Well here we go, it seems like an age ago that I first heard about Galtres Festival an event I had never heard of or even knew existed until I received an email from The Charlatans saying they were headlining one of the days in what was now a 3 day event.
The festival started up I think 7 years ago as a food and beer type festival and has grown year on year into the event it is today.

Last years line up boasted Dodgy, The Beat and The Lightning Seeds all reasonably well known for a small village event.

This year saw the festival turn into a major 3 dayer running again over bank holiday weekend the same weekend as Leeds Festival down the road.

If you had told me a year ago this festival was on at the same time as Leeds I would have said the organisers were mad, but a year on I would now say the Leeds Festival organisers are mad. The big festival market is saturated now with poor line ups and high ticket prices. Why pay £200 to go to Leeds when you can come here, camp for 4 nights, drink proper ale (take a look at what ales and ciders they had, no warm carling here!! http://www.galtresfestival.org.uk/beers-ciders.cfm) eat beautiful food ( http://www.galtresfestival.org.uk/food.cfm) and watch decent bands, bands that would challenge any major festival line up. And pay less than half the price for the pleasure!

This years 3 headliners were Friday night British Sea Pwer, Saturday The Charlatans and to round the weekend end off the crusty but loveable Levellers.

Now the week of the festival the rumour mill was in full flow, Radio 6 were plugging away and a secret guest was due to play. Who could it be and on what day? Read on all will be revealed!!

Sadly due to work commitments Friday is an impossibility so by Saturday I am itching to get there, as the missus and I arrive around lunchtime to more heavy rain it is apparent that due to so much bad weather the site and campsite are like a bog and all the paths are just mud and puddle. Thanks to my Mrs she has brought wellies something that I said I wasn’t going to bother with luckily she has brought mine.And put it this way if we hadn’t had them we could not have negotiated our way around the site and got from stage to stage.

On our arrival with our pint glasses in our hands we headed straight to my favourite place, the main stage I hear you cry, no way, straight to the beer tent which provided us with good shelter on and off all day. Inside the collection of tents everything was superbly organised and set out, there was a cider and perry section, a lager bar and a real ales bit which made it very easy to find the drink you wanted. There was menu’s on the bar’s and you could see what strength everything was, where it was brewed and what it was like. You could also try a drop before committing which again was great. Sally (my wife) had the most sense and stuck to the Pilsner all day, me a glutton for everything obviously had to try everything so I started on cider, then real ale and then finally onto the wheat beer which I spent the rest of the day on as there was a bar near the main stage so I didn’t have far to stagger!

First band we watched were THREE SHEETS T’WIND on the OXMAN  STAGE, described in the FREE PROGRAMME (other festivals take note, small but very concise and a must have guide for the weekend) as high energy punk folk and boy were they, a bit like The Pogues but more crazy!

Then we went down to the Dukes Stage (main stage) and watched local upstarts DEAD REBELLION who got the crowd going with their high energy songs , lyrically spot on and great tunes to boot, a band to keep an eye out for future stardom. The compere had the best description for them when they had finished “like being run over by an out of control steam roller”

Next up were an act we stumbled upon and were one of our  highlights over on the Firkin stage,  TONY BLACK AND THE COLLECTORS who are from London but singer Tony was originally from Crayke and his family still live there. The songs were about everyday things and with titles like Escalator, My Wife and Ridgeback (about riding his back)  and I drink your whiskey you get the idea. They were a great 3 piece with catchy songs and singer TONY’S voice at times reminded me of RODDY WOOMBLE from IDLEWILD. After they had finished we grabbed a word and were given a 2 track demo and a solo full TONY BLACK album (Review to follow soon on here) Look out for them as they were a great act.

Back then to the Duke stage where we caught EUREKA MACHINES, a Leeds based 4 piece playing power pop, they reminded me of The Hives (suits and ties) and sound wise a bit Green Dayish.

Next up we watched everyone’s favourite band HOPE AND SOCIAL a band who should be huge, great songs, nice in between song banter which always has the crowd smiling and songs that are catchy they soon have everyone involved.

We are now glued to the spot and CHRIS HELME is next, he too is great vocally, shame his claim to fame is  that he was The Seahorses frontman as he  should be a big star on his own merit. Check out RODDY WOOMBLE at HARROGATE THEATRE next month, as CHRIS is supporting.

The secret act is no longer a secret, we have seen RICK WITTER from SHED SEVEN wandering about all day and before long Chris introduces them and onto the stage they arrive. Bit of an anti climax as they only do one SHED SEVEN song, Going for Gold but its still a nice touch.

CHRIS plays a couple more SEAHORSES tracks and the crowd are now warmed up for the main band, I would say of the whole weekend, others may disagree but I dont care!! THE CHARLATANS.

Tim Burgess is resplendent with flowing bleach blonde locks and what follows for the next hour and a half is hit after hit, Then, Weirdo, Impossible, Just Looking, Oh! Vanity, North Country Boy, Bad Head, Smash the System and loads more, rounding off their set as always with Sproston Green.

Full set list at the bottom of this review for all you train spotters!!

The Charlatans to me never fail to deliver live and are truly an excellent band any festival goer would be happy to see headline on a Saturday night.

When you look back at their 20 year career they have always moved forward album after album (maybe with the exception of Up at the Lake and Simpatico!!!) Their most recent two albums Who we Touch and You cross my path are both great albums with proper songs on.

A month ago I went to the 2nd DEER SHED festival, I enjoyed the day but it wasn’t really fair to call it a three day event, GALTRES FESTIVAL was truly a 3 day event and had loads of things for everyone including kids.  GALTRES also had better headlining bands whilst I love I AM KLOOT’S Sky at night it failed for me as a headlining performance, next year the festival needs to take a leaf out of GALTRES for headliners.

Any way the day is over we leave wet and muddy, me muddier as I fell over twice, I blame it on my wellies Sally blames it on the 10 pints of various brews we have drunk!

I go to bed full of good intention for Sunday but when I wake up  the next day it is apparent that I am no use to man nor beast and as its my boys 8th birthday I have to do the right thing and have some family time back in Ripon.

The festival was well organised, there was loads of great stages, great beers and excellent food and I when I say there was something for everyone I mean it.

A special thanks to JAMES for a great day and ROLL ON NEXT YEAR!!

Tickets go on sale this THURSDAY 1st September at a bargain price of £40 for a FULL WEEKEND ticket and the ticket price rises by £1 a week (limited amount so be quick)

GET YOURS NOW at http://www.galtresfestival.org.uk/shop/

Check out http://www.galtresfestival.org.uk/ for the full list of everything that was on and there to do.

Set list as promised

Then
Weirdo
Impossible
Bad days
Just when your thinking things over
Smash the System
North country Boy
Misbegotten
Love is Ending
One to Another
The only one I know
Vanity
My beautiful friend
Cant get out of bed
Black and blue eyes
Sproston Green

And youtube footage!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2czBq3jctsY&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrk20kUMxuE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scak75rYQCQ&feature=youtu.be

By Andy on September 3, 2011