The Big Feastival

Hello and welcome back! I recently got the chance to spend a day at the Big Feastival, Sit back, relax and let me regale you with tales from Alex James' farm...

What? Alex James' Farm?

Yes, the Big Feastival was a food/music festival taking place on Alex James' farm in Oxfordshire. You'll know Alex James as the blur bassist turned cheese-man, who teamed up with Jamie Oliver to bring top quality food and music to the masses.

What Was There?

Ducks! Ducks, ducks ducks!

The festival had a whole host of different stalls, for all tastes. Obviously there were the food vans and music stages, which I discuss below. For those who wanted to improve their cooking skills there were cooking demonstrations with top chefs, or you could go to a Q&A sessions with food and drink experts (including Adam Henson from Countryfile), or you could even just go to the petting zoo. There were also market stalls where you could buy a range of items, including hot sauces, brownies and cooking utensils. For fans of cooking and food, there was almost everything you could wish for.

What Kind of Food?

Cheese! Clockwise from top: Little Wallop (Goats),
Blue Monday, Farleigh Wallop (Goats), Goddess Geu

There was food for all, of all shapes and sizes! From paella to dumplings via ice cream and cider, there was something for everyone. The traditional festival food had also been elevated to new heights. For example, at the Barbecoa stand (a Jamie Oliver venture), you could get short rib burgers along with double beef burgers. There wasn't a bottle of burger sauce in sight, this was a much "classier" affair. 

For fans of cheese, there was an entire tent dedicated to the cheese of the feastival co-founder Alex James. You could buy a sample plate of four of his award winning cheeses (I didn't check which awards they were), which were delicious. They were so good that I didn't even realise Alex James was standing about 10 feet behind me while I was eating them! If that's not a testament to their quality, I don't know what is.

And The Music?

As a food and music festival, there had to be a careful balance between the two. Focus too much on one and you risk losing the audience for the other. However, with several stages for new artists and a main music stage, all with different acts throughout the day, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing something good. The whole weekend had some big names, such as Fatboy Slim and Laura Mvula on Saturday, but on the Sunday I was able to see De La Soul and Jamie Cullum perform to the crowd. De La Soul gave an incredible performance, with tonnes of audience interaction. Seeing an Oxfordshire crowd all bouncing their hands to De La Soul is a sight I won't forget in a long time. 

There, proof I was there!

Jamie Cullum was the headline act and his performance truly earned that slot. He was electric and full of energy, blasting out classics with his band. He was unafraid to get the audience truly involved, which culminated in pulling up one man to play piano with him on stage. Luckily the man knew his piano, which saved Jamie Cullum from a very embarrassing moment. 

Summer-y

Sorry for the awful pun. As it was a festival, the cost of the food was inflated, along with the fact you were paying for top quality stuff, so it was a event where your wallet could take a significant hit, if you let it. The whole event took place on the 29th-31st August near Kingham in Oxfordshire and if this year's impressive show was anything to go by, then it will be back next year! So all in all, the Big Feastival managed to bring together brilliant food and great music in a way that many other events would fail to, all in the Oxfordshire sunshine.

Hallé Orchestra

Hello again, you appear to have stumbled upon another blog post of mine! Very recently I was fortunate enough to see the Hallé Orchestra perform at Bridgewater Hall. So if you are interested in classical music and even if you aren't, this post will be perfect for you!

Hallé Orchestra

The Hallé Orchestra, for the vigilant, have been mentioned in this blog before (here). They are a world-class orchestra, based in Manchester. They do regular performances at Bridgewater Hall, but have been known to venture elsewhere, such as Jodrell Bank. For a complete novice in classical music, I have to admit I was skeptical as to whether I would enjoy an evening performance of pieces which I was unfamiliar with. Well, I had nothing to fear. The mixture of the beautifully designed hall (below) and the extremely talented orchestra ensured that I was in for an experience I'll happily have again.

Have a look at that. Breathtaking.

The Pieces

I'll list the pieces which they played, if you want to go and have a listen: 

Stravinsky-Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Mendelssohn-Violin Concerto in E minor

Tchaikovsky-Symphony No.5

If those mean nothing to you, you're in the same boat I was. But it didn't matter that you had no idea how the music went, as you could very easily lose yourself to the music. I think this was the nature of the Hallé.

The piece by Stravinsky was most probably my favourite of the evening, a 10 minute piece performed purely by wind instruments. It was short enough that you could listen to it when you had a small bit of time, yet it still contained all of the elements of classical music you would expect to find, if you wanted to delve into the genre.

