GuilFest 2010
Friday 16th to Sunday 18th July 2010Stoke Park, Guildford, Surrey., England MAP
£100 adult weekend, or £110 with camping; Children (12-16) £50 weekend, £60 with camping
Up with the sun and after the return of two of our party from the local Lido utilising the shower facilities it was in and onwards to sample the delights of the 'national phenomenon' of Rock Choir. It felt like we had stepped into an episode of Glee set at a music festival! Quite surreal but very good voices and songs from the massive ensemble of all ages.
In addition was the Backline Live Acoustic Stage, Ceroc Dance Tent, UNISON zone, Elemis Spa Bus, 70's Disco and all manner of other family friendly places to check out and get involved in.
The piece de resistance of eyebrow raising at random corporate festival stall has to go to TherapySucks. A stall where you pay to place your feet into a tank of water containing hundreds of little fish nibbling all the manky dead skin off your dirty feet and toes! I've seen it all now! The queues were enormous which meant at times you would walk by to be met by the sign 'The Fish are on a break'.
Time to return to the main stage to catch some of Naree. The lead singer had an amazing voice a mix of Pink and Kelly Clarkson and the music was an eclectic mix of indie, classical and even some Asian rock.
We got our timings wrong and unfortunately missed most of 'Twilight the Musical' in the Theatre Tent performed by kids from Man in the Moon youth theatre. A surreal mix of slow motion action and music from Chess!
And then... oh lord... why did we do it?... Ali Campbell's UB40. He was over an hour late and we still subjected ourselves to the pain of this excruciating performance. I couldn't even look at the man but somehow put up with the wailing until Red Red Wine caused an early exit/flee! The late arrival messed up the timings for the rest of the day but the appearance of the sun yellow zoot suit of a certain Kid Creole and his (certainly not the original but very fine) Coconuts brought a well deserved uplifting dose of silliness and tunes.
Na na niiiii! A huge audience of all ages (a little younger somewhat at the front than the back obviously) had gathered for N-Dubz. Tune after tune, Dappy, Tulisa and the other one romping about on beds having pillow fights acting out the popular songs, 3 or 4 costume changes in an hour long set and to be honest, one of THE best performances and highlights of the festival.
But having to consider age over beauty, I had to return to my musical roots and get back to the Main Stage to see the band that are my first musical memory. The Human League. A now virtually teenager free field is holding its hands in the air and singing along to tune after tune from Dare and all the other hits. Ignoring the out of tune wailing accompaniment from Joanne (the dark haired one of the backing singers), it's a great show topped off by the inevitable 'Don't You Want me Baby' and ended with '80s throwback 'Electric Dreams'. I am loving this retro fest.
review by: Lucy Robinson
photos by: Sarah Thomas
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