21/6/2009 Westmill Farm Festival

Subject	Westmill Farm Festival
PostedDate	6/21/2009
	Just occasionally, you go to a festival and think this is how a festival should be run! And just as occasionally, you might leave a festival not feeling like you've been ripped off. The Westmill Farm Festival manages to score on both counts! The ticket price is the same as London's Camden Rocks festival (see previous blog) and although the line up doesn't have as many bands as Download or Sonisphere, by the time you've added the cost of camping/parking those two festivals are nearly ten times the cost! And are they ten times as good? No way! Westmill Farm is a fairly short drive from London and near Ware just a few miles on the other side of Hertford. This is easily one of the two most scenic festival venues I have seen - Scarborough Castle being the other. The festival site is on a hill - offering a wonderful view over the lakes and rolling Hertfordshire countryside. I go of the second of the two days and the weather is gorgeous!  The main stage is at the top of a hill near the restaurant and bar. There is loads of space - and  surprisingly few people. This is one of the best kept secrets of the festival calendar. The place isn't actually that poorly attended, but the place is so large that it just swallows people up - you could get thousands and thousands of people on site and it still wouldn't seem crowded. The unfortunate thing is that hardly anyone seemed to know about this festival, now in it's second year I believe. Of course it takes a new event a while to get known and establish a reputation - and of course no one knows where this place is. It's actually surprisingly easy to get to by car as it's just off the A10, but public transport isn't so good. As my attendance was a bit of a last minute thing unfortunately I didn't get there early enough to see all the bands and I missed local Clash tribute The Trash. When I arrived there was a female fronted nu-metal/goth type band called Crimzen playing - not really my thing. Next I headed down the hill to the smaller stage where the Jules Carter Trio were on. They are effectively a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute act with a few other songs thrown in. I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face when they were joined on sax for a few numbers by the very talented Sandra Grant. After that it was back up the hill to see the entertaining Blur tribute band Blurb. Their sound was pretty good and 'Allbran' and 'Coxon' had it nailed pretty well. There was time for a bit of refreshment at the bar before the next band. There was decent quality food and drink available at both ends of the festival, and this was another area in which Westmill Farm scored very highly. There was a proper indoor restaurant, and well as outdoor BBQ's providing burgers, hot dogs, hog roast, vegetarian grub, ect. The bar was very efficiently run with no queues and a nice covered seating area giving a terrific view. Also, all pints, and all burgers, ect were priced at £3 making things very fast and simple - plus much better value for money than the outrageous prices charged at other festivals. It really encourages you to keep going back for more if you don't feel you are being ripped off. And parking was free too! All this is like a breath of fresh air compared to most festivals. Next band was another tribute act - the Kaiser Thiefs. Although I didn't know as many of the songs I actually enjoyed their set a lot more than Blurb's, and the band themselves certainly seemed to be having more fun. Unfortunately, I had a time clash issue and had to rush off back down the hill before the Thiefs had finished to see the amazing JOANovARC. This terrific band seemed to have split up towards the end of last year - apparently partly because of their rhythm guitarist leaving. They have been playing under other names since doing covers, etc since then but have been persuaded to return as a 3 piece (as they were originally) for this festival set. They turn in a polished and powerful set as usual, and have lost none of their former excitement. As well as their own very strong material, they throw a few covers in to keep the festival crowd happy - varying from Hendrix to one of the best versions of 'Freebird' I've ever seen. That last song in particular really gets people going, and there is more dancing going on than at any other point of the day. It's great to see JOANovARC back, and I hope it won't be for the last time... Meanwhile, back up the hill the headliners have started their set. It's a shame there aren't more people there to see Eddie & The Hot Rods as they really are a shit hot band. Of course it doesn't hurt either that they have a few familiar hits to call on, and the band have a very good frontman with a unique style of his own. It's a great end to a really good day out in the country and I'm sure everyone goes home happy! This was a shining example of how a festival should be run. Download and Reading can seem like war-zones at times, but here the atmosphere was terrific and there was a really friendly vibe all day. Food and drink were good quality and great value - it made such a refreshing change to leave a festival without feeling you have been shamelessly exploited and ripped-off. And what a great location!