What Rocked and What sucked.........

[LOCHLAND5]

Rocked

 

Grandmaster Flash , highlight of the weekend for me.

 

The vaccines , did better than i thought they would as a headliner.

 

Meeting folk i've not seen for a couple of years.

 

Space and set up in emperor well worth the extra money

 

Snoop Dogg 

 

 

Sucked....

 

 

Mud

 

Super Furries.

 

The kaiser Chiefs , The bizzare video when Dave Grohl told them they were shit was true.

 

£4.40 for a 330ml bottle of Bulmers cider .

 

No Draught lager !

 

And not seeing my mate Lippy all weekend , hope your coming back soon!

 

 

 

 

[D_R]

Rocked:

Getting off the train at 9:20 and being in and camped up by 10:45.

Being able to walk round the whole arena in 20 minutes.

Horse Meat Disco being on the bill for the Virgin stage next to the lake.

The general vibe around the place.

Having a shower each morning. I used the Club Class showers at 7am when they opened. No queue.

Sucked:

Not seeing Horse Meat Disco. Don't know if they were late or didn't show.

Missing almost every act I wanted to see, and seeing acts I don't like.

The mud.

Realising I can't be bothered sleeping in a tent for 3 nights and going home a day early, and missing even more.

[Stevetheman]

Had a good w/e. Every part rocked

The only bits that sucked for me/I would liked to have seen are.

Those metal roads that you see at other fests especially in well trodden areas.

Was the camping area too small for the amount of ppl?we got there Friday at 9:30am and there wasn't a lot left really.

The tragedy on Thursday night. Put a bit of a low on the ambience. My thoughts are with his family and close friends.

[Richbith]

Loved.......

The real ale tent - atmosphere and huge range of beers

General friendly atmosphere - especially so in the Shires

Elbow

Soul 2 Soul

James

Levellers

Location, scenery

Not so loved.......

The Thursday afternoon crawl through Shap to the site

Bloody mud

Club Class - overpriced

Bit too overcrowded at times and definitely needed more camping space from what I saw

[jamj]

Rocked

 

James, Black Rivers, The Vaccines, Embrace, Soul II Soul, Snoop Dogg, Slamboree, Kaisers & The fireworks

 

The expanded Woodland and everything going on in it, The Lakeside Area & The Jagerhaus - great new additions

 

Our spot in emperors and our neighbours - a good nights sleep makes all the difference to my mood!

 

Emperors campsite toilets were clean enough

 

Came child free this year but popped my head into the kids area and thought it had improved from just having that one ladybird tent, can't comment on actual activities though.

 

Sucked

 

The detour around the site for emperors only to still have to join a queue for over an hour to crawl to wristband and into the car park - a few portaloos might have lessened the pain - however I feel we got away lucky with just an hour after reading some comments on the fb page.

 

The queues for the manky toilets in the arena, there didn't seem to be an increase in toilets to match the increased capacity

 

The mud although I expected it and was prepared it got tedious by sunday night

 

Calling out stage times always seemed to be running well behind, I hate waiting

 

Ella Eyre - thought she was crap

 

That it's all over

[tunstallhill]

Rocked-

Kate tempest

Craig Charles in the wolf woods pen

Mr B the Gentrleman Rhymer

3 of the best turns I've seen in 4 years

Didn't seem any bad turns really, but over heard Ella eyre and that's not my type of music. Modern generic and boring... But I simply went off to see someone else so can't really grumble.

Queues for the toilets seemed a lot worse than previous years and never seemed to let up. Plus drinks prices were taking the mick, was it that expensive last year??

Excellent weekend as per usual, emperors tickets well worth the extra, security seemed much more relaxed, great atmosphere, made lots of new friends. Roll on 2016 (sleaford mods pleeeeese)

[Tug life]

I've covered non musical aspects elsewhere so shall limit this to entertainment only.

Rocked-

Kaiser Chiefs; one of the best headliners so far, only bettered by Blonde for me.

Levellers; excellent as always.

Billy Bragg, Red Corner, Turbowolf, and Mickey P Kerr also deserve a mention, as well as so many others we saw over the weekend.

Sucked-

Elbow; not a huge fan before the festival, not a huge fan after.

