Redfest 2013

Bags laid down on the fresh grass, tents eagerly going up, beers at the ready and a crisp summer breeze cutting through the thick hot air. The stage is set for another year at Redfest, Surrey.

For those who have become Redfest regulars, this year’s line-up is a very different kind to what’s been seen in the years before; a far cry from the norm. The chilled out, reggae, vibes of the last day are gone. The massive bass blasting Friday headliners are no more. There’s no introducing stage. We’ve got instead what looks like this baby festival taking its first steps into tackling some far bigger names. Trying to run with the big guns. After all, Saturday headliners, Bastille, have already played Glasto this year. But we’ve come this far, and we’re not scared of the unknown. So at 12pm on the 26th of July, we’re ready to let Redfest show us what they’ve got to offer. No qualms, no scepticism, just massive anticipation.

We started our weekend at the Blackstar stage with the incredible, Max Raptor, a force to be reckoned with and ideal candidates for Redfest’s main stage. And boy, did they impress. If the crowd they drew in wasn’t impressive enough for a band playing so early on, they also managed a mosh pit or two. Now it doesn’t matter if moshing isn’t your thing, for a band to evoke that kind of response at two o’clock in the afternoon is always a good thing. Max Raptor’s punk-esque sound lies somewhere between pop-rock and punk, but don’t get it wrong, this is not a cheesy pop punk band, this is far far better.

Now with a primal urge for something heavier, we linked up to the Hype Clothing stage to see a band that were once quoted as being “The messiest, wittiest, most intelligent hardcore you will ever hear”,  Palm Reader.  Admittedly they didn’t have the biggest crowd when they started, but that didn’t stop singer Josh leading the Woking quintet into their fantastically chaotic set, which was all songs of their debut album “Bad Weather”, with the exception on one song (War between the head and the heart). Soon enough this raw energy drew in a larger crowd. Palm Reader set the stakes high for those following them on this stage.

Random Impulse, the self-described “only black man here”, hit the main stage.With a live band backing him every step of the way, his massively cheery up beat vibes were the perfect way to really get the ball rolling on this party.

Mention Arcane Roots to anyone familiar with rock, they’ll tell you that they’re the only band to ever cover nirvana and get it right. Their cover of smells like teen spirit on Kerrang’s “Nevermind Forever” cd has truly put them on the map. Their own sound is one which found slightly too familiar. Yes it was great, and easy to nod along to. But some of their riffs felt like they’d been lifted straight out of other songs. We really enjoyed Arcane Roots’ set, and the drummed up a pretty big crowd too, it just seems a shame that such a talented lot sound so much like everyone else.

As we mentioned this year’s line-up saw a massive change in genres at Redfest. But Dub Pistols were unquestionably Redfest material. A massively fantastic blend of genres which centres around that dub/ska kind of vibe, a real crowd pleaser. In any normal Redfest year Dub Pistols could have easily been the perfect main support for the main stage,

Back at the Hype stage, Heart in Hand were getting things going again. Their set was a good contrast of old and new songs, finishing with memories, of course. Being such an asset to the British hardcore scene, it’s no real surprise that they brought such a huge crowd to the Hype stage, easily the biggest so far.

Bury Tomorrow capped off the day for Hype. The Southampton set are one of the biggest names of the south coast scene, and are up there with the best of the country’s lot. Making their reputation through endless hard work, and with all they’ve put in it’s amazing the amount of gusto Dani summons up to put into his set. Audiences up and down the country are constantly taken back by the power and noise this guy can produce, tonight was no exception to that. Our highlight was undoubtedly “Anything With Teeth”, but as ever with Bury Tomorrow, the whole thing was phenomenal.

Dry The River may well be the most underwhelming headliners of anything ever. A disappointing end to an otherwise exciting and interesting day. The crowd was big enough, and no one seemed massively disinterested… but their whole set felt like one extortionately long monotonous song. We wouldn’t be defeated by this though, everyone now holding on to our high, high hopes for Bastille tomorrow.

Come Saturday morning, most people were led with heavy heads, trying to avoid the baking sun. But this is not the place for lightweights, by midday Redfest was once again alive with people moving around, getting their musical fix,. Getting back on the drink. Well, you’ve got to keep hydrated in these conditions. Haven’t you?

Escapists were burdened with the unfortunate task of opening main stage on hang-over day, a task not to be taken lightly. Given the muggy heat and the collective headache, they did well to summon the crowd they did. The slightly wilted crowd gladly soaked up Escapists’ chilled out rock vibe, as set that picked up pace as it went, and the crowed actually snowballed too. Escapists’ ambient sound truly was the best way to start a day like this.

