Now in it’s 17th year and with a capacity that has grown from a small garden party to 17000 people Standon Calling stays just on the right side of being that small(ish), family friendly, accessible, safe festival where anyone and everyone can have a great weekend of live music and a whole host of other activities. What it’s not is a festival for anyone who is particularly keen on a specific range of musical genres. Standon Calling caters for those who simply enjoy listening to a whole cross section of music, some of which they’ll really focus on, sing-a-long to, dance to, maybe scream to and even be on the verge of welling up with emotion as their musical heroes dance across the stage. Some of the offerings will simply be that comforting background sound as they chill out over a few drinks with their mates, much like having Radio 2 on in the background at home when someone visits. Like all great festivals aimed at families there’s a whole host of other things on offer. There’s ‘mini raves’ for children, facepainting, lessons teaching skateboard tricks and manoeuvres, a fairground, a swimming pool, a wellbeing area, a small disco tent that attracts hordes of teenage teeny-boppers all hanging around trying to be the coolest kid on the block, a bigger woodland dance stage hammering out club sounds until the early hours of the morning. For a Northerner heading to a festival down south the bar prices are surprisingly reasonable for a festival – beer/lager/cider all hovering around £6 – £6.50/pint. The £2.00 reusable plastic pint ‘glass’ means whole areas are no longer covered in discarded plastic. Foodies are well catered for – from fish and chips, noodles, Indian wraps right through to gourmet catering in a small area away from the main buzz of the place. Food prices are, however, extortionate. £9.00 for chips and a sauce anyone? £12.00 for a vegetarian wrap? And for anyone who likes fairground rides you might consider getting a loan – £9.00 for the ‘chair-o-plane’ (only fair to mention that during ‘happy hour’ this drops to £7.00).
Festival staff are friendly, helpful, efficient. The family camping area was quiet and spacious whenever we walked through it, the campervan pitches are generous.
Is this also the only dog-friendly music festival? There’s even a dog show on the Sunday morning and yes, dogs can be taken into the arenas whilst you watch the bands – the sensible owners staying at the back.
Little wonder then that Standon Calling sees every age group – from toddlers in pushchairs/perched on parents shoulders to those who have been collecting their pension for ages.
What about the music? You can’t please everyone all of the time but you can please most people most of the time and some people some of the time and Standon does the last two brilliantly. Work and the four hour drive mean we can’t get here for the Thursday which is a shame because by all accounts The Human League were excellent.
Friday, the sun shines, we catch the laid back MC/rap of KhakiKid, the quirky pop of Ellie Dixon who puts to music perfectly the stresses and often found negativity in the lives of youngsters nowadays. 49th & Main deliver a set of laid back dreamy dance-pop whilst Thomas Headon absolutely bursts with youthful energy and literally beams as he bounces round the stage delivering perfect summer festival vibes with sing-a-longs such as ‘Georgia’. Even security are dancing in the pit. Flowerovlove bring RnB grooves and positivity when she gets a group of youngsters on stage and asks the crowd to scream their approval for each one. There’s even £50 in cash for the person in the crowd who screams loudest.
4.30pm delivers one of the absolute highlights of the weekend. Sprints hammer out 45 minutes of superb garage power-punk. Sprints don’t do quiet and even on an outdoor stage their sonic noise engulfs the place. Passionate, angry, in-your face, full on, non-stop energy that simply demands you shout along. This Dublin four piece have played plenty of festivals before, including Glastonbury and 2000 Trees, and they’ve been rising for a few years. Now is the time to catch them in a smallish venue when they next tour. Friday afternoon and I might have already seen my favourite of the weekend.
Over on the main stage Scouting For Girls bring a set of crowd-pleasing middle of the road indie-pop to a huge audience who clearly adore them. The absolute dedication to this band by some of those at the barrier is written all over their faces.
Dylan is, potentially, soon to be a massive star. A self confessed lover of rock music and proper rock n roll she admits to only being able to write pop songs. But she does this with an incredibly infectious energy, including her own take on Guns N Roses ‘Paradise City’.
We Are Scientists absolutely own the Laundry Meadows stage for their early evening slot. The crowd love them.
For whatever reasons Anastacia will only allow photographers working for the festival itself, not those working for online publications, into the pit. No photos, no review.