Snoop dog; 20 minutes late, but at least he finished on time.

The hotpots; should have been main stage, they can get a crowd warmed up brilliantly.

[efcfanwirral]

I'll also go for just entertainment here - music wise I had a great time, just not so sure about the crowd/people and other bits which I'll deal with in the other thread!

Rocked:

Blossoms - seem to get better and better each time, no issues with a bit crowd

Black rivers (from the tent in emperor's as we'd just dumped everything down to get to blossoms in time after the Thursday queues) was good to hear Pounding and their own stuff sounds good.

James - good setlist, good crowd and a nice chilled Thursday evening. Shame that changed but I'll put that in the other thread later!

Augustines - dealt with the major technical issues very well and were way better live than I expected

Vaccines - improved majorly since I last saw them, love the new album so good to see it live and that last half hour of hits was brilliant.

Lucy rose - really liked her, recognised more than I expected and will be getting the albums.

Super furry animals - a significant upgrade on kodaline even if people didn't seem to be interested i enjoyed it as it was the first time I've seen them

PSB - left elbow after newborn and caught Everest, which is our new favourite song since Glastonbury. In retrospect should've just gone there in the first place after getting annoyed with the elbow crowd.

Grant Nicholas- solo stuff very good, distinctive voice but very different musically. Again will be getting the album

Billy Bragg - only recently got into his music so wasn't sure what to expect but he was very entertaining, and persuasive with his political talk but also did light hearted stuff as well. Very impressed.

embrace were excellent i thought - the layered vocals more than make up for Danny's voice being so bad now. Good singalong

What we saw of kaiser Chiefs was great, and I saw modern way live for the first time in almost a decade before we left for...

The sunshine underground- one back from the barrier in the woodlands and it was amazing, highlight of the weekend for me by far, though I expected it would be from when they got announced. Got a setlist too for the first time in my years of gig going.

Sucked:

Temples - love the album, but live is just like listening on record. Disappointing, which is a shame.

Soul to soul - don't know what I was expecting but didn't really like it.

Ella eyre - only because we ended up just listening to it over the hill due to dawdling.

Elbow - the whole site turned up and talked through the first few songs, sang along to what I'm sure most thought was called 'on a day like this' thankfully early in the set then more than half fucked off. Luckily we went back down to the crowd after a major strop from me and it was better after that shit song cleared out the absolute idiots.

The crowd during bands - the worst festival I've ever been to for talking through entire sets, even near the front. It was either that or starting mosh pits to the vaccines. Was only good for older / earlier acts and on Thursday.

[chuckles07]

Elbow - the whole site turned up and talked through the first few songs, sang along to what I'm sure most thought was called 'on a day like this' thankfully early in the set then more than half fucked off. Luckily we went back down to the crowd after a major strop from me and it was better after that shit song cleared out the absolute idiots.

The crowd during bands - the worst festival I've ever been to for talking through entire sets, even near the front. It was either that or starting mosh pits to the vaccines. Was only good for older / earlier acts and on Thursday.

This! We did exactly the same for Elbow and James, and the Levellers. Much better closer to the stage, and strangely probably more room than at the back. Probably because of the following.....

The camping chair/picnic blanket brigade who park on the hill from midday till headliners or subs come on are also a pain. Seems like they talk through and don't pay much attention to most bands. Apart from strangely, Snoop....

But lots of good stuff. Elbow and Levellers, with James who smashed it on Thursday, Snoop for putting on the best pantomime I've been to since Pussin boots in 1970....Nick Mulvey, Augustines, didn't know anything about them but was impressed.

And a mention in despatches must be made for uncle Billy Bragg. You gotta love him - makes you think, makes you laugh, and is getting a better and better Singing voice as he gets older. Top top bloke.

Thought Kaisers tried to hard, maybe trying to follow Snoop dunno? Having said that the put down to the arsehole with the laser and the bore with the sign was excellent. Respect.

Spent a few early afternoons around Chai Wallahs and have to say that there were a few of the acts who were very good. Really like the set up. Shame about the row from the Glow tent!

[Vamagus]

Rocked

James - well clearly it's James. :-) plus enjoyed the teenage girl discussion "yeah James - heard he's good". Feel vey old now

British Sea Power - great set complete with foliage, bear and whiskey crowd surfing.

