Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Staying out for the summer? No thanks, I'll stay in

The festival season's underway - hurrah! For me it started with Sounds From The Other City in Salford on the Bank Holiday Sunday (review to appear here sometime - you know the score...) and will continue next month with Optimus Primavera in Porto, but I can't say I was gutted to miss out on Lakefest, which took place in Tewkesbury last weekend.

The line-up really was remarkable: Reef, Dodgy, Toploader, Chesney Hawkes and EMF, amongst others. Athlete were late replacements for the Levellers, whose fiddle player had sustained an untimely injury and was recovering from surgery. Presumably the festival's organisers have a seriously sick sense of humour and the invites for Kula Shaker, Shed Seven, Sleeper and Echobelly were all lost in the post.

I also note that, having confidently predicted tickets "will sell out", the organisers had to announce that they were still available on the door. Given some of the excellent festivals that have struggled over the last couple of years, it would hardly be surprising if a line-up like Lakefest's met with widespread disinterest.


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