Wattsfest whilst small and quiet is full of character, imagination and kindness

Wattsfest is a tiny festival held on some farmland lost in the hills of Devon. It was sign-posted from the M5 exit, so if you looked out for handwritten signs you would have found your way easily. Nonetheless festival-goers got lost and ended up driving up and down countryside roads for up to one hour before getting to the driest and sunniest festival of the season. Can you imagine a festival with no rain and no mud? Can we still call it festival?

Wattsfest has been going for several years and was originally planned to happen in June this year, but was cancelled. For everybody's joy it was back on the second weekend of September. I suspect it was not massively advertised though, as there were very few punters. Everybody seemed to be actively involved either as musician, performer, steward or organiser. This resulted in a very intimate and creative atmosphere: music was not only performed on stage but everywhere, from the car park to the camp-site and the main field. I had personally seen a guy sitting in the boot of a car in the car park playing a keyboard and drum kit all day on Saturday.

Wattsfest 2012 was so creative and original that you could find a fire spitting dragon to warm you up at night, the youngest and shortest policemen arresting and dragging off stage Ron Tree, featuring as front man of The Timelords, and much more. Actually most people were not surprised that The Timelords' front man was forced off stage by the police crew as he was definitely behaving suspiciously on stage, shouting and talking nonsense: great performance!

Lots of kids had a great time at Wattsfest, playing around with hula-hoops and poi, jumping in the hay and running in the fields. Wattsfest is also one of the few pet friendly festivals left. The organiser himself, Bobbie the farmer, walks around surrounded by his pack of dogs, so no surprise that dogs are welcome here. Along with dogs, cats were there too, in particular Stan the cat who managed to bravely keep dogs away from our camping spot.

The choice of food and drinks was quite limited; although the quality of beverage was fairly good, the same cannot be said for food. More local healthy food would have been appreciated. Especially when partying on a farm, at least a hog roast would be in order. On top of that there were no doughnuts, which is a big miss that makes me wonder: can we still call it a festival?

Music was played in three tents, the Marquee Stage fitted with armchairs and sofas for the public to chill, the smaller and beautifully decorated Dome stage fitted with old school hippie paintings and UV strings all over, and the never disappointing dance tent where DJ Purple Rabbit was busy for very long hours. The music played comprised different genres: punk, folk, progressive rock, dub, reggae and ska. It was provided by local artists, and I have heard they were paid in cider.

Mozura warmed up the first night with their sweet harmonies. The band is composed by three singers/songwriters (Mo Oram, Laura Turley and Rich Austin) playing alt-blues with acoustic guitars, double bass and a guest cajón player (Andy Shaw) for the night.

The rock-folk band The Jax (which includes Max Jurczyk and Joe Hodges) really went for it later in the Dome stage. They not only performed their songs, but also made the crowd part take in the gig to the point that they called on stage a random girl from the public to sing their last piece, a Ben Howard's song, with them.

The Lost Souls gave all the energy to start the Saturday afternoon with their powerful punk/garage/psychobilly played with guitar, drums and vigorous double bass. The band is composed by three stylish musicians dressed in black and covered with tattoos, lead by a lively lady singer (Kat Williams).

The music for the rest of the day was very varied. Cider Fecks played their nonsense folk/bluegrass with a strange oil-drum double bass, ukulele, banjo and guitar.


The Azimuth Coordinator provided a very interesting prog/psychedelic rock played with alto saxophone along with the usual guitars, bass and drums. Later at night the crowd really enjoyed the several skanking opportunities supplied by the LionKing's reggae/ska first and by the reggae/dub of Jabbrock later.

Overall, Wattsfest was not massively attended and a bit over-priced for a tiny festival in a very pretty location with local bands you can normally listen to for free or at most a few quid in local venues. Still it was a great event because it was full of character, imagination and kindness. Stewards were very friendly and polite even with people who jumped the gate and were found with no wristband. To conclude we can definitely call it a festival and maybe bigger festivals might could take a leaf from it for how it creates such a good atmosphere.

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