Plastic Mermaids and Rhain - individually excellent but together something special happens

Black Honey - mere slip of a girl with so much attitude she got an entire tent on its knees in the mud

The Talks - sheer dancing joy.

Mark Lanegan Band - growling menace at its best.

Augustines - dealt well with the large stage and technical issues. Always a riveting watch.

Dutch Uncles - not entirely sure what we saw but it was mesmerising.

Emmy the Great - a pool of tranquility and beautiful singing (also good at embarrassing her brother)

Northern Soul Dance class - great to watch. May try next time.

The majority of the people who quite frankly were lovely

The deer lodge team who helped push us out the car park mud

The strumpets with crumpets - yum! Though pretty sure one of their strumpets was a fella.

I'm sure there's more but this is what I can think of after a 6 hour drive home.

Sucks

The mud

The security (lack thereof)

Snoop Dogg - does his mother know he uses language like that?

Temples - meh. Heard it all before.

Young Kato - just couldn't see what the fuss was about

[cincoveces05]

The Good

 

Public Service Broadcasting - Highlight of the weekend for me, brilliant stuff

Funke and the Two Tone - a close second

Augustines

The whole Woodlands area - saw quite a few bands there, really nice place to just sit back for a bit

Krafty Kuts on the Friday night

 

The Bad

 

Drink Prices - I know it's a festival but 4.40 for a 330ml bottle of cider is a piss-take

Super Furry Animals - just didn't seem interested

Jaguar Skills not being on - anyone know what happened there?

Mud on the Sunday - nothing much that can be done about that though

 

Finally - That fucking tool with the 'I need a shit' sign, i'm sure he was following me, seemed to be stood in my way at every single band I wanted to see - Having an unfunny sign which has already been done multiple times doesn't make up for your lack of a personality!

 

Top time overall though

[thurlow84]

Black Honey - mere slip of a girl with so much attitude she got an entire tent on its knees in the mud

All except me, i was the bloke she threatended to kneecap because i wouldnt get down (bad knee being the reason i couldnt, rather than didnt want to) which i enjoyed

They were great though looking forward to hear more from them though.

[IbizaPrincess]

 

The Bad

 

Jaguar Skills not being on - anyone know what happened there?

 

I was really looking forward to Jag, can't see anything anywhere about why did didn't play.

 

Good

• First time at KC, nice little festival would recommend it
• Hip Hop Chip Shop - me and my mates love this place in Manc so were made up they were at KC
• Club Class - seen a few people unhappy but we all were grateful we got them
• James - were epic
• Snoop - i enjoyed him
• Elbow, good but not as good as I've seen them previously, something lacking
• Grand Master Flash - brilliant we had a right old dance
• Dutch Uncles - band were good but the singer was distracting by his horrific dancing
• Black Rivers - when i heard Pounding my heart was pounding, brilliant
• Great variety of food stalls, not just burger vans
• Fever Tree was great but also bad as the queue was always horrific.
• Kendalino train - great on the way to kendal, not so great on way back, didn't even have a shop open and took 2.5 hours to Manchester
• Virgin Birthday Bash - great area by the river, good dis

Bad

• The mud - just makes it hard work and they don't seem as prepared for it as other festivals, where was the metal flooring? Not enough wood chip. Made it dangerous, I've already broken a limb at a festival before, was worried id do it again
• Glow tent capacity was terrible, we turned up for Jag and it was 1 in 1 out, same with Grove Armada last night
• Set timings, would make sense to stagger them as one band would finish and id usually wander to another but you'd find an empty tent
• Teenagers - say no more, too many drunk / off their faces, rude, ignorant. Where are their parents?! ( i sound old but some looked to be about 14 and couldn't look after themselves)
• Teenagers (mainly) / idiots pushing past you constantly as you are trying to watch a band then having a conversation in front of you as they don't know the band

Edited August 4, 2015 by IbizaPrincess

[sharkey2007]

Rocked

 

Being in Deer Lodge .... staff were excellent, within 10 mins of being on site was outside tent with a beer in hand and the friendliness of everyone in tents around us. The toilets on Deer Lodge were also more than decent.

