Redfest 2014

The sun was steadily baking North Surrey as I made my way to Redfest this Sunday, tucked away in the leafy meadows of the area this festival felt like it had good omens being sprinkled on to it long before I got there. I was looking forward to that visceral excitement of discovering new artists that festivals of this size will often gift those who make the effort to find it. Got to say….. Redfest did not disappoint on that front… a real mix of unsigned, up and coming and long established artists made the music a treat and the atmosphere was very relaxed. Spread across a long strip of decent food stalls and bars (selling some incredibly tasty cider) there’s a stage at each end serving up two very different flavours of tuneage, with an unsigned tent in the middle providing the most local artists their chance to shine.

I started the day in the Uprawr tent, to those unfamiliar with Uprawr they are the purveyor of what is probably the most popular rock club experience in the UK and this tent really didn’t disappoint! Rock like this really does thrive in a festival tent, with its particular dynamics and up close atmosphere, and Slaves, a Kent based drums / guitar 2 piece, really threw themselves into it. A big dollop of kinetic energy and chunky riffs is a great combination and the drummer having a stand up kit gave the uninitiated that little hook.

In a total swing the other way we went to check out Lauren Aquilina on the main stage who, a year out of school, is already on the Universal studios books, a professional performance but you get the feeling that her real best form will emerge with a bit more life experience. One group who doesn’t need anything in my eyes though was The Skints, a brand new musical delight for me, the fact I am listening to them now tells you everything you need to know about my opinion... I missed the opening 2 minutes but the delicious little pang pang pang of the reggae snare picked me up and sucked me in from across the site, a real smooth and ridiculously smiley performance infected the whole crowd with some sort of swaying instability while we nodded through their set in glee. Honestly their bassist couldn't have looked happier if he’d been given a million quid and a blowjob at the same time.

The general feel of this festival is that it’s aimed at a young local crowd as the majority of the audience was probably uni age at the most, given the quality of some of the acts and the fact that the festival felt half full you can’t help feeling they could draw more people in if they figured out how to market it a little wider. If one of the 2 main stages was full the other was struggling to provide the atmosphere that will fuel an artist’s performance to its peak. Despite this, George Barnett and his band gave a great main stage performance to a struggling crowd, and gave that big classic influenced large band rock throwback sound very well delivered outing.

The Uprawr tent signed off for the evening in grand fashion with 2 fantastic performances of balls to the wall untethered rock. Heights, another new one on me, were a fantastic bundle of fun and energy. I was taking photos and had no idea whether to keep snapping or mosh my tits off so I did both and it was great. I will be back for more of these guys.

The rock headliners for the day were The Blackout, part of the South Wales metal scene that produced some notable talents. They were mental from start to finish and displaying all of the tricks and experience they have, non stop energy and flawless riffage, with a mix of poppy and more intense repertoire to call on they changed it up well and spent large portions of the time in the crowd which went down a treat. My personal highlight was Sean, one of the 2 frontmen, plucking a beach ball out of the air, chewing his way through it and wearing it like a hat fr the rest of the song. More of that please....

The main stage signed off with Toy, who are like a modern progressive version of the Cure with a drummer from the 70s rock world, who had good songs but lacked some of the dynamism of the headliners Peace. Peace have garnered plenty of attention from the NME and the BBC and fit firmly in the indie bracket doing so well right now, they were also very good live. Frontman Harrison has all the moves and had the crowd jumping and singing along all the way through, the young crowd obviously were big fans before today so this could be a band we see a lot more of....

Redfest was fun, a good festival with a lot going for it, just needs a bigger crowd to back up the highlights of the line up.