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home » festivals » Solway Festival (Solfest) » Solfest 2008
once upon a time, all festivals were like this....Solfest 2008 reviewWednesday 27th August 2008 It's a long way, is the north of Cumbria. Foolishly I'd thought an overnight stop in Manchester was nearly there, but it's not. Still, it's a pleasant drive through some lovely scenery. Arriving at Solfest around 1pm, we joined a very long queue, which twenty minutes later had doubled in size. Hours of waiting later (it must have been far worse for those far behind) we arrive on site, queue again to be wristbanded and are then directed to a field to park and camp. This is one of the beauties of Solfest, being able to camp right next to your car – no carrying heavy tents and more across vast distances here, meaning that you can arrive with everything you need in comfort. Once, all festivals worked this way, but there's now only a handful left (strangely, festival regulation for every festival is done locally, but if there's no safety issue at Solfest then there's not anywhere else either. All festivals [space permitting] could be like this in a world without jobsworths). This aspect of the festival took me right back, to the days when festivals were less formal, less regulated, and more free. The camping fields were a jumbled mixture of cars and tents, and gave (compared to the normal nowadays) an amateur feel. Having ended up in one of the 'overflow' camping fields, there's no water or toilets. However, there's three water taps nearby in the next field and a toilet block in the field after that; it's not far away, but there's far too few loos for the numbers camped here. This is a bit of a failure, as there's ample loos in the 'proper' camping fields. Solfest, you have the people paying for their tickets, you should provide the necessaries – there isn't really any excuse for this, particularly when there's so many families with children here. Walking into the main arena this amateur feel continued, but not in a bad way – while other festivals have evolved into slick operations with professionally provided facilities by specialist companies, Solfest was less portakabins and more lorry containers, less shiny new big-top marquees and more slightly grubby 'party' marquees. This isn't a bad thing, unless you're someone who needs pristine fluff along with content. The main stage was very well sited, allowing anyone a perfect view of the stage via the slope leading up to the bar stage, where bands alternated with those on the main stage. Over the ridge was the second and smaller outdoor Drystone stage and a poetry tent, and back nearer the entrance were the (shiny new big-top marquee) dance tent so dark you couldn't find your mates, along with the Dogs In Space chillout tent, and the popular cheesy disco. There was also a large and popular kids area here too. Around the site were the normal collection of festival tat stalls, cafés, and food stalls. These perhaps caused me the biggest shock of the weekend, because where can you now get chips for just a quid?? I haven't seen that price in a chippie for years, and at most festivals you can expect to pay £3-£4; OK, it wasn’t a huge pile, but still! The great prices continued with the Solfest beer @ £2.50 (and I believe the 6% cider was the same price). With the realistic opportunity of being able to cook all your own food and have all of your own beer (which you can take into the arena), if you want a festival that you can REALLY do on the cheap then you very possibly can't beat Solfest! Music-wise, many of the acts were local or lesser-known bands, with some well-known names at the top end of the bill. On Friday night Alabama 3 put in a very well-received set, perhaps in part because they happened to play at a time to match everyone's maximum party mood. By the time Roisin Murphy hit the stage to give a great up-tempo set of her solo stuff as well as Moloko classics, the crowd had thinned substantially and some of the atmosphere had drifted away. Saturday was fancy dress day, with a big proportion of people having made the effort to dress up. Unfortunately, with rain on the Saturday and it being a little chilly, some of these efforts were hidden under warm and rain-proof garments. Top marks have to go to the guys wandering around who dressed as Supergrass .... or was that Supergrass?  . They put in a solid show, though are perhaps now sounding a little dated.Thankfully there was better weather on the Sunday, and it was pleasing to see that Saturday's rain had barely affected the site, with only a few very small mud-patches. Sunday was topped by Dreadzone, tho short of both Earl16 and a guitarist – perhaps more Dreadhalf-zone? Solfest is a great festival – cheap, easy, and with great entertainment. One day all festivals should be this way; one day very long gone they all were. review by Neil Greenway
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