Standon Calling Festival 2010

Standon Calling 2010 was the 10 year anniversary of what started out as a birthday BBQ for it’s founder, Alex Trenchard. The small gathering of friends has grown into a unique festival experience for those fortunate enough to have discovered it.

I got a lift to the site, or as near to the site as we could manage as a ford deeper than our car could tackle blocked our path, we jumped out, crossed the bridge, and hiked along the public footpath winding past the river up to the Manor House. It was a spectacular entrance to a stunning festival.

Standon Calling was extremely well organised, down to the point that it was the first festival in years I’ve been to where drinks were allowed to be served in glass bottles, with many glass recycling bins in every area. Punters were encouraged not to throw their plastic pint-glasses away by having a 50p deposit on them, which some kids found to be very profitable at the end of the evening scavenging for empties.

Camping at the site was also extremely well thought out, with no “arena / camping” divide people could wander between camping areas and the stages with ease and also bring their own booze. The only worrying site was the array of campervans teetering precariously at the top of what looked like a cliff-edge, handbrakes applied and chocks under the wheels.

We Used To Make Things opened the main stage after winning a long-running competition over the preceding months, starting in venues around the country and then winning the final on the Thursday evening on-site to play the main stage. They deserved their win with some great tunes with the odd suspect lyric and a song about ‘Colin’.

The acts gracing the main stage were spaced very far apart, so there could be an hour with nobody playing, which gave the crowds plenty of time to walk around the sight, taking in different bands they might not have seen or heard of and enjoying the atmosphere of the festival. The downside to this was that when the acts did appear on stage there were usually very few people to see them start, with crowds of people flooding down once they heard the main stage from across the site.

Over near the swimming pool (yes, Standon Calling has a swimming pool which is available to use, unfortunately the rain put me off) is the Crowded House stage. This was a large circular yurt, made out to look like a house where various murders had taken place. Attention to detail is everywhere at Standon. Trenton and Free Radical were here, with their ska-inspired raps including the memorable line “Nelson Mandella, he’s one helluva fella” gave us a laugh supping the local ales on offer.

Rain turned to sun, and turned back to rain so we hid out in the Twisted Licks stage where German band kATTWyk were playing. Their MySpace page describes their music as Melodramatic Popular New Wave Rock Songs. I can’t do any better than that other than to add the rain stopped and I left pretty quickly to catch a bit of Anna Calvi on the main stage, who I think would have done better to be in one of the tents to get their sound across in a more intimate setting.

Jonquil then instantly won me over, playing in their socks, their unpredictability and fantastic vocals instantly reminded me that I’ve discovered some of my favourite bands at festivals. I hope these guys do well because they are interesting, and obviously obsessed with their music and love playing it.

Back on the main stage Metronomy had taken up their positions, and certainly have the look of an elecronic pop band. They had been been spotted walking around the site in their black + white outfits earlier, but now sporting giant white badges that lit up in time to the music and depending on which band member was playing they stood out in the now dark evening. This was the beginning of the party that would last long into the evening.

Hardcore band Fucked Up then played the Twisted Licks stage and frontman Damian Abraham spent most of the set in amongst the crowd (I’d suggest investing in a radio mic as his lead snaked a path through the crowd). I’ve never seen so many high-fives, smiles, shaking kids hands and singing happy birthday followed by a bout of hardcore punk, then back to meeting the crowd before - a fantastic sight to behold.

Death & Glory, a London Rock cover band (complete with motorbike) then played a packed Crooked House yurt playing a string of classics that the crowd loved - there was even time for some requests.

New York’s Liars headlined the main stage and showcased their ever-shifting style with a powerful display that continued the now flowing party feel across the site. Unfortunately for me, a quick wander around the Alcatraz dance area was to be the last I saw at Standon this year, but hopefully I’ll return next year to what looks to be the best secret three day 24 hour party in the UK.

Liars