Now in its tenth year, Y Not Festival has pulled out some pretty impressive names in the past. Frank Turner last year, Snoop Dogg this year. I mean, these kind of names wouldn’t look out of place at some of London’s biggest festivals. Slight difference, Y Not is in Derbyshire....
Yup, despite the fest taking place in the land that shall not be named - Y Not is a big metaphorical fish. Said fish has plenty of great Notts artists performing alongside the superstars too, so let’s have a look at who you can expect to see from round these parts…
Friday
Crosa Rosa are up on The Quarry stage alongside the likes of Less Than Jake and Public Service Broadcasting. Since gaining a fair bit of attention at Nusic’s Future Sound of Nottingham back in 2014, these grungy rockers have gone on to create an intense EP that goes by the name of Pantophobia. Expect plenty of moshing. Well, may as well start as you mean to go on, ay?
Ryan Farmer and his band will be bringing their country twanged blues to The Saloon stage. Now, the mixture of the stage and the sounds this guy makes - well, let’s just say you’ll be drinking a few gallons of whiskey. And dancing. And then probably back on the whiskey. Oh, and he’s playing on his tod on the Saturday too. He sure does love that saloon...
94 Gunships will be over on the Hog & Barrel stage bringing some foot-stomping blues to YNot. This lot are the definition of a live band - they just really know how to put on a show. They’ll get you singing along. And probably doing some kinda weird dance that you hope no one is filming.
Saturday
Saint Raymond is leading the Notts side of things on the main stage. We’re sure you’re already familiar with this gent, but just in case you’ve been living under an asteroid - SR makes huge anthemic indie tunes with more than a hint of pop sensibility about them. Yeah, basically every song is super catchy. And since he’s gone top 10 recently with his debut album, chances are there’ll be quite the crowd for him.
Ady Suleiman is over on The Quarry stage - bringing with him one of the most gorgeous, silky soul voices we’ve ever heard. His music is a hard one to describe, it’s somewhere between pop, reggae and singer-songwriter. But, to be honest, his voice is so stunning he could probably sing that sky brochure on your doorstep and you’d be enticed.
The Wild Man of Europe - that’s the band name - not a wild outlaw - will be playing The Saloon stage. Bringing some country-twanged folk. But we’re not talking about any of that Taylor Swift shizzle - proper traditional folk, with honest, deep stories told within the songs, and some rather beautiful guitar lines too.
Joe Barber will also be on The Saloon stage, and he’ll also be playing some blues. This guy is a one man blues powerhouse, with some awesome riffs, and some pretty intricate songwriting too.
Early-on on the Giant Squid Stage will math-rock types Alright The Captain playing twitchy, irratic riffs that'll get inside your ears and rattle your brain about.
Tash Bird will be demonstrating her knack for writing a super catchy folk-pop song over on The Hog & Barrell stage.
Anwyn Williams will also be on the Hog & Barrel stage, bringing with her some beautiful, emotional singer-songwriter vibes with more than hint of americana about them. Oh, and she’s playing the Sunday too. Two Annies for the price of one, please sir, can I have some more?
Sunday
Indiana is leading the Notts gang on Sunday as second headliner on The Quarry stage. After her debut album went top 20 earlier in the year, Indi has been smashing festival after festival with her super catchy atmospheric dance-pop, and we’re pretty confident she’ll have you dancing all over the place, possibly on your own…
April Towers and their huge retro-pop sounds also take residency on the Quarry at this year’s Y Not. Sounding like a modern day computer had an affair with all the best bits of 80s pop - these guys will also have you dancing - probably not on your own though. Less solo dancing, more, going a bit mental with fellow pop lovers in a field.
Georgie is also on the Quarry stage with her Americana, Fleetwood Mac-esque sounds. After signing a contract and management deal earlier in the year, things have been looking very positive for this lady, so make sure you catch her now while you still can, before she’s doing arena tours and that.
Grey Hairs have the pleasure of kickstarting things off on the Giant Squid Stage at 12:30. Volume will be the order of the day and their loud, noisy punk rock noise is guaranteed to blow away those early Sunday cobwebs.
Kagoule will be tearing up the Allotment stage with their grungy alternative sounds. Their debut album is finally released on Earache in August, so prepare yourself for an intense preview of some of these new beauties. And to leave with some bloody catchy melodies stuck in your head. I still sing Glue in the shower regularly and I first heard it over a year ago (too much info? Too much info…)
The Most Ugly Child will be leading the Hog & Barrel on the Sunday with their huge Americana. They have quite an ironic band name, cos they’re all rather beautiful, and make rather beautiful music. I suppose The Most Beautiful Child just hasn’t got the same ring to it has it?
Keto will also be playing the Hog & Barrel with their bloody hard to describe, but still very good nonetheless kinda folk but kinda electronic sounds. With the lush vocals of Leah Sinead leading them, we’re sure you’ll be hypnotized (in a good way.)
Ollerton lad Ben Haynes is also on the H&B stage. He’s been doing plenty of gigs recently with the local legends that are Johnny and the Raindrops - but at Y Not he’s showing off his singer-songwriter solo vibes.
The H&B stage will also host a certain James Dalby - who is basically YouTube royalty considering his cover of R Kelly’s Ignition has reached 1.4 mil views on YouTube. Whether or not he plays it at the fest is yet to be seen - but it’s the freakin weekend, and we about to have us some fun!
So, as you can see. Nottingham is in full force representing at Y Not. You’ve got an awesome festival on your hands just with these lot - and then when you add on the small bonus of seeing BLOODY SNOOP DOGG, Primal Scream, Basement Jaxx and many more wonderful musical beings, I think you’ll agree it’s more than worth the ticket price.
Y Not Festival takes place at Pikehall, Derbyshire on 31 July - 02 August 2015.
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