Friday
It’s Friday at Y-Not festival, and of course it’s not a festival without a tent drama, being piss wet through from the rail and covered in mud in the first 10 minutes! After a long day of hunting for a new tent, we had a few hours to catch a glimpse of Fridays headliners!
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
Being two artists we were very intrigued to go check out, Heading up to The Quarry tent was a must. After only previously hearing the odd song, but a massive hype surrounding them, we fast understood why. It’s hard to find an artist or band you literally cannot compare to a single other artist or band, but Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip have got that down to a T, with their electro beats and poetic style spoken words. Unfortunately, their set came to an end as the thunderstorm started, with the decision by Scroobious Pip to crowdsurfed over his audience to get out the same way as they would!
Mystery Jets
Big Gin Stage had their set cut down also, due to the thunder, but played a good selection of new and old material, including fan favourites ‘Two Doors Down’ and set closer ‘Young Love’, it was a shame that their set was cut down, it would have been nice to have heard more of them.
The Horrors
A late set after the torrential thunderstorm, but alas The Horrors took to the Big Gin Stage to headline the first day of the festival. Still raining, with a vast amount of soaking wet fans, the band were rightfully thankful for the crowd for staying to watch them through all of the rain! They did not disappoint, playing a selection of crowd pleasers from their albums, including ‘Still Life’ and ‘I can see through you.’
Saturday
Siblings
Siblings, who recently played at Glastonbury and were added to the festival line up by the local BBC introducing station. They clearly have got loads of local support, with a full tent, which isn’t bad for an opening midday spot at a festival. They have a sound, which is very similar to that of Two Door Cinema Club, and in a few years time we definitely expect to see them much higher up on the bill on a bigger stage. 100% a band to look out for.
St Pierre Snake Invasion
Opening up the Giant Squid stage, welcome St Pierre Snake Invasion - a band chosen to play the festival by We Are The Ocean. The punk band, from Bristol totally belonged on that stage, and played it like it was their mission in life to do so. Their lead singer had an incredible stage presence, and shared whisky with the crowd. Their music has a different and eclectic sound of which went from screamo to punk. After their first song, their lead singer said ‘why the fuck are we playing on this stage- because we’re fucking amazing’ and yes, he was right. Not a band we would have particularly expected to see at Y-Not festival, however a highlight of the weekend. Discovering talent you never expected to find is always wonderful.
Harley Likes Music
Winning one of the Y-Not competitions to play the festival, Harley Likes Music, stepped up to the Allottment stage to play his set created on two Nintendo DS’s, and nothing else - which was pretty incredible to see and hear. He collaborated the Nintendo sounds along with popular sounds and songs including Day & Nite to give the overall sound a dubstep feel, which you could happily dance around to. His sound and performance is incredibly unique, and you could see that people around the tent were also impressed, and surprised to see that he had nothing else but two Nintendo DS’s on stage with him, and what sounds were coming from them to create everything.
Alaskan Faction
Nottingham’s very own Alaskan Faction at The Quarry was up next, who’s music sounds heavily influenced by early Foals and Two Door Cinema Club (never a bad thing) making it very easy to bop along to. Very understandable why these guys were chosen to play by the local BBC Introducing, and a band we expect to become much more recognizable and bigger in the future.
Sky Larkin
Leeds based, female fronted band Sky Larkin took to the main stage. Their euphoric rock filled the field, with the new material impressing the crowd, and people who had not previously heard of the band before.
Evarose
Paramore-esque, all girl band, Evarose carried on the successful day at The Giant Squid Stage. Working up their audience from the start to get them going, making their set much more enjoyable to watch, especially when you can see people enjoying the music. Though at times, it got difficult to understand what their lead singer was trying to sing.
Swim Deep
Swim Deep’s recent success was shown by the crowd who turned up to watch them at the Big Gin Stage, to get a sneaky listen to some of their new material from their album. ‘Honey’, the second song of their set was definitely a crowd pleaser, with crowd surfing and a singalong session. A surprise to hear was to hear them cover ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’. They were clearly overwhelmed by the amount of people as they told their crowd ‘we didn’t expect to see so many of you…’
Gnarwolves
Heading up to The Giant Squid Stage to be told they had unfortunately had to pull out of the festival due to Van issues. Being a highly anticipated band by many, it was a shame to see a tent slowly pack out to see the boys, to find out they would no longer be playing!
65 Days Of Static
Sheffield band, 65 days of static showcased their range of electro/punk/pop with a set that surprised the crowd. Though the crowd did not warm to them lightly, with the vocalist assuring the crowd they’re sorry they can have their ‘normal indie bands back in 20 minutes’, but alas the crowd adapted to their sound and seemed to look like they were enjoying themselves…eventually!
Kids In Glass Houses
As expected, Kids In Glass houses gave a very energetic performance and were clearly happy to get to play the stage, with lead singer Aled, jumping into the crowd during their first song. Of course, their earlier material, including ‘Saturday’ and ‘Give Me What I Want’ for the crowd hyped up and wanting more – and Kids In Glass Houses definitely gave them that. A fantastic performance, though we never expected any less.
