Live: Y Not Festival 2015

Indiana at Y Not Festival 2015. photo: Shaun Gordon

Despite being in the land that a Nottinghamshire media outlet should never speak of, it’s hard to dispute, YNot Festival 2015 had a bloody amazing line-up. No matter what you were into.

Like your chart stuff? Well, the headliners had you sorted. Like a bit of chilled singer-songwriter? Two stages dedicated to that. Rock and alternative? Yup, that’s covered too. You get the gist.

Due to day job shizzle, we arrived to Y Not on the Friday afternoon. We rocked up, spent about two hours setting up our tent (oh yeah, did I mention this was my first time camping?), filled our bottles with “water” and headed off for a wander.

First things first - wow. That’s what instantly ran through my head upon first walking round the festival. It’s massive. Loads of stages. Loads of bars. Loads of food (oh my god the food). A fun fair. Stalls selling all kinds of random stuff. Oh, and then there’s this music thing that was going on..?

Our musical adventure started with Young Guns on the main stage - after two hours of realising the press wifi didn’t like me, I gave up and went and had a mosh like I was a long haired fifteen-year-old again. Despite adoring these guys when I was in my mid-teens, I didn’t recognise one of their songs. But, you know, they were listenable.

After a quick check on the tent to make sure it hadn’t blown off into Lincolnshire or something, we looked out for each specific stage, spending ten or so minutes getting used to them. A bit of Brawlers in the Giant Squid (believe me, in there feels like a brawl), Rag n Bone Man on the main stage (“interesting”) and The Dreaming Spires in The Saloon. All pretty good. But their was one thing on everyone's radar for today. The D O double G. Snooooooooop.

We got there about half an hour prior to his set to get a decent spot, and, surprise surprise, everyone else had that idea. It was rammed. And, out of the whole weekend, Snoop was the only artist I saw who was late. But, you know, credit to him, he is Snoop Dogg.

After a bit of an awks intro by his hypeman to which he didn’t appear, instrumentals played for five mins before Snoop casually walked on stage, reeling off what was essentially a greatest hits collection. And you know what - damn this guy has a back catalogue. If you can appreciate either good pop hooks, or great hip hop lyricism (at times), it was easy to thoroughly enjoy his set.

It was a shame he didn’t have a full band. But in between Signs, I Wanna Fuck You and Drop It Like It’s Hot, he didn’t need one, cos the 15,000 strong crowd was his choir. The real special moment was the finale, when he got the crowd to sing back Young Wild & Free. It’s a pretty odd description, but it was quite poignant hearing all these people singing back, “So what we go out, so what we smoke weed, we’re just having fun, we don’t care who sees”. Yeah. Special. Then I was a boring git and went to bed.

After approximately two hours of sleep (who was I kidding that I was gonna get any sleep this weekend, eh?), we arose to rather pleasant weather, and a surprising spring in our step. Today is when Nottingham represents, tons of local acts were playing, so we were buzzing.

Before the music started we had another rather surreal experience - TV’s Mr Motivator (yup, the dude in the lycra) jumped up on the main stage and delivered a half an hour workout. It was like being in a live action exercise DVD… while on some kind of substance. Surreal as hell, but major fun. “Spanking the pony” with 3,000-odd strangers is something I’ll never forget.

MUSIC. That thing. Should probably speak about now shouldn’t I? We kicked off at the Allotment stage with Martin Luke Brown. Who happens to have a voice which is just as gorgeous as the man behind it. He’s pretty much the perfect pop star: super catchy songs, some brilliant instrumentation (he was on piano and guitar) and an awesome popstar persona. And a sick haircut too.

Next up was a bit of Tash Bird at the Hog & Barrel. Tash is a regular round the open mic circuit, but I’ve always managed to miss her unfortunately, so this was my first time seeing her - and I was well impressed. With a clever, witty songwriting style, and more than a few catchy melodies. Tash rammed out the rather large capacity stage.

Saint Ramond at Y Not Festival 2015. photo: Shaun Gordon

Ady Suleiman was a personal highlight. I’ve seen him several times before, but this soul superstar manages to amaze me more every time I see him. He has great songs, and a great band - but man, that voice. He could sing the electoral register and I’d still buy a ten copies for me and all my friends (okay, all for myself.) He ended with single State of Mind, and that was my moment of YNot 2015. It’s hard to put into words without experiencing it. But once you do, you’ll know what I mean. Psst, make sure you check out the interview with him in the latest issue of the mag.

