This year was about making the festival sustainable. The biggest change was a switch from a four day festival, to a three day festival. This new format worked better. The four day format had two shorter days. Three full days meant the festival was busy throughout and also meant on the Monday, we weren’t fighting with the Bank Holiday traffic returning from a day in the Lake District.

There was also a big increase in numbers and a more sensible ticket price, with a ‘supporter’ tier which included a meet and greet with Sea Power in the ‘salubrious’ backstage area. I have to admit I had some trepidation about the increased numbers, however, I should not have worried. With a few minor tweaks to the layout of the festival site, I hardly noticed the increase. The festival site was busy, but comfortable and the barn, full, but not overcrowded. 

Like previous years, the micro festival had a DIY charm. Based at Muncaster Castle on the edge of the Lake District. The Sea Power and Muncaster Castle teams work hard to make everyone welcome, creating a nice laid back and friendly atmosphere.

For this year’s festival the courtyard had been altered, with the introduction of a much bigger bar area under the covered barn. The range of food options was improved in both in quality and options. I never had to wait too long to be served and the prices were reasonable.

With the increase in numbers and non-Sea Power fans there was a chance that the DIY ethic might have been lost or not appeal to the new audience. But I spoke to so many people over the weekend who were not Sea Power fans, who absolutely loved the welcoming and safe vibe, many saying they want to come back. This is a credit to the organisers. 

The festival had the usual mix of talks, fell walks, train rides, dog shows, birds of prey, oh and some music.

As is customary, the festival was opened by Peter Frost-Pennington and along with castle staff, the family were helping throughout the weekend. One of the major reasons why this festival is so great is you feel like they are welcoming you into their home.

On Friday night, for the first time in the festival’s history, a big storm hit the festival site. While the barn offered protection from the thunder and heavy rains, the courtyard looked like it might wash away. Luckily, I hadn’t been drinking and was able to drive back to me B&B in the town. But the road to the town was flowing with water coming off the hills and the road was flooded. Next day, I feared the worst, but the Penningtons and their team were helping cars that had become stranded in the fields and shoring up the festival site. By late afternoon, with the sun out, you wouldn’t have known there had been a massive storm the night before (which apparently only hit Muncaster and not the rest of the Lake District)

This year’s lineup was strong, with headline sets from Deefhoof, The Go Team and Sea Power playing Do You Like Rock Music in full. Highlights were too many to mention. I liked something in every performance. But there were a few standout performances.

Despite some technical issues constraining their set, Bodega blasted through their set in double quick time to make sure no one was short changed, winning many new fans. The Lovely Eggs fun filled set warmed up the crowd for a truly epic Sea Power set that built until it felt like the roof was going to come off the barn. Their performance of Lately was stunning. Bo Ningen put in another stellar performance. When Bo Ningen announced with 20 minutes left of their slot that they were going to play their last song, I knew we were going to get a special set. There are few better live bands than Bo Ningen. A real surprise for me were Haress who created stunning layered, textured music. Hamish Hawk continued to cast his charms. Gwenno’s set, with full band, also impressed. But there were no weak performances this year. Sea Power’s closing set, was also notable for a marriage proposal for Sea Power’s drummer, Tom. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

In some ways, it isn’t the music that makes this festival special. While, the festival has managed to curate good lineups. This festival is about community. Yes, it is a Sea Power fan’s festival. While there were loads of friends and familiar faces. What was so nice about this year’s festival was the number of people who were not Sea Power fans who universally loved the friendly atmosphere we have built over the last few years. I spoke to several families who had brought their kids to their first festival and their kids loved how they could meet the bands and their parents felt it was safe to let their kids a little bit off the leash. This is the testament to the success of this year’s festival. Just like the Penningtons have welcomed us to their home. This year, Sea Power fans welcomed new fans to our festival. I’m already counting the days to next year’s festival.

Day 1

Opening the music part of the festival were Queer Freedom Drone Ensemble playing some transcendental, mediative, drone music, featuring Tom, Sea Power’s new drummer. The ensemble featured many familiar faces.

