Y-Not Festival is, without doubt, an indie guitar festival of excess

I am lying on my back sandwiched between two hay bales somewhere in the stunning Peak District. I appear to have fallen through the gap. I only have a vague recollection of how I got here. Indeed, I could probably shut my eyes and fall asleep now. Hands grab mine and I am pulled from the hay hole (like a legal K Hole) by three burly young farmer types. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the excesses of Y Not. Just an hour earlier and things had been so much rosier. The Saturday sun was dropping and Ash had taken to the main outdoor stage (named the Big Gin Stage). They're a band I've seen a number of times before but I don't think they've sounded better than this. They combust their way through a set of greatest hits. Tim Wheeler is on fire (not literally, obviously) and the crowd aren't holding back in their adoration. Effortlessly progressing from 'A Girl From Mars' through to 'Burn, Baby, Burn', this set is one that grabbed the plaudits from all in attendance. Smoking. 

Oh Yes, Y Not is, without doubt, a festival of excess. There's an excessive amount of on-paper quality in the line-up across the many tents. Here we have genuine band clashes that rival the larger festivals. There's also excesses of weather. The Friday night thunderstorms are a sight to behold even though the lightning plays havoc with the headliners. There's an excessive and impressive range of real ale and farmhouse ciders on sight which at first glance seems odd. My initial perception of the average punter here is that they are lager lads and lasses (for whom the site only offers cans of Tuborg) but it soon becomes clear that ale is the alcohol of choice and there's no shortage of bars from which to buy it. 

Friday is all about getting our bearings. There's much to see and apart from the Big Gin Stage it's mostly under canvas or roof. There's essentially three fields of entertainment. One field plays host to the Big Gin Stage and a spacious bar, the Dolly Dagger, with rows of tempting looking barrels . Another field plays host to the second and third stages, the Quarry and the Giant Squid. There's dodgems, a shisha lounge and a roller disco in this field. By the side of the Quarry tent is The Watchtower Bar, another well provisioned real ale and cider bar with a mysterious looking wardrobe in the corner. The final field is made up of an assortment of entertainment venues which include a wild west like Saloon bar, a reggae tent and the Hog and Barrel, a traditional pub like venue (with hay bales!). In each field, an impressive array of food stalls, clothing tents and other accessories provide that festival feel. We wander from tent to tent taking in the entertainment within. 

That mysterious looking wardrobe in the corner of the Watchtower bar arouses my curiosity and so I look inside. A path leads from the back of the wardrobe out of the tent and down an alleyway of fences, covered in sack-like material. Graffiti on the sacks encourages me to progress further along. After thirty metres or so, the path opens into a tent, playing chilled out dance beats. There's hardly anybody here and I conclude that it's the secret nature of this space that's contributing to this emptiness. Over the course of the weekend, it appears that more and more people stumble upon this venue. Sound. 

We've done well this summer to only have slight sprinklings of rain at the festivals we've been too and an extreme one has been long overdue. This was the weekend for that. I'm watching Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip from a space I've found in the packed Quarry Tent. They're only a few songs into their set and it's apparent that something isn't quite right. There's confusion all around as their set seems to be cut mid song. The incredible storm that's been brewing for hours descends upon us. Thunder cracks and lightning forks through the gap in the canvas. A tannoy announcement permeates across the site and for Health and Safety reasons, we are told that musical entertainment can no longer continue!

I stumble past the Big Gin Stage, getting drenched in this downpour. I'm unable to tell if it's the Mystery Jets, or The Horrors who've been stopped in a similar way to Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip but I can tell that this is something to observe from the confines of my tent. I wake later that night with drips coming through my fabric. Like a fool, I'd forgotten to put the cover on its uppermost apex.

Saturday's weather is bright and the site mud turns from liquid to squelch to bounce over the course of the day. Sunday morning can't make it's mind up but early afternoon drizzle quickly becomes incessant and the ground again turns sticky. By the time that The Darkness headline, my boots are off and I'm listening to them from the reclined seat of my mud splattered car. I'm reminded that I never was a massive fan of Justin Hawkins and his over-elaborate dramatics but I amuse myself pondering how drowned this rat might look on stage. As you'd expect, the biggest cheers I hear from the crowd are reserved for 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' but, to be fair to The Darkness, I get a sense that they're putting on a show and doing it well, something that's confirmed when I ask others for their opinions the next morning. 

