We don't usually write about festival that the ES team usually attends but there is something special going on down in the rolling fields of Greater London. The weekend just gone, (29th-30th June) down in Highams Hill Farm saw the 7th annual festival the was originally held in Lee Denny's back garden, now this has grown into something spectacular and has a feel that no other festival we have ever be to can give you, warmth and a noticeable lack of pretentiousness.
This is apparent when you can see three generations of the Denny family setting up the event, Lee's father even is the chief litter picker on the day. Lee is seen throughout the day talking to the festival goers and you can see he is visibly happy to see others having a good time.
To the music and this totally match the vibe of the day, up and coming, exciting acts with plenty to give the crowd. This was split over 3 large stages and 2 smaller and there was something or everyone, rock, indie, ska, reggae, dance, dubstep, house, garage. Over 2000 turned up to watched over 100 acts over the weekend This made the crowd you watched the groups with simply fans of music not assigned to one genre and makes for a more pleasant festival experience. Once the acts had finished there sets they would come into the crowd and watch the other bands, which is one of the most refreshing things I have seen from musicians in recent times.
The highlight might have to have been
Man Like Me, a Smorgasbord of an act with an 80s synth keyboard player in full neon pastel suit, a indie rocker, a saxophone player complete with skinny tie and a vocalist in full traditional African attire. Nothing says they would go together but they couldn't have been more perfect, the songs where infectious getting crowds in waves over to the main stage and dancing like maniacs ourselves very much included.
It's hard really to decide which day was the better one, for one the music never seemed to stop from doors open to doors close each day, staggered from stage to stage so you didn't miss a thing. The head liners of each night were something special
Jakwob gave us energetic heavy beats for that final push on the Friday whereas the
Mystery Jets on the main stage on the Saturday was a wonderful sing along to tracks such as 'Two Doors Down' & 'Young Love'.
Any profit made by the event is to be split between next year’s festival and Kids Company charity which is another reason why this festival is simply the purest and unadulterated ones out there.
All in all this is probably the best festival I have been to and a special thanks to all the organisers who set it up to be different from the rest. I hope that LeeFest has a long and fruitful future so I can visit this special place every year until I'm old and grey. If you missed out you really should rethink what you are doing around the same time next year.
There are too many other notable and stand out acts at LeeFest 2012 to be able to write about now so after the jump are my pick of the weekends artists that we heard...