 

Bands

Public Service Broadcasting and James stand outs for me!                

Northside, Black Rivers, The Gramatones and Aziz Ibrahim Q & A's,                  

Unpopular I am sure............but Ella Eyre surprised me, didn't watch the whole set but the first half she was decent, the catsuit helped I'm sure!

 

My bro being stopped by random strangers to have their photograph taken with him because of his Jacket being covered in "mooncats" - it just confused the shit out of him and was constantly happening. 

 

Sucked........

 

Mud

People carrying babies strapped to them while walking through mud, one slip and you are in serious trouble you idiots! 

Toilets in Arena - not enough. 

No draught lager and £4.00 for a can of Fosters! I expect to pay more but that is taking the proverbial

No bands really disappointed although not a fan of The Vaccines and they did nothing to change that.

Set times......should be staggered better. Lulls when nothing on anywhere, not difficult to sort that!

The amount of people that got excited for The Baron Knights......sorry I mean the Lancashire Hotpots.

Same goes for Everley Pregnant Bros. Why did they do 4652 sets over the weekend? 

The fact the Kaiser Chiefs are now just "Ricky from the Voice"

Edited August 3, 2015 by sharkey2007

[Zissou]

Sunshine Underground were the highlight for me, along with the lack of searching entering the arena which allowed me to smuggle in several cans every time I went past.

What was poor: the mud, and Less Than Jake (don't get me started on the Hotpots!)

Thought it was a great weekend.

[Vamagus]

Rocked

 

My bro being stopped by random strangers to have their photograph taken with him because of his Jacket being covered in "mooncats" - it just confused the shit out of him and was constantly happening. 

 

"

To be fair it was an impressive jacket and hard to miss

[Lowther Calling]

Rocked:

 

Less Than Jake, you just don't get anything like that at KC! and that was about the 26th time i've seen them

 

The professionalism of the security, there is a marked change in tone from them.

 

The woodlands area was amazing along with the performance artists in there, spent quite a bit of time in there, the kids loved the performances too!

 

Free wifi in the JagerHaus.  If you have your own business you'll know why!

 

Beardyman was awesome!

 

Babyhead in Chai Wallahs was one of the best bands of weekend.

 

People stopping me constantly to tell me how beautiful my children are (very proud), and didn't expect to have the reaction to my oldest being dressed as iron man, stopped lots for high 5's!

 

What sucked:

 

The kids area was very poor in relation to what was there in previous years and the big birthday party bash tipped as something big was basically pass the parcel :|

 

Elbow as a headliner? Really???  i mean I could see them headlining a festival for depressives, but not a headline act.

 

Hotpots on the woodlands stage:  Trying to squeeze about 5000 people in to that tiny space was a joke!

Edited August 3, 2015 by Lowther Calling

[sharkey2007]

To be fair it was an impressive jacket and hard to miss

Haha, yeah fair point! 

[DGrant261]

What rocked

 - Public service broadcasting

 - Everly pregnant brothers

 - Riot jazz tent at night

 - Final night of calling out

 - Woodlands at night time

 - Bill Bragg's words and music

 - Fuse ODG/Lucy Rose/Augustines

 - Super Furry Animals surprise booking! 

 - Honeyblood killing it in Jagerhouse

 - Jagerhouse in general (Esp. Music bingo quiz)

 - Bargain clothes for sale in Oxfam tent

 - Grandmaster flash's set

 - Little tea selling tent next to riot jazz

 - The kitchen selling full english breakfasts

 - The 50 year old man I made friends with in James' set and saw again during Elbow's set

 - Being able to manage smuggling 5 cans into the area from my tent in one go

 

What sucked

 - Toilets particularly bad by festival standards imo

 - Lack of enthusiasm in the Horrors crowd (Felt I was the only one who knew any of the words)

 - People thinking Dave Grohl was actually gonna come onstage with Kaiser's around me

 - That whole pointless sketch in general

 - All the nobheads my age camping around me who went literally for glow tent and snoop

 - Elbow doing One Day Like This so early

 - Northside dissapointingly, no as tight as I'd have hoped

 - Drink prices in the main area

Edited August 3, 2015 by DGrant261

[neato]