If you're looking for DJ's and the chance to dance into the night then Y Not probably isn't the festival for you. There are some places spinning tunes until half 1 or so but this is predominantly a line up of indie rock guitar bands. Y Not might have quirkily named tents, an impressively designed site and many places where you can sit and chill but there's ultimately no getting away from the fact that this is first and foremost a guitar based music festival. It seems right to highlight the acts that caught my eye across each of the stages. 

I'm pretty sure that you could have sat amongst the straw on the floor all weekend at the Hog and Barrel and had an entertaining Y Not. We caught Haiku Salut in there on Saturday lunchtime and I'm bowled over. This Derbyshire based trio don't depend upon guitars for their kicks but utilise glockenspiels, accordions, ukuleles and laptops to create an instrumental folky electronica. It's a great way to usher in the sunshine after the previous nights stormy weather. Back here on Sunday evening, I chuckle at the acoustic hip hop of Alex Blood & The Diggers. They're an East Midlands act that's largely passed me by but when they launch into their 'Don't Go To The Racist Village' song, I'm hooked and feel compelled to find out more about them. 

The Allotment tent is mostly hosting bands from and associated with the region. Park Bench Society headline this tent on the Saturday night in the gap between Ash and The Cribs rocking out the main stage. Young and ridiculously talented, Park Bench Society play a ska-infused indie that gets the crowd standing together in appreciative unity. An increasing number of festivals are running competitions for the chance to play at them and Blue Sunday appear to be the recipients of the Road To Y Not prize. Appropriately programmed on a drizzly lunchtime the day after Saturday, their derivative three piece indie shouldn't fail to bring them more festival slots in 2014. Little Night Terrors close the Allotment stage on the Sunday evening. This Leicester based band, formed out of the fragments of the Displacements show they know how to write a melody as they swagger confidently through their set of indie cool kid tunes. 

I don't get to see a full set in the Giant Squid. I'm either drawn into the tent just as a band are coming to an end or for a song or two when I'm on my way elsewhere. I catch the end of My First Tooth on Friday. There's a symmetry to their presentation on stage and their beefed up folk-pop thing elicits many goofy smiles from those present. Photographer Phil tells me that Maybeshewill were euphoric and Wet Nuns exhilarating but maybe these sets demanded that I was there from start to finish for I simply found no way to access the joy from these bands that others were obviously getting. 

Georgie Rose How gets my attention in The Quarry tent. I'd been impressed when I saw her earlier this year in a support slot but here is a precocious talent that's developing with each performance. Her band now seem more comfortable on stage and her rich Adele-like vocal and songwriting prowess continues to develop. The History of Apple Pie are an act that come recommended and their shoegaze sound has a certain charm though it does feel a little fluffy and lacking in fruit in the expanse of this tent. 

I've already mentioned that Ash were a real highlight of the weekend but pulling hard on their coat-tails are the wonderful Drenge. The sun is out on the Sunday afternoon and they make a noise that totally belies their look. This duo have their traditions in blues-rock but the impact with which they display their teenage angst is invigorating. You can see why critics and fans alike are raving about these brothers this summer. New to me are Dingus Khan but I'll definitely be heading out to see them again soon. Three drummers, three bassists, songs that are at one moment screamo-rock and then whistling lilts, this is pretty unconventional stuff. They're one of my favourite acts I see all weekend. 

Y Not is a quality festival. We're told that the capacity grew this year and that the site had expanded but (apart from a couple of nightmares in trying to get into the Quarry tent when Electric Six, and The 1975 were playing) it's a festival that feels busy but not uncomfortably so. Chatting to people around the site, it has a loyal fanbase and it generates much respect from the bands that play. It has quirks and decorative fancy but ultimately this is a festival about indie guitar music and on that front it pulls out all the stops.

Latest Updates