rob Da Bank’s spin off event, Camp Bestival. The DJ’s second soiree was a family orientated affair which catered for parents and children equally, and with an 81-year old Chuck Berry topping the bill they had possibly the eldest performer on the circuit too. Paying tribute to another legend, Strummercamp kept the spirit of the late Clash frontman, Joe, alive by spreading his musical message to the next generation.

There were plenty of other new events making their mark in 2008, most sensationally the return of Vince Power, who had been ‘exiled’ from the UK festival scene following the sale of Mean Fiddler in 2005. Few could have expected his first headliners back on British soil to be Neil Young and The Mighty Boosh, then again few would have predicted 1000 festival-goers donning beards for Dreadzone at Bearded Theory - a sell out in its inaugural year.

Beachdown Festival debuted on the south downs in Kent, drove fans around on vehicles powered by cooking oil and had soul legend Roy Ayers performing. But surely the highlight must have been the sight of Keith Chegwin ‘having it’ in the crowd, fortunately clothed unlike his more recent TV days. Not so the person who threw their pants at TV On The Radio as the Brooklyn band headlined the first ever Concrete and Glass festival in east London. Another alternative for the capital, Offset Festival, invited post punk pioneers Wire and Gang Of Four to top the line-up and beefed up the rest of the bill with a slew of acts honoured to pay homage to their musical mentors.

On a similar experimental tip, the folk behind Secret Garden Party threw another memorable bash in Cambridgeshire with their exploding pirate ship perhaps stealing the spotlight from Grace Jones’ UK return. The Larmer Tree Festival also got in on the cannonball motif. Aside from the peacocks and annual fancy dress parade, their main stage crowd was awash with multi-coloured balls flying through the air, much to the delight of children and adults alike.

Macy Gray capped her Summer Sundae Weekender with a crowning version of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, while End Of The Road fans were treated to a flawless set from the catch of the summer, Bon Iver. 2000 Trees revellers made the best of the mud, creating a 50-foot mudslide through the campsite thoroughfare – well, they didn’t want to miss Art Brut did they?  And for die hard indie fans, Sing From Ye Hills saw Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and Arctic Monkeys invading the stage for a shambolic and unforgettable set by British Sea Power at the highest pub in Britain.

Back down near sea level, Cambridge Folk Festival turned the ripe old age of 44 and celebrated with plenty of young folk upstarts, including Laura Marling and Noah And The Whale, while Indie Tracks Festival steamed ahead with bands performing on railway platforms and DJs spinning tunes in a locomotive shed. Speaking of odd venues, Standon Calling staged a unique dance experiment in a swimming pool, as underwater vibrations delighted fans to a soundtrack of beats and bubbles.

And all of that was just merely tip of the iceberg with hundreds more festivals taking place up and down the country, and across Europe. Brimming with one-off performances, ground-breaking innovations, indescribable energy and those unique moments that can only occur at a music festival, 2008 has been thick with incident and rich in character.

You just had to look at the strength in depth at this year's UK Festival Awards to see how far the festival landscape has developed. Held in IndigO2 in Greenwich, more than 1000 festival industry devotees crammed inside to hear BBC6 DJ Shaun Keavney dish out 21 awards to the likes of Michael Eavis, Biffy Clyro, Rob Da Bank and many more HERE. It was hailed a massive success by press and guests alike and proved the perfect party to end a challenging festival year.   

Click HERE for the UK Festival Awards results in full.

Comments

Related Events