What rocked

• James 
• Woodlands area in general
• Catching people and loving their sets - Louis Berry & Cactus Knives
• Beardyman
• Richie Campbell in Chai Wallahs
• Tibetan Kitchen (I could live on momos, and one of the few places you could get a soft drinks for a quid)
• Soapbox
• The accessible campsite team
• The Levellers
• Craig Charles 

Sucked

• Toilets in arena - there didn't seem to be enough of them for the increased people this year
• The queueing for hours trying to get in - we missed the meetup drinks
• The mud - I had to leave early on Sunday as I just couldn't get about any more. Oddly we commented earlier on that they seems to be proactively woodchipping on Friday...and it seemed to go downhill from there
• £4.20 for Fosters...or 330ml Heineken or Bulmers....wwwhhhaaat?

All in all, absolutely top weekend

[Elliot render]

Male 32 first time at Kendal, stayed in "great Holmes" Had a great time, and my moans are only due to me lying in my tent hungover over thinking

Rocked

Bands

Beardyman (too early tho), James, vaccines, augustines, elbow, snoop dogg, bipolar sunshine, the sunshine underground (highlight of the weekend) a 90's house set in tim peaks on Sunday after bipolar finished and sunshine underground started. And indie classics at calling out.

Stores in the camping area

Fireworks

The kids having a great time, think it started give our lass ideas tho?!?!?

Jägerhaus

Woodlands area

Real ale tent

Toilets (Thursday to Sunday evening) I was using the the urinals in the arena so can't comment on the the porta loos but in the camping area during the day they were fine

Location and setting

Alan!!!

Rocked/sucked

Security,

Rocked- took a bag with booze (4 cans) also had some spirits on my person aswell, every time I went into the arena

Sucked- didn't see any one get a proper search even after the sad events of Thursday evening, had to split two fights up one outside of the shops in and camping area and the security guy just casually walked over, and one in the main arena.

Sucked

Site info

Been told very little on site about what was happing after Thursday night, it was my mam of all people who text me and asked if everyone was ok, I over heard quite a few kids say it's just the "blue pills" that are dangerous?!?!?, I know Kendal put messages on social media, but who checks that at a festival.

Mud

I know it can't be helped at a festival, but when it turns into a bog like it did, you need to get out the wood chips and straw. I felt sorry for anyone with small children or walking difficulties

Campsite layout

It needs the metal/rubber paths down, people then know where to pitch up too, you would properly be able to get more tents in, and don't produce a site layout with paths running through the camping fields and then just end up with 1 massive free for all where I end up next to a group of little doyles it will take me some time to get over the hatred for any one called, Joe, Josh, or Joal, oh and the lighting could be better.

16 to 22 year olds

Far to many of them, however I never seen that many in the arena

Bulmers

Why have a bulmers arena, and then only sell 2 flavours.

No draught larger/cider

Toilets Sunday night and Monday,

Lanyard

It was a pain seeing who was on at what time on what stage. It would be a lot better if it was all on one page bit like a clash finder

All in all a great weekend

[InMuseWorld]

Rocked :

James! Great setlist and performance all around! And the crowd were electric at the front!

Toilets! Not one bad toilet experience all wknd! Akways more than clean enough! And seemed to have enough of them Aswell (from a mans point of view anyway!)

Real Ale Tent! Good variety! Changed daily! Fair price! Gd quality stuff!

A few surprise acts really stood out! Mostly being Hudson Taylor!

Getting an ideal caliber of band to replace Kodaline at short notice! Even though I was disappointed in the switch!

Sucked!

2-3 hour que time waiting to get into car park!

Not enough bark/wood chips used!

No announcement or even a message on the screen that Kodaline had pulled out! Surely they kno lots of people won't be connected with social media whilst there???

Elbow! I'm a fan myself but wasn't a gd experience... Wrong setlist for a festival headline crowd... struggled to get the crowds attention on numerous occasions... Moved to 3-4 different areas in crowd and seemed relatively the same in all... Chatting disinterested crowd... Which I think could have been avoided somewhat with a more upbeat setlist...

[efcfanwirral]

Elbow! I'm a fan myself but wasn't a gd experience... Wrong setlist for a festival headline crowd... struggled to get the crowds attention on numerous occasions... Moved to 3-4 different areas in crowd and seemed relatively the same in all... Chatting disinterested crowd... Which I think could have been avoided somewhat with a more upbeat setlist...