Playing their first festival, Cruush, played St Albans earlier in the year. At the time, I was impressed, thinking that I would be hearing more from them. I was really good to see their fine shoegaze, dream pop sound on a big stage. It won’t be the last time.

Warrington-Runcorn Newtown Development Plan’s electronica was not to my taste but many in the audience found this set to be one of their favourite of the weekend.

Stepping in at the last minute, Rachel Aggs played an infectious set of guitar-driven danceable lo-fi music.

Sex Swing

The DSM IV had played the 2019 festival and really didn’t work for me. This time, their performance clicked with me.

Excellent performance from Baba Ali.

I’m a big fan of H. Hawkline’s low-key music. Just him and an old tape machine. At times he was sublime.

Bodega were the only band to experience sound issues. Rather than getting annoyed and going into a huff. Being the professionals they are, they shifted songs around and blasted through another brilliant fun set, so we didn’t feel short changed.

I was looking forward to Deerhoof’s, but after Bodega, the set just felt flat.

Day Two

Simon Armitage

Lost Map Presents Weird Wave. Johnny knows how to work a crowd.

WH Lung impressed again.

Rozi Plain

Jeffrey Lewis and the Voltage

The Lovely Eggs are glorious fun.

Sea Power’s set was EPIC……

I’ve never been a fan of The Go Team. After Sea Power’s epic set, they had a mountain to climb. They didn’t work for me. But I was in a minority.

Day Three

Morning talks about Goth with goth royalty in the form of John Robb and Simon Price and the Lovely Eggs talking to Shaun Keaveny about their TV show.

The annual dog show with Shaun Keaveny

Brìghde Chaimbeul

Hayden Thorpe and Jack McNeil.

Unknown to me. Haress were a big surprise.

Personal Trainer are fun. The perfect festival band.

Cosmic Bingo featuring Utopia Strong and Bo Ningen

The Utopia Strong

When Bo Ningen say they are playing their last song and you look at your watch and there’s still 20 minutes of their set left, expect it to be epic. It was.

Hamish Hawk bringing his charm and wit to Muncaster

The Waeve, featuring long-time Sea Power friend, Rose Elinor Dougall, and her partner, Blur’s Graham Coxon.

Gwenno with band was brilliant

Sea Power closing the weekend playing Do You Like Rock Music.

Other photos

Full photo set is available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/pahudson/albums/72177720310720009

Support was from Voka Gentle, who I wasn’t initially enamoured with. It was too heavy on the synths. But after picking up a second guitar, by the end of their set. I really enjoyed their performance.

The castle in question turned out to be Muncaster Castle and as expected, it was in the middle of nowhere at the edge of the Lake District and very little local accommodation. So despite my usual ‘no tents’ music festival policy, there was no way I was going to miss this festival and I am so glad I didn’t. The festival was nearly perfect, simply like minded people getting together to celebrate the band we all love.

As you might expect from a British Sea Power festival, it wasn’t your normal festival featuring lots of ‘very British Sea Power’ things, such as birds of prey displays, hikes across the fells, miniature railways, bingo (Bo Ningen style), book readings, a poet laureate and very appropriate heron feeding

The event actually didn’t take place in the castle itself, but a farmer’s barn next to the castle’s entrance. I arrived fairly early to find a much better organised setup than I expected. Martin had brought up Brighton Dome’s light and sound engineer and they had worked hard to setup a professional stage with good sound. Even the castle owners mucked in to make sure everything went smoothly, with the husband of the castle’s Lady and her children helping out.

It was also unusual for a festival in that prices were reasonable and facilities decent. Access to the Castle grounds and a tour of the castle was included in the ticket price. This meant we had access to the castle’s cafe and toilets. So hot water and cooked breakfast’s were available every day. Also, the castle’s information centre was right next to camp site and this had proper toilets with hot running water! The only issue was the shower available was best described as ‘makeshift’ and most of us avoided using it. Instead using the hot water in the toilets for a flannel wash. But all in all. Much better than I expected, and much less smelly too.

From a music perspective, the lineup was fairly light in terms of artists but full of quality with the likes of Snapped Ankles, Bo Ningen, and Squid. British Sea Power also played a set each day. Effectively, the festival was two full days spread over three days, starting Friday evening and finished early Sunday evening.

