If you’ve not been to Standon Calling you absolutely should
Up until this year I had never been to Standon Calling. I had heard a lot about it but I’d never found the time to venture over to the family-friendly, dog-friendly and overall people-friendly festival in the middle of Hertfordshire. Let’s just say that when I arrived on site at this year’s event I was pleasantly surprised.
The reason?
As we rapidly head towards the end of festival season I’ve been to 13 of them in the last 12 weekends and I thought I’d seen it all… but I was wrong.
Have you ever seen a dog show that wasn’t at a dog show? Yeah, Standon Calling had one. It also had a music quiz, a swing patrol, a costume parade and competition, an area for people to crash into each other whilst wearing zorb balls, and so much more.
I can honestly say I’ve never experienced a music festival before with such high-calibre talent that was so family-friendly. Whether it was the David Bowie disco that celebrated the life of the White Duke, local boy George Ezra headlining the Main Stage on the Saturday, Jarvis Cocker DJing to a full tent of punters craving a diverse range of musical styles, The Cuban Brothers breakdancing in their underpants, or the Pale Waves giving fans a taste of what the future of British pop rock sounds like, it had it all.
With a wide range of artists all bringing their A-game it was hard to whittle this list down to five, but nonetheless I had a go at listing the five best performances of Standon Calling.
5. DJ YODA
If you’ve never been to a DJ Yoda party then you need to, immediately! Easily one of the most technically gifted turntablists in the country, whenever he plays live he brings his How To Cut & Paste brand to life speeding through hit after hit after hit mixing Hip Hop with rock, pop, R&B and even classical music.
It’s like watching a teacher at work. His sets are an education. One minute you think you know what song he’s playing but the next your ears are witness to the original song sampled – think Dr. Dre’s “Next Episode” which was made using David McCallum’s “The Edge”. Yoda’s performance at Standon Calling was seen, heard and danced to by mothers, fathers, teenagers, children and nerdy Hip Hop fans like me.
Killed it Yoda he did.
4. THE BOOTLEG BEATLES
The Beatles broke up in 1970. I was born in 1983. Maths tells you that I never got to see them in a live capacity. So forgive me if I was both a little skeptical and a little excited about watching a band called The Bootleg Beatles at Standon Calling. Skeptical because, well, let’s be honest, tribute acts are never really that good are they? And excited because it’s the first time I’ve gotten to see a band playing Beatles songs live, and who doesn’t love a good Beatles sing-a-long?
However, I will never again assume that a tribute act I’ve not seen won’t be that good just because history points to this being true – for the most part.
The Bootleg Beatles were dedicated to the cause. They dressed like them – there was even a costume change in the middle of the set where they went from early sixties Beatles to Sgt. Pepper’s Beatles – sung like them, talked like them – with the same Liverpudlian accent to boot – and even exercised the band’s exact mannerisms.
There was a moment in the set when the person playing George Harrison sang “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and I actually forgot for a moment that it wasn’t George Harrison stood in front of me strumming away and singing one of the greatest songs ever written.
3. GAZ COOMBES
While many will remember Gaz Coombes as the fresh-face scruffy-haired teenager singing about being alright with his Supergrass mates back in the nineties a lot has changed between then and now.
Now a well respected songwriter and solo performer whose most recent album World’s Strongest Man is easily his best work to date, his Main Stage performance on the Sunday at Standon Calling was a definite highlight. Playing new songs, some old songs and switching between guitar and synthesiser, he proved he’s an artist through and through and is all about quality over quantity.
It’s a travesty that his latest album got snubbed for a Mercury Prize nod this year!
2. AVERAGE SEX
One of the things that will never change about music is the feeling felt when discovering a new artist or new band for the first time. This happened to me at Standon Calling.
I happened to be walking back to the Main Stage after buying a tasty cheese and chorizo toasted sandwich and as I passed the Laundry Meadows Stage my ears perked up like a coyote in the wilderness on the hunt for food. But instead of prey I was drawn to a band fronted by an energetic woman in red while her band sounded like a mix of pop rock and grunge with a bit of punk for seasoning.
Their name? Average Sex. I was sold. Stood fixated on the band as they ran through songs from their 2017 Ice Cream EP and a few new ones “coming soon” on a new EP, according to front woman Laetitia Bocquet, I didn’t even care that my sandwich was getting cold.
1. SHAME
Leading the charge in new-wave punk, Shame are a band of misfits making the type of music that I’d imagine makes Teresa May’s skin crawl and forehead sweat more than Borat’s mankini on holiday in southern Spain, and it’s fucking beautiful! The days of D.I.Y. music seemed long gone until these guys showed up.
Taking it back to the days of Jamie T and Mike Skinner, Shame brought their unpolished and rough-around-the-edges energy to Standon Calling’s Main Stage on Sunday and had everyone in attendance skanking like their life depended on it – they were even nice enough to debut a new untitled song.
If you ever get the opportunity to the see Shame live, do it. No seriously, DO IT!
Tickets for Standon Calling 2019 are on sale now. Get your tickets here.
