Over a week ago now (yes this is a mightily late post I do realise) I returned from a marvellous weekend in Dorset taking in some great music, and generally having a good time in beautiful surroundings.

I’ll start by talking about some of the things that I really liked about the festival itself. It was by far the most relaxed festival I can imagine from the bands and fans all the way through to the staff. The small capacity meant, that our tent was put up I would say roughly a minute’s walk from the arena, and seeing as there were never any queues to get in or out of the arena, you could come and go from your tent as you pleased.

Also, for once at a festival, they couldn’t care less what you brought into the arena. SLR cameras, open (god forbid) bottles of water, even FOOD. So whilst the food within the arena was standard, ramped up, festival prices, you could actually bring food in with you to make the weekend significantly cheaper.

Alongside the scheduled music other end of the road experiences included watching a drunk man in a tree play the trumpet, playing some impromptu scrabble and getting free biscuits, playing ping pong at night under ultra violet light, and sampling some rather nice hot and spicy cider.

Onto the music, here are my three favourite acts of the weekend.

Dirty Projectors

Pre-arrival Dirty Projectors conjured more anticipation in me than any other band on the bill. Earlier in the year, their latest album, Bitte Orca had really captured me and offered no disappointment live. In fact I was amazed that every little sound on the album was reproduced; one part that sounded like a simple computerised loop to me, was actually a partially muted bass part. A truly unique band that everyone really should give a chance, although I’m sure generally, most people won’t get half way through one song (If only people could be more patient).

Explosions in the Sky

Directly following Dirty Projectors I was on a real high and Explosions did more than keep me up there. There music is delightfully full of spine-tinglingly good moments, each one of which I greeted with huge euphoria. It’s also worth noting that I view them as true masters of he guitar as a performance art in itself. They show off and offer visual interest without treating it as an extension of their genitalia.

Efterklang

Efterklang ended up being my Saturday night headliner after I found myself actually disappointed by the Horrors pulling out (I was pretty surprised that I’d been actually looking forward to it). Luckily Efterklang were just as good as I remembered them to be. There sound just works 200 times better live, and I’m already a fan of their albums, especially Parades. Full of energy and erm, Danish-ness, they were just plain fun to watch. They also debuted a batch of new songs that gave me a true sense of excitement for their third LP.

What a great weekend. See you there next year?