Penelope Isles opened the music. They have supported British Sea Power and are a pleasant way to open the festival.

Next up were one of my favourites of 2019. The excellent Squid. Squid have an anarchic but fun punk sound. Oddly, they elected to play pretty much all new stuff which made me happy as I had seen them before, but despite this, they seemed to get a positive reaction from the early festival crowd.

Lost Map, with their close connection to British Sea Power had a big influence over the festival providing several artists for the lineup. First up was Rozi Plain. Rozi is a great artist. I have to admit, I didn’t buy into her when I first heard her, but she has grown on me the more I’ve seen her and listened to her music (I think I’ve just mellowed into her sound). She writes great catchy indie folk pop tunes.

The next band didn’t work for me and were the only miss-step of the festival, DSM. I just didn’t get them. It was time for a (cheap) pint and some food.

Pictish Trail was next. I’ve photographed him a few times for Daylight Music and he’s a bloody nice guy. If you’ve never seen Pictish Trail, you need to. Johnny Pictish is a such a charismatic host who welcomes you into his wonderful surreal world. Tonight was no different.

British Sea Power play a set each evening three nights. There were basically a walk through the some of corridors of their vast back catalogue. Friday and Saturday’s set, pretty much playing to a captive audience and Sunday’s set, a low key set of some of their more rarely played songs. They played pretty much everything I wanted to hear, including my favourite song, Lately. So I was very happy.

Closing the evening was a DJ set from the Poet Laureate, Simon Ermitage and a set from the UK’s ‘premier Jonathan Richman covers band’, The Modern Lovers – featuring many familiar faces.

Day 2

Day 2 started with a walk around the castle’s garden and a very informative guided tour of the castle by members of the Pennington family who’ve lived at the castle for 800 years. So they know a little bit about it’s history!

Early afternoon activities were focused on the castle’s music room(?) for a performance by Last Map’s Callum Easter, a reading from Luke Turner with musical accompaniment, and a interview with author David Keenan. Oh, and a display of the castle’s Birds of Prey!

The evening’s music was pretty much spot on. Opening the evening was the delightful Celestial North featuring BSP’s Woody and his wife. A fun bingo session with Bo Ningen adding a touch of psychedelia to bingo. A interesting chat with Joy Division’s Stephen Morris. A fantastic poetry reading by Simon Armitage. The excellent Mr Ben and the Bens and full set by Bo Ningen and British Sea Power.

Closing the evening were Snapped Ankles. New to many in the audience, I had seen them several times and was looking forward to seeing them. You have to see this band live. They’re such a great live band. Dressed as shamans, they mix all kinds of primal rhythms to create an infectious sound that you can’t help but get caught up in.

Closing the evening was Steve Davis spinning some discs. Yes, I do mean that Steve Davis. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people being so excited to meet a celebrity. Although, to be honest, his set was a bit heavy going and eventually drove people back to their tents!

Day 3

Like all festivals, day 3 started with a short trip on a miniature railway followed by a six mile hike across the Cumbrian fells!

While I do a lot of walking, I’m pretty much an urban (London) rambler. So this was a bit more difficult than my normal walks. I stupidly decided to carry my camera bag. Luckily, I’d lightened the load a little. But it was harder work than I expected.

Oddly the festival’s final day had an early finish with a BSP short set closing the day at about 7pm. This left be in a quandary as to whether I should stay one more night or try and make the long drive back. Before that however, there was still some interesting music from My Little Brother, Will Burn and Hannah Peel, BSP side project – Slow Tree and Steve Davis’s own excellent band, Utopia Strong.

In the end, I decided to head off home. For pretty much the whole weekend, it was difficult to get a Three signal except for in some selected places. However, when I managed to get a signal, it appeared that there was a weather front moving in. I had hoped the bar would have stayed open after the BSP finished, but pretty much everything closed as BSP’s set finished and I didn’t fancy sitting in a tent in the rain, so I quickly packed (broke) my tent and cut my losses heading across the Pennines to my parents rather than risking driving several extra hours to my home.

