Whilst the serious and hardened festival goers were up to their knees in mud at Glastonbury on Friday night enjoying the Fratellis and Seasick Steve the more refined (and to be fair faint hearted) of us went to a very civilised 'festival' at Bowood House (historic seat of Lord Lansdown). We'd initially gone to see Mark Ronson, we hadn't heard of most of the other acts and the one we had heard of (Calvin Harris) we didn't like much (mostly due to his irritatingly catchy tune reminding us that anyone born before the eighties is a bit past it...thanks Calvin).
Anyway it was the end of June and the weather forecast was for a balmy sun-soaked evening, so of course it rained. As we approached Bowood we thought it must have been cancelled as there were no queues to get in and despite arriving four hours after the start we were practically on the front row of the car park. No queues to get in. No bag search. There were people with gazebos and picnics sat where the mosh-pit should have been. Set right next to Bowood House itself with great views out over capability browns landscape this was the most civilised 'festival' ever.
We sat under a tree (sheltering from the rain) for one band. They were great (although still not sure who they were - possibly Cut/Copy?) During another band we hadn't heard of (but were excellent - Sam Sparro) Rich and Emily arrived. The rain eased off , we had a beer and again marvelled how very civilised the whole event was. Calvin Harris was a revelation. We had not been expecting to enjoy him, but was so full of energy the set was infectiously enjoyable (if a little bit samey in parts)- the crowd responded particulrly favourably to 'I like those Chippenham Girls'. Then the big event...with about 15 people on stage and a rotating cast of vocalists and reasonably impressive light show... Mark Ronson promied lots. The musicians were great, some of vocalists weren't up to the task of recreating the original tracks and at times the rappers were just a row (at this point I was feeling decided middle aged!) Whilst some of the set was excellent - particularly 'God put a smile on your face', 'Valerie' and 'Oh My God' - some of it was pretty dull. So we were left a little underwhelmed, but we were impressed enough with the Calvin Harris to get his album the next day and to search out Sam Sparro too.
Getting out was equally civilised (agin we did the 'sensible', middle aged thing and left as soon as the encore started...'Stop me' which sounded pretty good from the car as we circumnavigated the Lansdown estate to try and find our way home. We will definitely go again to the 'Rose Tree Jam' but will take our own Pimms and cucumber sandwiches next time.
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