Unusual instruments are one of the best ways to grab some attention, so when we could hear what sounded like a fairly talented trumpet player in the Boileroom stage, we went to investigate? What’s unusual about the trumpet? Not much really, only there wasn’t one. Empire Parade is a collection of young talent from ACM, one of whom, a lad by the name of max, plays the mouth trumpet. A really powerful female vocalist and a pretty tricky guitarist, we kid you not, the whole band were incredible, but this guy was something else altogether. Playing with as much technical precision as any good brass instrumentalist. In fact all 7 displayed technical finesse and personal style which most chart musicians are constantly struggling to find.

Much to everyone’s disbelief, mid-afternoon a blanket of thick black clouds swept over the festival and within seconds of the downpour starting every tent in the vicinity was filled to the rafters with people trying to escape the rain. For us, that led to an unscheduled meeting with Joel, “that J. O. E. L” Baker, “like bread”. It was hard to tell how many people actually wanted to see him, and how many were just trying to stay dry, But his set was cheerful enough and had an easy going kind of feeling about it. Unfortunately for Joel Baker, “like bread”, the rain started to clear up during his set, and people politely moved on to wherever it was they’d intended to be when the heavens opened. There was the unmistakable sound of people having a bloody good time coming from the main stage, we dutifully investigated. The LaFontaines is what we found. When we joined the crowd, mid song, we suddenly understood all the fuss. These guys are incredible. Like an amazing Don Broco/ Rizzle Kicks cross over, not only was their sound something so fantastically unique that by the end of their set they’d probably reeled in well over half of the festival, but their inter-song banter was some of the best we’ve ever heard. (Or at least… what we could understand was… bands from Glasgow should definitely come with subtitles). They could quite easily have been main support to Bastille and were definitely  the perfect resurrection to the festival after that unwelcome downpour.

By early evening it was clear to see that the rain probably wasn’t going to stay away, maybe that’s why the James Cleaver Quintet had such a big crowd. These are a band you never seem to stop hearing about, .But to us there was nothing that spectacular about them, and they just seemed to be missing that extra bit of energy and excitement you normally get with live bands.

You may know, remember, or recognise #OneSongAWeek. Frank Hamilton wrote and recorded 52 songs last year, some of these were with some pretty big names too. This was later produced as a best of album, featuring 21 of those tracks. Frank’s live set is a best of the best of. The difference between Frank’s set, and your standard acoustic gig is involvement, even if you do0n’t know him it’s damn near impossible not to sing along, that said f   you really didn’t dig his original material he did a fantastic Weetus cover. (We are gutted he didn’t go a Smiths cover too). Frank Hamilton closed his set with Tiny Chemicals.

There was now only Lucy Rose between Redfest and what everyone was waiting for. Fortunately her music was as exquisite as her tea and jam is said to be. The gentle patter of rain added and eerie overtone to the already mystical and enchanting set. All the tea in China couldn’t stop the force of what was about to unravel on the main stage.

Soon enough it was Bastille time. Everyone flooded to the main stage to witness probably the most famous headliners Redfest have ever played. After opening with Bad Blood, which seemed out of tempo with itself, there was a sense of awkward anticipation, but once they got into it; Bastille played a colossal set. All the best songs from their recent album “Bad Blood” as well as a fair bit of their older material. The highlights of which were easily “weight of living” and “Icarus”. One this which really stuck us about Bastille was the modesty, singer Dan Smith saying something about them playing any festival, let alone headline one was absurd. Once you’ve reached the kind of level that Bastille have, you get arrogance rights that said, we’re incredibly glad they’re not. Of Course, they closed with Pompeii, a song which made it onto Radio 1’s A-list. Pompeii has a natural stadium feel to it, the kind of song which has so much power and emotion in it that it simply begs to be sang to a huge crowd, and boy did these Redfesters soak it up. If ever there was a perfect song and a perfect band and a perfect set of emotions to end a weekend on, it’s the set that Redfest provided us with this year.

For those Redfest regulars who were undeterred by this alien line-up, and the newcomers who were enticed by the past reports of this warm and growing little festival in the hills of Surrey, this has been an incredible weekend. Once more Redfest’s organisers have pulled together a festival which seems to cater for so many more than any of the bigger ones manage to. We only have two requests for next year, one is our lazy reggae second days. The second is that Redfest 2014 is as good at this weekend was.

Written by Callum Cornwell.