Squid on the other hand don’t mind a pit full of cameras although they seem a little bemused about why so many are present to capture them. Another absolute highlight of the weekend Squid never disappoint with their quirky mix up of rock, improvised jazz, funk and a DIY punk attitude. Tonight is no different and whilst some in the crowd seem a little confused about what is playing out in front of them there’s a significant presence who do know, and appreciate, that not all music needs to be accessible to all. Brilliant.
Mainstage headliner Years & Years, now the solo project of Olly Alexander, round the night off with a fantastic, brilliantly staged show packed full of electro-pop. And despite Alexander now being a household name following his role in TV series It’s A Sin there’s no arrogance or pretence here. Emerging from a telephone kiosk in leather shorts, backed with a troupe of alluring backing singers, this is someone who knows how to have fun on a stage with a show packed full of tongue in cheek eroticism.
We emerge on Saturday to rain that doesn’t stop. What was a pleasant downhill stroll to the main festival area yesterday has today become a sea of mud. Difficult enough to walk in it looked like a hellish trip for those unlucky enough to be pushing buggies or those carts so common at festivals nowadays. The turn in weather reveals what, to us, is the festival’s only serious issue. In parts the slope from campsites to festival site aren’t gentle and the mud makes them potentially dangerous. Clinging on to temporary fences whilst sliding around going up/down said slope is much more tricky than walking through level, ankle deep mud. Not sure what can be done about it but it certainly needs thinking about.
Conditions mean that crowds are smaller for the first few bands. Some bands however are worth getting a soaking for. In particular The Murder Capital who hammer out a thumping set of post-punk tunes on The Laundry Stage. Sounds full of anger and raw emotions, regardless of whether they’re frantic, mosh-pit inducing tirades such as ‘More Is Less’ and ‘Feeling Fades’ or the dark rumblings of ‘Green and Blue’ . Frontman James McGovern, leather coat and dark shades, oozes don’t fuck with me coolness. This is a band that even in broad daylight are masters at creating an atmosphere that grips those present. Today McGovern restrains from crowd-surfing but does round the set off on the barrier, the absolute focus of attention from the long-term fans present and those who have possibly just discovered their new favourite band, a band that in an ideal world would have headlined this stage.
Saturday also saw notable performances from Sad Night Dynamite on Laundry Meadows with their slick, melodic, hip-hop, Bears Den on main stage who play a set of gentle, almost haunting, thought provoking yet anthemic songs to an appreciative audience.
Sadly we get a message that Bob Vylan can’t get here for their 7:30 slot but then get another that they will be here at 1.15 the next day.
Confidence Man bring the party to Main Stage. Full of costume changes, electro-pop, bubblegum pop and big beats they certainly manage to add some cheer to the damp, drizzly evening.
Django Django close the main events on Laundry Meadows with their blend of psychedelic, catchy alt-rock.
Surprise of the day for this ageing lover of all things first wave punk and subsequent post-punk is Self Esteem. Rebecca Lucy Taylor and her band of dancers and backing singers is nothing short of spectacular. Visually the show is stunning. Musically it’s uplifting and whilst Self Esteem deliver some serious messages you leave feeling that the world is a better place for people like this.
The intention had always been to stay for the late shift. Both PVA (midnight) and Scalping (1am) are superb live bands. But there’s been no let-up in the rain, there’s mud everywhere, we’re soaked, it’s permeated through my supposedly rainproof camera bag and the call of a warm, comfy bed wins out.
Sunday is dry, moods are lifted, the muddy slope is still a nightmare to negotiate but it’s back to trainers, DM’s, shorts and t-shirts instead of rain capes, wellies and umbrellas. There’s a dog show but our boy Luther gets a mere consolation rosette. He doesn’t seem to mind. Arriving at Laundry Meadows stage it seems a bit strange that we’re about to witness the incendiary duo that is Bob Vylan and it’s only 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Word has spread and the place is packed out. You don’t merely watch a Bob Vylan gig. You experience it. After some warm up stretches they launch into ‘Down’ and from this moment on it’s 45 minutes of pure venom and ferocious anger at the ills of today’s Britain. The beaming smiles and jokey banter between earlier songs does nothing to detract from the intensity of the songs. Bob Vylan brought a new style of punk to music when they formed. The pounding drums and soundtrack of slicing, menacing guitars the perfect underlay to the rap infused, infuriated lyrics. Hatred is spat at the Royals and the police. There’s a place for swearing when it makes a point. There’s nothing subtle in it’s delivery. It’s brutal, honest and from the heart. Songs such as ‘I Heard You Want Your Country Back’, ‘We Live Here’, ‘England’s Ending’, Pulled Pork’, ‘CSGB’ leave no-one in any doubt what this band is about. What a start to the day.
