general review

I really wanted to like Big Session, which was for us our third festival of the year, but the first time we had the little one in tow. I must admit that as we pulled on site, very late, aware of the fact we’d already missed Eliza Carthy, with the sky looking threatening, the little one just starting to get tired, and with a shrieking fan belt that had serenaded us all the way down, I wasn’t feeling terribly optimistic.

The festival organisers had placed us slap back on the centre of the festival, slightly away from the camping areas, and while it was a little strange driving through the festival, it gave us the opportunity to take a good look around. The site was on a slight hill, with De Montfort Hall, hosting the main stage at the bottom, and a fields lined with stalls leading up to the second stage, a marquee next to the beet tent. The Festival arena was separate to the camping area, which was in a field next door.

With the van stopped, the clouds parted and the sun shone. Creature of habit that we are we made straight for the beer tent, which had a great choice of real ale’s and cider. The beer was really well priced, and the tent was crewed by some of the most friendly bar staff I’ve ever run across.

A couple of pints to the good we made our way over to the Marquee Stage, where Rev Hammer and Mark Chadwick were just getting ready to start their set. The boys were in fine form, with a set of old favourites and new (at least new to me) songs that had the whole audience smiling and singing in no time. After some amusing guitar problems, and an inevitable encore, Mark and Rev left the stage, and we made our way to the van to sink a few ciders and talk.

Despite the fact that the main arena closed at midnight, the quietness of the site early Saturday morning was testimony to the fact that for many, the talking and drinking around the tents had continued well into the night. Hipster was already up, and had done the circuit of the site, coming back with the very welcome news that there were showers, and even better than that, they worked!

And so, after spraying myself down with water so hot it seemed to come direct from the Earth’s core, we made our way over to the main hall, where the little one was keen to check out the kid’s area. This was really well put together, with face painting, painting, and a seemingly endless amount of circus stuff to be played with, all overseen by the really helpful guys from Circus Skills.

By Saturday, the sun was blazing down, and after a few hours lazing around up by the Marquee stage, we made our way back down to the Hall for Justin Sullivan’s set. I always get slightly nervous before seeing Justin or NMA now. They were a huge influence in my teens, and I’d hate them to turn into some awful parody of past glories. I needn’t have bothered, as the boy Sullivan thumped out Green and Grey, Ocean’s Rising, You are Not our Heroes and more, with as much fire, passion and honesty as I’ve seen from any artist. Definitely the highlight of the weekend for me.

Next up were Saturday headliners, the Oyster band, and boy were these guys popular – it seemed the whole site emptied, stalls shut up shop, and a hush descended as any that hadn’t succumbed to heat exhaustion made their way indoors. Indeed, it was so busy that we had to abandon any hope of getting sight of them, and made our way back towards the other stage, and the delights of the newly restocked beer tent, where we stayed talking to many new friends until far later than we should have done.

Sunday morning and the temperature inside the van was approaching that of a blast furnace, so we fled out into the daylight for a couple of hours before heading off home. We wound up, once again by the Marquee Stage, where a number of solo folk musicians were playing. A number of faces stared forlornly at the beer tent, that long sold out, before making the trek to the bars in the hall which were doing a brisk trade.

So overall, did I succeed in my objective to like Big Session? In short, yes. For an inaugural year, the festival was staggeringly well put together – there was a great array of food and beer, showers were hot, toilets plentiful and clean, bins emptied and stuff recycled. Security were unobtrusive helpful and friendly, as was seemingly everyone connected to or working for the event. More importantly, the organisers have created an event that has the chilled out feel of a well-established festival, with a relaxed friendly atmosphere that seemed to put a smile on almost every face I saw. The acts I saw were great, though if I had one criticism, I think a little more live music on the Friday and Saturday evenings wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Speaking to one of the organisers over a beer on Saturday, it seems like the event was all but sold out, with around 1900 people on site. Hopefully that means that next year will see the second Big Session, and if there is, we’ll be there!

review by Simon Butler

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