With headliners including the All Saints, Travis, Tinie Tempah, Sigma and Echo and the Bunnymen this year’s Bingley festival has come a long way since its 2007 inception.
The local council’s notion of an affordable, eclectic northern music festival has led many to dress up in celebration, there are several pirates, a group of wizards and a posse of cavemen. Acts who do well here tend to be those who get hands up in the air. Echo & The Bunnymen I suspect were never ones to do that. However, they were helped, it could be argued by The Lightening Seeds singalong that gave you a thirst for more 90s nostalgia. Perhaps a muted opening but a worthwhile one nonetheless as Bingley delivered a reminder that music does not simply belong to the young download savvy.
We could have done with the fire on Saturday when the heavens opened although it takes more than a passing downpour to dampen the spirits and anyway Tinie Tempah, who somehow manages to work the festival name into his many requests to “Make some noise”, did actually provide fire! His performance setting the festival alight: Literally!
Although to be fair the festival had already been sparked into life by a sublime set from Jake Isaac, who has a splendidly challenging new record due, and a slightly belligerent but fun set from festival regulars Peter Hook and the Light.
Add Sigma to this and you have a strange brew but one that kept everybody happy in the rain: The rain did make the discovery stage less tempting so it is remarkable that two acts managed to drag people along to watch: Ridiculously catchy electro-pop form unknown Slovenlie and catchy rock from InHeaven who’d wowed Leeds Festival a week earlier.
Another band who had blown away audiences a week previous were Clean Cut Kid: Their “fuzzy pop” will be considered classics of their type in time and in truth they were the best band over the festival by a country mile. Watch out for them when they perform in Leeds at the end of October. Clean Cut Kid’s accolade is no mean feat when Travis, Black Grape, We Are Scientists and All Saints completed the bill on the main stage who all gave a smorgasbord of their greatest hits that everybody must know one way or another. Add to that mature and stunning performances from newbies Glass Mountain and Broken Witt Rebel and Fronteers on the Discovery stage and you pretty well sum up what Bingley is all about: Having a huge amount of fun with a background of music new and old: When Bradford Council asked for eclectic I doubt that they knew that eclecticism would make Bingley one of the best independent festivals in the UK. Long may it reign.
So that is just about it for the outdoor festival season: However, indoor festivals in November to make a note of are High & Lonesome and Beacons Metro that take place at a number of venues in the city. The Co-Founder of the festivals Harry Ridgway explains “We’re so excited to release the full line up and with how the festivals are expanding. Moving to two days is really exciting as well as diversifying the line-up. The Low Anthem are some of our dream headliners and I Like Trains to us, represent an exciting way the festival can move and expand musically, as well as being something of a Leeds icon”. However, Leeds musically also has an astounding line-up through October. Watch out for superb bands such as Mystery Jets, The Big Moon, Goo Goo Dolls, Lisa Hannigan, Band Of Skulls and Billy Talent. Sadly the month will also see one of the final gigs of one of the best bands of the year.
The superb Augustines have announced that their autumn tour will be their last. The news was announced via their Facebook page and surprisingly in light of the critical acclaim lauded on their wonderful third album This Is Your Life which is undoubtedly one of the records of the year.
