Hawkwind are simply spectacular at Off The Tracks Spring

T'was a glorious summer day when we arrived at the Donington Park Farmhouse for the annual spring festival. One of my personal favourite festivals of the year, this spring proved to be just as dynamic, thoughtful, fun and as loved as previous years.

This festival is now well established, running for the last 24 years, I think they know what they're doing by now.

Situated in the centre of England on the Derbyshire/ Leicestershire/ Nottinghamshire borders close to the Castle Donington racetrack, it is easily accessible from most parts of the country.

The site is on a hotel/camping/caravan site with all the facilities one would expect from such a venue. Hook up points for live-in vehicles, showers, water points, genuine porcelain loos and washing up sinks.

The 1500 capacity ensures that the site does not become too crowded or busy and helps maintain a fairly intimate event. From the campsite one passes the 24hr dedicated first aid point, shower and toilet blocks and on to the market. Here we can find all manner of lovely goodies. Reasonably priced food stalls, clothing, jewellery, hats, even an Oxfam shop can be found here. There's also a cinema for the kids and a play area available to keep them entertained.

There are 2 stages, 1 large outdoor stage and a smaller one inside the barn and both were filled with quality, tried and tested bands. The music policy is diverse and varied. With a healthy balance of new, upcoming acts and seasoned performers there will always be an artist that will entrance and delight you. This year boasted some great acts. Headliners for the main stage for the festival were: Wilko Johnson on Friday, Hawkwind on Saturday and Dub Pistols on Sunday. All were absolutely fantastic. Wilko was the lead guitarist for Dr. Feelgood and is still a hugely exciting man to watch perform. With ex Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe they created an awesome, vibrant set. Hawkwind were simply spectacular, a dazzling light show and dancing girls and androids aplenty, it was a joy to behold. The Dub Pistols too were a class apart and soon had the entire courtyard bouncing and skanking and shaking their stuff.

The barn stage also had some class acts on. On Friday and Saturday nights, Cabbage, the Leeds based Psytrance funsters, provided a mix of live acts and DJs and rocked the place until the wee small hours of the morning. The ever popular drum workshop was held here as well as other live acts during the day and evening. Of particular note were the Nordic Giants who enthralled and astounded us with their intense, electrifying performance.

A real ale bar showcased a fine, expanded, (80 ales, ciders and perries!) selection of real ales whilst, for the first time this year, a separate cider and perry bar helped ease the wait to get served these reasonably priced special brews. There is a traditional bar inside serving lagers, wines and spirits. All the bars stayed open until late, with little impromptu jam sessions springing up sporadically.

The Energy Orchard is the place where to go to unwind, meditate and encounter some natural healing therapies. This year saw the Hare Krishnas bring a large tent to offer morning prayers, meditations, readings and talks. Other healing treatments are available including shiatsu, reflexology and other massage therapies. There are yoga sessions each day as well as workshops exploring subjects such as hands on healing and sound healing. A lovely area where you can explore both inner and outer space, a place to have a little break from the partying.

This festival is a firm favourite for many people; it's the fantastic bunch of folk who regularly come, the size and accessibility of the site, (you can walk from the far side of the campsite to the main stage in under 10 mins.), the lack of intrusive security and police, the fact that you can leave the kids in safe hands (there's a child safe system here), the excellent quality of the music, the selection of ales, the good quality food, the fancy dress Saturday nights... there really is so much fun and so many reasons to come here.

On the down side, there were issues with the water supply, which meant a few minutes' walk to the outside loos. A little inconvenient but this really is out of the control for the organisers, so they're not really at fault for that. There could be more announcements from the stage about what is happening elsewhere in the festival; for instance details about the other stage or what's happening in the energy orchard.

The organisers do listen to comments from punters and have addressed concerns or issues that have arisen in the past. For instance, the real ale bar did not run dry this weekend. Splendid management I'd say! Overall the team here are exceptional, working hard to ensure we have a great time. We do and thank you to you all of the crew, stewards, litter pickers (that includes you too Boz!) staff at the bars and especially the directors. You do do a small festival in a great way. Cheers. See you all in the autumn....

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