And as if by magic, Deer Shed was back. No. 11 was lost to the ether although they possibly counted base camp. We were all back, although the Llewellyn household found themselves in a far away field for people with campervans. The Williams and Lane clans grabbed prime real estate with good access. Didn’t have a fridge though.
The line up wasn’t the most inspiring. Self Esteem stood out in advance. Django Django too. John Grant had already headlines a previous year. The task was then to get a playlist that could get some of the other acts to be familiar. Some light success.
Friday
CVC we’re clearly on to early to capture an audience. First band we saw of DS12. I wasn’t paying too much attention.
We stumbled across this next band playing a cover on the acorn stage. I could look them up, but I can’t be bothered.
Brooke Combe was next on the main stage. She played some tunes.
So did Yard Act. They even got a superfan on stage for one of their numbers.
Bleach Lab were one of my playlist finds. I caught them by myself on the lodge stage, playing a very chilled set.
Billy Nomates was more enjoyable than I expected. Quite good actually.
Katy J Pearson didn’t inspire at base camp, but there were a couple of catchy tunes on the playlist and she was on Clare’s list to watch. We caught her together and she performed our favourite set of the opening day.
Nadine Shah. Not the headliner any of us wanted, but it happened and there were some decent tunes.
It felt right to continue so we saw Richard Herring doing a live podcast. It was decent enough.
Saturday
Opening a light music day was some world music followed by a weekend highlight for many – Denise Chaila was great and really got the crowd going. Anseo was a proper weekend highlight. Erin loved it.
Lime Garden were one of my must watch bands for the weekend, but their Friday slot had to be cancelled due to car troubles. They got a rearranged Saturday slot. I messed up my timings and ended up missing half the set. Caught 3 or 4 tunes – still great.
The. Came the weekend headline. Self Esteem. They were awesome. Lana was already in proper fan girl mode before the festival. Everyone was afterwards. They entertained in proper style. Even toned the set down slightly for the kids. Real life affirming stuff. Loved it.
For many, John Grant was a bit of a come down. Clare and the girls went back to the tent early. I toughed it out. Ste & Amy went to the front and loved it. The Lanes weren’t too impressed. He’s an acquired taste, but does hit the mark fairly regularly. Self Esteem would have been a better headliner.
Sunday
Natalie and Bored both washed over me. I don’t recall anything about the sets.
BBB on the other hand were pretty decent. straight up indie guitar rock while they melted in the baking sunshine. The lead singer complained a lot. I had sympathy, but he kept on chuntering to the point where it was a few too many times.
I don’t recall The Mysterines. It might be that they and / or Pip Blom were playing as the Womens Euros final was happening. Sadly I couldn’t watch the Lionesses win the Euros. Deer Shed had signs up saying they wouldn’t be showing it. I had thought I would have some phone reception, but I didn’t. I was hunting around and found someone with phone reception and a bartender with his phone connected to staff wi-fi. Amazingly I caught the winning goal live! Missing the final was definitely one of the drawbacks of the festival.
Dry Cleaning were due to play next but had to cancel. Pip Blom were bumped up from another stage. Fun pop was the order of the day.
Django Django closed out the festival. Lots had already left and the Django set didn’t quite reach the heights I’d hoped. I really wanted a Self Esteem guest appearance on Surface To Air, but they didn’t even play it. I guess that was too much to ask as they played different days. The Django’s set was good, but it should have been the Friday set to get things going rather than the one to end.
Other things happened
Sarah was feeling under the weather. A little green around the gills. It turned out she was a little bit pregnant. I mean – we all knew that, but it was our secret for the weekend. Baby Lane is due March ‘23 and destined to make their debut at DS13!
We had rain. Lots of it. The final day ended in sun. Which was nice.
We did some sports and some wand whittling. We fired bows and arrows at each other. We ate lots of food. Some very good food. Some not so good. We bought T-shirts and hoodies. We got some great T-shirts made on the printing press. There was an accident on the big wheel. I wonder if that iconic structure will be back next year?
A Gig A Month 2015-2022 