Each year I think GuilFest has peaked, and each year they manage to improve the site and the line-up, this year the line-up offered a host of options to please fans from any music background, and thanks to moving the RockSound my major gripe about access to it over the last few years was also solved.
With The Stranglers, and Motorhead topping the bill on Friday it was an older audience that filled the amphitheatre in front of the main stage on the first day. The festival had started at noon on three of the stages, with the other three kicking off at around 3pm. However for many of the campers the party had already the night before with a disco in the campsite.
I didn't arrive until 5pm and by the then the festival was already in full swing, a kick wander around central donut in the arena revealed that the site had been altered slightly, for the better in my opinion with the Rock Sound Cave now no longer congested by the Funky End. This had the effect of altering the whole feel of this end of the site, making it feel more open and less predominantly full of teenagers than previous years. In fact the whole site had an older more widespread demographic with more families also in attendance than I've noticed for the last few years. Although the campsite we were in had a marked increase in the number of teenagers camping together.
There also seemed to be a wider choice of caterers this year, not more vendors but less selling the same things, with some great global choice from Middle Eastern, South-East Asian, and Caribbean all proving popular, pkuys a wide choice of vegetarian food, and a host of comfort food like pancakes, smoothies, and of course chips'n'burgers.
The choice of real ales, at £3.50 a pint, was fairly impressive, with various options appearing and disappearing over the weekend, it seemed to me that ale is more popular this year, with the festival cider, also selling well, with lager, wine, Angostora and Pimms also available.
Musically the first day's highlights had to be the huge cheese-fest that was Tragedy: All Metal Tribute To the Bee Gees who unsurprisingly are possibly the only people mad enough to create such a novelty act, that proves highly entertaining, more so when combined with catching someone with a battered Motorhead shirt singing along. All weekend the sound from the all stages was decent, with even the back of the crowds, which were predominantly those on blankets, and chairs able to hear every note.
Ginger failed to grab me, the drummer had technical difficulties and the whole set fell flat. But The Stranglers proved inspiring with one of the best sets I've seen from them in decades, Imelda May also impressed on the Ents24Stage.
Headliners Motorhead were always going to be good bit of entertainment. Lemmy was on top form, as were the singalong crowd to 'Ace Of Spades' and other classics, and I nipped off quickly to catch a bit of Nouvelle Vague's set as the other headliner just in time to catch 'Too Drunk To Fuck' with the kids on the barrier enjoying a singalong, and 'God Save The Queen' before wandering back to enjoy Motorhead climax with 'Overkill'.
As the main stage cleared we headed for the eFestivals' Comedy Tent to enjoy the three comedian filled late night show.They dealt impressively with the hecklers, and after grabbing a hot drink, and noting the main arena had been kept reasonably clean by the night's revellers, with the sounds of the Barn Dance sounding all too close, we headed for bed. It was a bit disappointing to hear that our friends had been robbed, there did seem to be much less security and a minimal police presence this year, and the raucous late night partying lasted long into the night.
review by Scott Williams photos by Karen Williams / Scott Williams
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