Ha nice to know its not just me with elbow. But I disagree on the setlist, they went with familiarity mainly and the more upbeat ones were old that the majority don't know anyway. They don't have many popular upbeat ones they didn't play, and they only have one big singalong whatever happens. I'm glad it got done early and people could just leave.

Edited August 3, 2015 by efcfanwirral

[Radgie Gadgie]

3rd KC for me

Rocked

Carvetti Stage !!!!! Great idea Kendal Calling

The Church on Friday night were the best thing i've ever seen at a festival. Hilarious.

Hermagerville ,who played to 3 of us at about 2am as if he was headlining Glastonbury.

In fact the Lost Eden was the most wonderful , vibrant , cool addition to the festival.

Augustines , my favourite band , bloody sound problems , cut the set short ,

they reacted brilliantly. Top form

Grandmaster Flash , amazing set and vibe , my mates really didn't want to go

but are now glad they did.

Avec Sans in the house party , what was that light thing he was playing????

Chimes in Jagerhaus on Saturday , sucessfully using Calvin Harris' formula. Great fun.

Dj Yoda and The Virgin Lakeside area. Loved the young kids fist pumping Yoda at the front.

Riot Jazz....everything we saw was amazing , don't know why we don't spend more time there.

A big shout out to The Seychelles food stall , world class chicken curry for £6

Two Real Ale tents....yay !!!! nice area for avoiding the "glow crowd"

Fever Tree !!! Oh yes.

Massive Bubbles.

Security lads at Emperors entrance.

Toilets in emperors.

Sucked

Traffic,missing Sunset Sons because of said traffic.

Mud , mud , mud , fell on me arse 3 times on sunday and cut my hand on a rusty can

The sound in House Party was embarrassing for all. Hacienda night was a joke.Felt for DJ's.

Bloody noise from Bulmers area during main stage performances.

Merchandise only going up to XL is bang out of order for us fatties.

Not being able to get within 20 yards of the Glow tent for Groove Armada....bah!

Queues for toilets are shocking. The capacity has almost doubled in 3 years , but there doesn't seem to be any more bogs ? You had no chance if you were female in the woods at night oo-er.

No Jaguar Skills , no Shy FX ? replaced by Roni Size(fair enough) and Randall????

It seemed that whoever we went to watch were anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes late.Weird.

finally. Sort the drink situation out man.

It's the best festival for Food stalls and Real Ale for me.

Your sponsors are Heinekin and Bulmers , same as the Isle of Wight Festival.

The Heinekin bar at Isle of Wight is amazing , introduce that and you're halfway there.

Also , seriously consider doing something with Love Your Tent and their Respect idea.

Campsite is a disgrace on Monday , people should be ashamed.

It will save you a couple of days tidying up.

Great weekend , Lost Eden and a great line up made it for us.

Traffic , mud and capacity issues better improve next year.

[gorfield]

first time for me and was really impressed.. i used to love leeds festival as i fiond glastonbury way too big and too much like hard work.

 

this has a bit of both, its small but has a more glasto feel.

 

Loved.

 

The closeness of my mates camp and the campervan field - just a stones throw away

Augustines

BRITISH SEA POWER - just WOW

Sunshine underground

Furries!!!!! dream come true

Champs

disco on after the bands which stops the campsites becoming like war zones! ( like leeds!)

The lakeside area

Katsu curry noodles

being able to take a 2 litre bottle of coke into the arena with you - saved us a lot of money.

being able to get from one stage to another in under 5 minutes

 

 

 

Didn't like

 

MUD - they need some metal roads through the main campsite, it was really difficult to get around.

3 hour crawl from the motorway junction to the festival!!!

Kids on drugs
Kids blowing things up and setting things on fire in the campsite

lack of security towers around campsites to stop these cretins - there were children camped near us FFS

£4.20 for a CAN of lager. good job i had a good way of sneaking loads in.

Food prices in the campsites were pretty ludicrous. I had to laugh when someone asked me for 7.50 for chilli and rice.

 

although all these things happen at all the other festivals too.