there's so much potential for Somersault to take things further in future

Somersault 2014

Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July 2014
Castle Hill, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32 0RH, England MAP
from £99.50, or £45 a day

The Sunday was by far the busiest day, there must have been many day tickets sold. Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars seemed to be the highlight of the day having got many people dancing and smiling with their joyous music. I took some time out of the sun for the circus tent and enjoyed the variety tent too, it was packed for a Karaoke session where members of the audience got to sing with a terrific Gospel choir.

I enjoyed the relaxing areas and saw less music than I would normally. I ran into old friends from around Devon and and made many new friends from around the country. Sat and chatted on benches by the river while eating good festival food. I watched families happily playing together and children experiencing new and wonderful things. It had a nice Sunday feeling and whilst the site was starting to get slightly littered it was far cleaner than almost any festival of it's size. Credit to the organisers and apparently Jack Johnson who'd made certain eco-requirements in his rider.

I'd been told that event apparently sold fast, much faster than the organisers expected by all accounts. They've luckily stumbled across the some thing that perhaps only people Devon had noticed which is that a lot of people visit the area.

The main act of the Sunday night was Ben Howard, who is considered a great singer-songwriter but perhaps even more loved here in his home county. His guitar playing is fantastic on record or live and his voice doesn't miss a note even on the more testing songs. It was my first time seeing him and I was blown away. Some of those surrounding me who had seen him many times felt disappointed that he played too many new songs. For me, having a crowd singing the words at volume when a musician is on form and playing their more famous songs is one of the best and magical experiences there is in life so to hear 'Only Love' or 'Keep Your Head Up' as a collective was really special.

Overall I really enjoyed the event but perhaps partly it's location and perhaps because I new many of the other people there due to the proximity to my home rather than the actual music atmosphere. There's so much potential in the site and so much potential for Somersault to take things further. I think there're big opportunities for the organisers to develop the festival in various directions and maybe that will be aimed at me and maybe at a different sector of society. I really do have no idea but I'm sure they'll have a good idea about what worked and what can be improved as they're experienced with other events.

In summary - Dear organisers, thanks for coming to Devon and putting this event on. I think we all want it back and we want it to develop and improve. Watch this space as I think Somersault will be growing stronger in the coming years.

review by: Richie Cadence