Saint Raymond absolutely blew the main stage crowd away - and it’s no surprise. The Bramcote lad is pretty much designed for festivals. 45 minutes of huge anthems. Massive hooks that even newbies could join in at, and plenty of swooning girls (and boys) up on shoulders going a bit mental. Hearing I Want You shouted out by around 8,000 people, yeah, that was pretty damn awesome!

We caught a bit of local rock n' rollers Lucille post SR, and, despite how knackered we were at this point. They had us, and everyone in the Hog and Barrel up on their feet dancing like it was that 1950s. Hot off the release of their debut album, these young lads have got some ridiculously catchy songs - and more than a few wicked riffs too. The BB King tribute at the end was rather special too.

A band I loved when I was fifteen were We Are Scientists. A band that Y Not made me realise I still love. These guys are funny, sound just like they do on record - go and Spotify them, now. THEY HAVE SO MANY SONGS. I’m not just talking about quantity, but so many memorable songs that most people have some memory have. The Great Escape and Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt had everyone going a bit mental. Including an old bloke in a suit who was holding a pineapple up the whole gig. Yup, a pineapple.

And then, we legged it to the main stage to catch the last half of what was one of the greatest stage shows I’ve ever seen - Basement Jaxx. Not gonna lie, I could name two songs max that I know of these guys. But wow - they put on a show. From lights and insane pyrotechnics, to bizarre outfits and ridiculous (in a good way) choreography. Oh, and everyone lost their shit to Where’s Your Head At? , naturally.

The rest of Saturday night is a bit of a blur, but I remember 7.5% cider and my friends rolling down a hill was a part of it…

SUNDAY. Bloody Sunday. I got about two hours sleep again - so slept through the hangover - good news. It hit me at 4pm - bad news.

We packed the tent up, whacked it in the car and went exploring (after a trusty bacon butty). Georgie kicked off our musical journey in the Quarry, and damn can that girl sing. Recent single California sounding brilliant - even if everyone in the room was sat down, holding their heads, and regretting 7.5% cider.

April Towers at Y Not Festival 2015. photo: Shaun Gordon

Anwyn Williams was performing at The Saloon, so we popped over to catch some of her almost bluesy folk. I’ve seen Annie quite a few times before, but this time her vocal had developed an insane amount. Like, she was almost doing the folk equivalent of a Beyonce with some of the notes she was hitting. But, you know, less booty and Jay-Z, more whisky and.. well whisky.

We rested our heads for a bit at a secret stage that I wasn’t smart enough to write down the name of. But it was basically a cute little cafe in a tent with some gent playing soft tunes on a ukulele, just what we needed at this point. As well as a chicken katsu curry. That was ace too.

We caught a bit of Rhodes beautiful soft songs on the Main Stage, which again - was exactly what we needed. How people were going for the full on metal at the Giant Squid stage - I just don’t know.

Keto were next on our list over at the Hog and Barrel. Leah Sinead’s beautiful, sultry voice complemented by her ace band really is something special to see live. My missus practically fell in love with her - partially because she mistook her for Laura Marling - but you know - that can only be seen as a compliment.

We then attempted to go into the Giant Squid, but our heads were too delicate. A few friends told me that Rolo Tomassi absolutely smashed it, though.

It was then time for Indiana. Again, similar to Ady on Saturday. I’ve seen her multiple times, but she just gets better. Now with a Top 20 album under her belt, the seductive electro-popstress had a rammed out tent singing all the words back to her. And it was lovely to see Indi so confident on stage, talking to them, having a bit of, dare I say it - “banter” with the crowd. And then everyone went mental to Solo Dancing. Good times.

We then headed to the Main Stage, caught a tiny bit of Johnny Marr (he did some Smiths songs, that was nice), and then got in place for Primal Scream. Now, personally I’m not a fan of these fellas - they’ve always come across as a bit of a shoddy Rolling Stones to me. But, you know what - they won me over. Huge stage presence, a command of the crowd, and some classics that I totally had no idea were there’s. We legged it to the car before the last two songs, beat the traffic and all that, but I’m glad we stuck around for them.

So, as a few days have passed, the hangover has gone and I’m able to reflect on the weekend. I can safely say - YNot 2015 - you were brilliant. Diverse fun, with plenty of variety in many guises. And, I can now say something that I never thought would pass my lips, I saw Snoop Dogg in a field in the middle of Derbyshire. 

Y Not Festival 2015 took place at Pikehall, Derbyshire July 30 - 2 August 2015.

Y Not Festival website