It’s 27 years since ‘2 Become 1’ brought the Spice Girls into the lives of millions of children. Those children are now well into adulthood and hordes of them have descended down to mainstage to watch Melanie C, aka Sporty Spice. There’s also a sizeable contingent of significantly younger people so she’s only partly correct when she says “I don’t think many of you are old enough to know my early work”. She’s still sporty, bouncing round the stage in Adidas shorts and cropped vest. Her set includes a string of songs from her solo career including ‘Northern Star’, dedicated to all the mums and ‘When You’re Gone’. Of course there’s Spice Girls numbers, the crowd lapping up every second of ‘2 Become 1’ and ‘Spice Up Your Life’.
Over on Laundry Meadows The Lottery Winners are, for a lot of people, the day’s, possibly the festival’s winners. They’re fun, they bang out songs about serious stuff but in a way that’s really quite joyful, their melodies are infectious, they recently had a number one album, frontman Thom Rylance is a genuine comedian and knows how to (i) work a crowd (ii) take the piss out of himself and others (iii) play up to the cameras brilliantly. The interplay between Rylance and bass player Kate Lloyd is perfect. In short the whole band just seems to be having the greatest time they think they’ll ever have. One day soon they’ll be massive but for now they seem completely at ease with taking on board new fans whenever they play.
The eighties were 40 years ago but Rick Astley, following glowing reviews of his Glastonbury set with Blossoms covering The Smiths catalogue, as well as decent feedback from solo shows has risen again and tonight the vast area in front of the Main Stage is absolutely rammed. And the age range is huge. Teenagers astride each others shoulders, little ones decked out in ear defenders on the outskirts and a huge number of middle-aged ‘teens in the 80’s disco boppers’ (apologies for the generalisation). Most are here to witness Astley belt out ‘Together Forever’ and, of course. ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. He knows his audience well, his voice is still as good as it ever was, and he builds things up perfectly. The majority might not know most of his set but he knows how to work a crowd. Astley is a performer. Saving ‘Never Gonna…’ until last Rick Astley is perfect for this sort of festival. Safe and full of positivity.
Back on Laundry Meadows Shy Girl wants anyone with an official pit photo pass to seek her approval before any shots can be used anywhere. Photographers don’t like this attitude from any artist, regardless of their level of fame, so we walk away giving us time to grab refreshments before watching Bloc Party close the main stage with their blend of post-punk infused, guitar driven, dance influenced, atmospheric, often politically charged indie rock. 2022 album ‘Alpha Games’ is a fantastic return to form. It’s started to rain again, the lights are shocking for photos but that doesn’t seem to matter. It’s great to see Bloc Party back on top of their game.
Tonight I do stay for one of the afterhours sets. Nuah Ruby Ra is someone not to be missed. Smashing through the boundaries of musical convention she performs with just backing tracks and a dizzying light show. Darkly hypnotic, confrontational, pulsating rhythms, twin microphones she writhes around the stage wailing and yelling. Songs such as ‘6 In The Morning’ and ‘Rise’ are stunning and despite having witnessed her live performances previously I’m still left with a sense of awe at what I’ve just witnessed. Stunning, and a guaranteed place in my top four of the weekend.
So to summarise our first visit to Standon Calling:
It’s the perfect family festival for anyone with a general interest in music who loves to spend time chilling out with mates whilst drinking reasonably priced beverages from the many bars. It’s very well organised and festival staff are helpful and friendly. Family camping and campervan areas are clean, spacious and quiet once the main acts have finished. It’s a typical “we cater for all” summer festival and it’s done well. The overall vibe is of a safe, relaxed event.
Access to the main festival site is extremely tricky once it’s rained heavily. Somehow this needs sorting out but we’re not really sure how. Food, the fairground and wi-fi, if you need it, is expensive. And a personal gripe – why schedule a band as good as Warmduscher, who can pull in big crowds at festivals, for 1am on the Sunday night?
All words and photos: Steve White
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