The 1975
Another highly anticipated set by probably most of Y-Not festival. Before the band even stepped on stage, not a single other person could have set foot in the tent, with people trying to get in underneath the side openings and surrounding the entire outside of the tent listening from outside to not miss them. Opening up their set with crowd pleaser ‘The City’ and performing fan favourites, ‘Sex’ and ‘Chocolate’ as well as new songs from their upcoming album, due to be released in September. This band are definitely one to watch, and will be headlining festivals very soon. Bigger stage next time please!
Deaf Havana
A delayed start for The Quarry stage headliners Deaf Havana, arrived on stage late, but definitely impressed the crowd with their newer and old material, including the reworked ‘Little White Lies’. Another packed out tent and a band who did not disappoint their fans.
The Cribs
A band who have had a long journey to the success of headlining festivals, and having just released their greatest hits album ‘Payola’, they arrived to headline Saturday night at Y-Not’s Big Gin Stage. The trio from Wakefield, playing one of their only UK performances this year, absolutely smashed it, gaining the biggest crowd of the festival at that point, starting their set with ‘Chi-Town’. Their set list was mainly full of recent material, from their album’s ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ and ‘In The Belly of The Brazen Bull’. However, it was their earlier material, played towards the end of the set, which got the crowd going.Ryan Jarman said half way through their hour set- ‘we’ve been a band for 10 years, this is our best gig ever’ concluding to do his Freddie Mercury impression of which, the crowd reacted to well, and copied it. They had a perfect end to their set, the nightclub and fan favourite ‘Men’s Needs’ and then ‘City of Bugs’.
Sunday
Kingus Khan
Opening up the main stage on Sunday were Kingus Kahn. They were definitely interesting to watch, with their lead singer wearing something that was reminiscent to a dressing gown, with the rest of the band all wearing white jumpsuits and dungarees, singing and dancing in time, which was fascinating to watch overall. Watching the lead singer play the guitar with his face was bizarre, the music was catchy overall.
Saint Raymond
A band chosen by the local BBC introducing, and Y-Not was only the 2nd time performing together as a band, and watching them, you would never have guessed. Their music was clearly well known, they pulled a decent sized crowd, and with many of their fans singing along it was nice to see a smaller, unknown band with so much support.
Young Kato
Young Kato’s singalongable & catchy songs gathered a full tent over at the Quarry, and were definitely one of the Sunday Highlights. Their new single Lights, as well as We Drink, We Dance, We Play, were sang along to by the crowd, and you could hear them imitating the songs as they left the tent.
Rat Attack
Rat Attack’s set was extremely energetic, and it wasn’t hard to miss their lead singer in his sparkly gold shirt. Another band that we weren’t expecting to see or hear at a festival such as Y-Not, but a very nice surprise. With the first circle pit of the weekend (that we saw) Rat Attack definitely got the crowd going and did not disappoint.
The Temperance Movement
Though we were interviewing The Darkness backstage when The Temperance Movement were playing, after fighting through a busy crowd to get there, the crowd were obviously expecting to hear good things with their 70’s and Rolling Stones vibed music – and they delivered just that!
King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys
were a surprise for sure! We definitely were not expecting to hear jazz, especially a saxophone at a mainly indie/rock festival, of which was pleasant to watch. The cover band, who’s lead singer reminded me of Tom Jones, had a retro vibe, covering songs by Ray Charles which got the crowd dancing during the rain.
Charlotte Carpenter
Charlotte Carpenter had an interesting sound, which may have been better to have heard if the sound-checks hadn’t have taken over, the drums were definitely louder than Charlotte and her guitarist. It would be nice to see her play again with a more organized start to the set.
Wet Nuns
Sheffield duo Wet Nuns told their crowd that they were going to play some ‘shit metal’, and had a interesting grizzly, hard rock sound, which got plenty of their fans moving in the pit.
Lewis Watson
An extremely talented 20 year old singer songwriter’s set at the Quarry also gained him a full tent of admiring fans. An artist who seemed very popular with the ladies especially! He had the crowd singing his lyrics back at him, and live, his music was beautiful to hear.
The Darkness
Ending a weekend of incredible music, The Darkness stepped on to the Main Stage. There was a fun feel to the entire show, with Justin Hawkins’ banter about their logo to the singalong to ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’. Hawkins then crowdsurfed on to their well received crowd, to end the festival.
Overall, Y-Not Festival definitely deserves it’s Small Festival of the Year award, as everything is within walking distance of each other, so is easy to find, and also, they have top picks when it comes to choosing the bands, there was bound to be new bands to discover, as well as bands that you know and love, as well as different varieties and genres. Considering the different weather extremes- torrential rain & thunder on the Friday, then 33 degree heat on the Saturday, everyone seemed to still enjoy the music, and have a brilliant weekend, of which some people who attended are calling the ‘best Y-Not’ yet. Bands including The Darkness, The Cribs & Reverend & The Makers took to Twitter to praise the festival, with Wet Nuns claiming it the ‘best festival gig this year’ and the Darkness saying it was their ‘greatest gig experience ever. Y-Not shows that dancing in a field in the middle of Derbyshire with some of England’s finest bands is the way forward.
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