REVIEW: KENDAL CALLING, DAY 2 - 01.08.15

For me, Saturdays at festivals are always the most exciting. Now knowing your way around the site, comfortably (or as much as you can be) settled into the ever so muddy campsite and reunited with those friends you made last year, you can finally fully enjoy the overly relaxed and carefree atmosphere. Without a spot of fancy dress, what else cold get you noticed at a festival? This year Kendal Calling swung the door wide open for Saturday’s supersized fancy dress party. With the theme being “Through The Decades” you could say that anything was open to interpretation. Freddie Mercury and Abba to Tetris blocks and Rubik’s Cubes, from the off set you could tell that Saturday was made for a party.

Brothers, Harry and Alfie Hudson Taylor kicked off the day in style for Gigslutz. Easing us gently into Saturday and blowing away any cobwebs (or hangovers) from the audience. Having picked up their instruments at a young age and perfecting their stage craft busking for strangers in their hometown of Dublin, Hudson Taylor are incredibly polished performers. Along with the success of their debut album, Singing For Strangers and an extensive tour of the UK and Europe earlier this year, they expectation was that they would defy their own early billing and pull a big crowd. They proved to festival organisers that they deserve a much higher slot as they did just that. The pair have an endearing presence on stage that draws you into their beautifully crafted harmonies. Opening with ‘Weapons’ their set mainly featured tracks and singles taken from their album. Unlike many other bands, Hudson Taylor have the skill to get the crowd warmed up calmly, which those slightly delicate from the night before, did seem to be relived about. ‘Chasing Rubies’ provided a light and bouncy edge to proceedings whilst ‘Care’ really struck a chord and its anthem like chorus instinctively made everyone attached to its meaningful lyrics. The track has a charming maturity that disarms any menace in their folk-pop. Handclaps and sing-alongs didn’t deter but added to the heartfelt atmosphere.

Manchester is always and has always been the place to find new music. It is a city with a baseline that screams creativity. Jaunty pop-rock band, No Hot Ashes, are another one of the cities upstarts that look to be having a promising start. With a posters plastered around the festival site, this band are number 1 for self-promotion but it had clearly paid off as the audience they drew were of an impressive number. Despite only being young, No Hot Ashes have been able to fuse influences beyond their years to produce a refreshingly new sound. Woven together with funk and hints of soul; what you would expect of an indie rock band, do not come across as strongly with No Hot Ashes. Lyrically very much sticking to the roots of modern Indie, the thing that sets them apart is the instrumentation of their tracks that dare you not to dance along. Seeming to not be held back by the stereotype of what a young guitar band should sound like, it will be interesting to see if this band and their accessible tunes with reach their full commercial potential.

With their debut album due for release in less than a month, Essex boys the Bohicas are determined not to give up at the last hurdle, packing their festival season at the seams and making the most of every opportunity they have to promote their music. By revitalising indie rock ’n’ roll of the last decade, they have quickly established themselves as firm industry favourites to become the next band who are destined for domination. With their tracks constantly being played on XFM and recently picked up by Radio 1, there was no surprise that the Calling Out stage was rather full at their presence. ‘Where You At’ was the highlight of the 45 minute set, with driving bluesy guitar riff and furious hurtling drum beat, there wasn’t much to dislike. Aside from the band, who were rather faultless throughout, you couldn’t help but notice that the audience seemed a bit forced. Maybe due to the hype surrounding this bend, people felt the need to be there and made a half hearted attempt to get into it, tarnishing the mood somewhat. Is this the product of over marketing; good music going to commercial waste?

Flicking back through the pages in the timetable and noticing an Indie Disco hosted by XFM DJs was listed for 11pm, it was only sensible to return to Tim Peaks Diner once gain to pick up a coffee. Unbeknown to us, and many who couldn’t fit into the room, The Membranes had invaded the wooden shack to perform an incredibly loud, incredibly fast paced secret set. Of course we were greeted by a topless John Robb as we edged our way past the coffee machine – does he ever where clothing on stage?

As the sun (yes, not rain!) set over the beautiful surroundings of the Deer Park, it was coming ever closer to headliner time on the main stage. As the muddy field began to fill, it was clear that the audience, although just as big, possibly were not going to have the same reaction to The Vaccines the night before. Elbow: musically fantastic, but not to everyone’s taste. With spectacular vocals and visuals to match, their headline performance brought a sense of professionalism and fun in equal measure.

Rachel Young
@_rachel_young