But despite this blip at the end of the festival. The whole weekend felt like a renewal. My parents knew I’d enjoyed myself as they said they could hear the enthusiasm in my voice as I talked about the weekend, even when talking about the few negatives!

Pretty much everything went well. Even when the toilets next to the barn had to be closed, the Castle team managed to get more delivered to the site late on a Saturday night. (I guess it has bonuses living in a castle!) It was great to see BSP and fans bring their families and dogs along giving the festival a relaxed feeling. Compared to my usual festival where I’m rushing around between venues trying to catch as many bands as possible, this festival just happened at it’s own pace and gave me a much needed boost.

Hopefully, I won’t have to wait as long for the next Krankenhaus!

The main reason for me attending was the excellent Bo Ningen were headlining. As always, they were brilliant.

Thankfully, it turned out to be the later!

Tonight was a special evening. BSP were going to play through Decline to celebrate 12th anniversary of it’s release and support it’s recent re-issue. The Decline of British Sea Power is a fantastic debut album. It lays the foundations of everything the band has become. From blustering Pixies inspired indie rock, to thoughtful fantastical lyrics that go beyond the simple love songs most bands sing. This album is their DNA. Tonight also saw the return of their original keyboard player, Eamon. So it was bound to be an emotional evening and the crowd knew it would be.

The evening started in the best way possible with another of my favourite bands, a set by Japanese noise merchants, Bo Ningen. They’ve supported BSP a number of times and BSP always seem happy to share a bill with them. Not many bands would do. They put on a fantastic live show. Tonight was no exception.

The crowd were up for this gig from the off. As soon as BSP started playing, the crowd erupted. It never let up until BSP left the stage nearly 2 hours later. The band were also immediately in their stride. This gig meant everything and no one was going to let the side down.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the addition of Eamon. Although I’ve followed the band since the week of the release of Decline. I didn’t go to watch them play live until about 2009. I had no friends who liked BSP and in those days, if I couldn’t persuade somebody to go to the gig with me, I didn’t go. So other than performances I’ve seen online and on TV, I’d never seen Eamon in the band. So was concerned that he’d alter the current dynamic.

I shouldn’t have worried. Eamon’s job was simply to be the mascot for the evening. Don’t get me wrong. He did play on many of the songs. But he’d pick up his drum and roam around the stage or crowd surf with the audience. The bear also made an appearance and crowd surfed.

By the end of the gig. Everyone was drenched and I had several bruised ribs from being crushed on the barrier. This was a perfect gig. The crowd the perfect crowd and the venue, the perfect venue. God I love this band.

Support came from Fafanu and Grim Grim.

Grimm Grimm

Grimm Grimm

Fufanu

Fufanu

Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen

Next up was Taigen Kawabe, the lead singer from Bo Ningen performing a ‘Japanese Sound Poem’. It just sounded like a wall of noise to me and unfortunately despite my love for Bo Ningen, I didn’t feel this experiment worked.

Unfortunately, despite there being a relatively early doors the gig ran late. So it was about 2230 when A Dead Forest Index came on. I hate when this happens. With the Waiting Room in the arse end of nowhere, I was reliant on buses to get me back to civilisation and not knowing the buses around that area you have to leave yourself enough time. So I only managed to catch 25 minutes of their set. Sometimes bands seem to get into their head that the only people at their gigs are Londoners so if there’s no curfew, it doesn’t matter if the support acts run over, they’ll just play later. I hate missing the end of sets I’m enjoying because of poor timing.

Rant aside, Dead Forest were again excellent. The sparseness of their music I find somehow intense. As the singer layers repeat loops of his androgynous vocals on top of each other building up layers of intensity, the excellent drumming gives the music the forward motion needed to drive the music towards an inevitable climax, you’re drawn in to the music.

I know at the Savages gig many of the crowd were left cold. But I find the vocals almost siren-like. They somehow get under my skin and are a times etherial and mournful and at other times, there’s a cold creepiness about them. But they never quiet seem normal.

Highlight of the evening was when the lads were joined by Gemma from the Savages to added layers swirling guitars to their already intense sound.