Already a convert to Leicester’s summer festival offering, the Summer Sundae Weekender, I knew exactly what to expect: a small, perfectly formed set-up with a stash of new and established acts, indoor stages, decently-priced food and the best loos you’ll find on the festival circuit. Plus a lot of rain.
But that’s the beauty of this little gem – should the rain get you down, head indoors to the De Montfort Hall, slump on the sofas and dry your converse under the hand-dryers. If ever there was an event deserving of the ‘boutique festival’ tag, it’s this one.
Aside from a few annoying local bands that filth-up every break between songs with unashamed plugs for ‘their new EP’ – yawn – the rest of the bill is well and truly sorted. Friday highlights had to be new folk darlings, NOAH AND THE WHALE strumming their way through endlessly cheery tunes.
I thought I'd left SUPERGRASS behind in my Adidas Campus-wearing days, but their set caught me by surprise. Playing ‘Caught by the Fuzz’, followed by an encore of ‘Sun Hits the Sky’, ‘Strange Ones’ and ‘Mansize Rooster’, I can’t believe I ever thought they were undeserving of the Friday headline spot.
Come Saturday, CAMERA OBSCURA got the crowd dancing awkwardly to their understated shoe-gazing melodies, while THOSE DANCING DAYS followed with some truly saccharin-laced tunes. Throw into the ring the indie beat fiends OF MONTREAL, and there’s no doubt that this year's Summer Sundae Weekender has been hardcore festival material.
But for purely selfish reasons, don’t tell anyone. It’s the underdog on the scene - the one people shun because it doesn’t always get instantly-identifiable acts, doesn’t have the capacity and keeps to a decent bedtime. If word gets out, the people with crazy hats will descend, and that’s when I’ll stop going. So stay away hat-wearers, stripy over-the-knee sock wearers and festival ‘scenesters’ – go to Latitude and enjoy the long drops. This one’s mine.
MIDDLE PHOTO: AMY RICH
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