In the first of what we hope will become a series of themed blogs we’ll bring you over the coming months and years, Farmer Phil’s Festival newbie Alan Fisher recounts the highlights of 2015’s shindig – his favourite Farmer Phil’s festival experience…
“Laura laid down the gauntlet of contributing a blog post of 400 words (my own blog post after the festival was more than ten times that!), anyone that knows my writing style knows that I’ve not normally said anything in that amount of prose! 2015 was my first time at the festival – after literally years of being nagged by a friend that I must go. I’m only a relatively recent convert to festivals, but now I’m hooked.
Of course seeing my favourite band Ferocious Dog headline was spectacular – but what stays with me more was the wonderful relaxed atmosphere, being surrounded by like-minded folk, many of whom had taken advantage of the opportunity to camp on site for most of the week preceding the music, which I’d love to do in the future if only I had more holiday time allowed at work, a week chilling in that wonderful little space nestled in the valleys of Shropshire would be very good for the soul indeed.
Musical highlights were rip-roaring sets from Gaz Brookfield, The Leylines, Funke and the Two Tone Baby, 3 Daft Monkeys, Mad Dog McRea and countless others – but better still was the time spent in the fields, by the campfires, nestled in Nana’s Kitchen with so many wonderful people. Watching Ken from Ferocious Dog merrily dancing with festival goers whilst Talisman were playing, swapping coats with Sam Jones only to end up with him furiously hunting you down because his cigarettes were in his coat pocket and you’d wandered off. Even Waggy’s chilli moonshine didn’t manage to detract from the experience.
But my absolute favourite Farmer Phil’s moments were those laughs and songs around assorted campfires – listening to Brian playing his guitar and singing (the experience that led to his Rum song!) huddled closer to the fire as t’was surprisingly cold for August. Emerging frozen from the tent to greet Tim and Kev arriving in the early hours because they were too excited to wait until morning to arrive on the site, Wez bringing a leatherette armchair with him for the ultimate in fireside comfort.
The highlight of Farmer Phil’s is the folk who organise it and the bulk of the folk that attend – it’s the perfect size, it’s in the perfect location and has an awesome and varied selection of acts on offer to cater for all tastes. I can’t wait until August. That’s under four hundred!”