The Orchestra, just warming up.

The piece by Tchaikovsky was performed in the 2nd half, after the interval. It was a piece which demanded its own section, a thrilling foray through the voices of many, many instruments, spaced with audacious pauses. These pauses could catch a beginner, like myself, out. Luckily, I had an experienced listener sitting next to me, so I knew when to react. So be careful when listening to that one in public, or risk looking the fool.

When?

The performance which I saw was part of the Thursday series by the Hallé, which takes place at Bridgewater Hall.

Cost?

The cost depends, if you are a student, then the cost is £3 on the door! Huzzah! You can get the experience of seeing a world-class orchestra for a shaving of what you would expect the price to be. Winners all around, so don't miss out!

49th Towersey Village Festival

Hello again, it has been a while. Recently, I have been to the Towersey Village Festival (TVF- http://www.towerseyfestival.com/). Not as exotic as Dublin, I know, but still an interesting journey. The reason for my visit was due to volunteering on a physics-based stall, but that isn't important. What is important is what I thought of the event.

Background

This was the 49th TVF, which traditionally takes place on the August bank holiday weekend. They didn't seem to worry about larger festivals taking their audience away. The main genre of music was folk, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. You didn't have to venture far to find bands performing "gypsy-jazz", reggae and rock n' roll. This all acted to allow new people such as myself to find something new which they enjoyed (for me it was the gypsy-jazz).

Beer (and Food)

If you wanted it to be, you could ensure that this was hardly a sober event. On offer were 20 real ales (at a guess), all from independent breweries around the country. The wonderful thing about independent ales is that if you find a bad one (unlikely), you aren't likely to have it again soon. If you find a good one, well, that's just a bonus. The ales varied in colour and taste, from flaxen to dark, bitter to not-so-bitter. For those who wanted to test their tastebuds, there was an one off ale-tasting event on the Friday morning, which you had to be aware of. It wasn't on the main schedule and had a low capacity, resulting in several people only finding out when it was too late and being turned away.

Food was available, but if you are low on funds then I recommend taking your own. Nothing against the festival itself, it's just festival food prices. Sorry.

Dance

There was wide variety of dancing on offer, ranging from drunken stumbling to waltz. Granted the waltz was part of a ceilidh, but it was there. Ceilidh dancing, for the uneducated (like myself), is a group dance. It involves a lot of spinning, turning and hopping, which means you can get caught up in it very quickly. If you are a novice, like myself, then take the following advice. Have a drink (a real ale perhaps?), turn up nearer the beginning of the event, grab a partner (politely) and just get involved. Believe me, you want to dance in it while you can.

Bands

The bands, as I mentioned previously, was mainly of the folk genre. However, other types were easily available. One of my favourite bands there was called Manière des Bohémiens. They were a gypsy-folk/eastern European swing band, who weren't afraid to suddenly delve into a bit of classical music. I found them to be a refreshingly intense change from the mainstream, who were more than able to get the crowd jumping. They are also all fantastic guys, who were very easy to chat to and to drink with!

                                                                                                       

                                                                

Another band who I enjoyed thoroughly were a band called Orkestra Del Sol. Through the use of brass instruments, which you would normally associate with slow and dull music, they delivered a truly electrifying show. They were more than happy to laugh at themselves (and the audience) through the use of props (fake hair), quick drama pieces (a Towersey news report) and on-stage music battles. If you ever see the name Orkestra Del Sol against a more mainstream band at a festival, I say this from my soul (sol?) that you should ditch the mainstream and see the Orkestra. You will not regret it.

Orkestra Del Sol, in all their glory. Notice the dressed up man in the middle.

Those were two of my favourite bands at Towersey, I could rattle on about so many more (Sunjay Brayne, Jess Morgan, etc...) but I would bore you.

Location

If you going there by car, great. You'll be fine, as there was free parking. If you are not as lucky (like myself) and go by train and walk the rest, here is a word of warning. Get a decent map. I'm not talking Google maps. Go for Ordnance Survey as a lot of the walking takes place on public paths through fields, rather than roads. Other that than, you'll be fine (Watch out for the cows).

Summary

To sum it up: If you need to detach yourself from the everyday world for a while, then there is no better place. Ditch the laptop, smartphone and all-sorts and grab a partner for the ceilidh. Thank me later. Perhaps with a real ale?