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home » festivals » Wychwood Music Festival » Wychwood Music Festival 2011
Wychwood is a slice of middle england set in the beautiful countrysideWychwood Music Festival 2011 reviewFriday 10th June 2011 Wychwood on Sunday means a fairly early start for all parents of kids 'of a certain age'. They all want to see Justin Fletcher aka Mr Tumble. By the time we get to the arena, he's on stage and all of the kids (and loads of the adults), are transfixed. He has them under a spell and hanging on his every word.
Delta Maid is next up on the main stage and she has a tough act to follow (in fact much of the crowd are still waiting to meet Justin. Her Bluesy sound suits the Sunday morning hangover feel but perhaps we're missing sunshine to round it off and I'm not inspired to dance. It's a tough spot to fill. We catch the start of Roddy Woomble (from band Idlewild) though I'm sure he's introduced as Roddy Womble but it's time for another visit to the circus skills area for us. More diablo and a while later we wander around the healing and craft areas. You can have a massage, have you palm read, Reiki, stone therapy and you can even let fish nibble your feet in the main arena. There are also some wonderful artistic talents showcased in some of the tents with sculptures, paintings and drawings available to buy. West Country favourites The Wurzels pull a huge crowd. It's another fairly interactive set requiring us punters to drink cider (we oblige willingly). 'Blackbird' is played with the amazing lyrics "Where be it Blackbird to? I know where he be, He be up yon Wurzel tree".
The missus and the children disappear off to the kids' field to see a puppet show, and then Steve Cole's appearance in the literature tent. He recently visited the school and was very entertaining. The audience isn't as big as I'm sure it would normally be for him as he's been billed at the same time as the parade, which is a shame as he's very funny. The rain continues to fall (persistently but not heavy), and The Christians crowd thins out a bit as people seek refuge in the kids' areas or in the big top. They're not a band whose tour I would ordinarily pay to see but they're pretty accomplished and have a back catalogue of foot tapping hits, and well known standards. 'Ideal World' is the high point of their set for me. Our daughter makes a sand picture at one of the stalls. It's in the main arena, and means that we can still enjoy the music. For a pretty reasonable price, kids select from a wide variety of pictures. Each picture is made up of a series of individual sticky tabs. She peels off a tab and dips that sticky part in different coloured sand. The finished effect is quite amazing and she's really proud of what she has done. The stall also offers a sea of "semi precious" gem stones for the children to crawl about in and for another reasonable sum, some stones can be bought and turned into necklaces – a fabulous idea that keeps lots of people entertained for ages!
Over in the Big Top, Baka Beyond play what they've been doing brilliantly for years - tribal music and dancing. I read comments last year about Wychwood having reduced the number of 'World Music' performers playing. This year I have felt that the quality and quantity of world music and acts from diverse genres has grown hugely.
The last band tonight is Transglobal Underground. We're tired but we listen to most of the set and then our energy is revived as we hear 'Temple Head'. What a great way to round off a fantastic weekend. Wychwood has sealed itself as a firm favourite in our festival calendar, a slice of middle England set in the beautiful countryside. We'll be back next year for sure. It's such an easy festival to do from a parents perspective, and we feel really safe and comfortable with our kids there too. They wouldn't let us have it any other way.  review by James Tayler photos by Andy Pitt 
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