For us, a festival usually
means working – whether it’s looking after a stage and all the artists on it,
or a bar and all the drinkers in it – so to be able to spend a weekend at a
festival without an actual job is an absolute dream or just a bit weird! Thanks to The Long Road Festival, all our friends
and the friendly faces we were able to live out that dream and we felt at home!
Just like many of you it was
our first time at the Long Road Festival too.
It’s hard to exist in the UK Country scene without hearing people
talking about it, and to be honest we were suffering a bit of FOMO – the big
stages and that by now quite iconic sign, welcoming back old friends. Baylen Leonard told us he designed the sign,
wanting everyone to feel like returning home from the first festival.
The Long Road Festival is
held each year at Stanford Hall in Lutterworth, which is just off the M6 and
therefore close enough to Birmingham for us to not have to brave camping in
this hot summer we are experiencing (cough!).
We loaded the car with hats, suncream, jumpers, and waterproof jackets
and off we went!
With four stages there an array of talent and
something for everyone, so even when wandering around you will easily hear
something you like, even without having to plan your day.
There's an App to help plan your day and ensure you
don’t miss your favourite or someone you've heard a lot about but trust me
those plans can easily go a miss when you see a friend (new or old) a dog or an
artist and you just need to say a quick hi or maybe grab a selfie. Therefore,
we let to music do the talking and followed our ears to what grabbed our
attention.
Aside from the music, what
is there to do? Does it live up to the
hype?
First impressions –
coming from the smaller independent festivals, there is no question that The
Long Road is a major step up, a large scale, commercial operation. We arrived on the second day (Saturday) so
avoided the mass influx of campers and caravans. Access through the local village was easy and
well signposted, the car parking on site plentiful and well-staffed. £10 on the gate for a day doesn’t seem steep
– and it can be pre-booked with your admission ticket. A short walk past the corn fields (horror
movie fans- you have been warned) and the camper vans took us to the box office for
our accreditation and then straight through the check point for our wrist
bands.
10am may not be that early
but it felt quiet (those who arrived and partied Friday night were recovering)
you could hear sound checks and smell food.
Ok, so we have seen your planning
your outfits online and know that some of you have already started thinking
about next year – it paid off and you looked great, even if there were times where
the weather got the better of you and you needed to wrap up for a seafaring
expedition.
Despite those efforts, it
seems we can’t help buying more. Is it the inspiration from the crowd or the
stars on stage? Luckily the stalls had you covered, from the tiniest piece of
jewellery up to an outdoor stove.
The Long Road is a friendly festival, and it is specifically both child and dog friendly! If the music, food and even funfair aren’t enough for the little ones, there was a dedicated area for them with activities and games under the watchful eye of the leaders who organised everything from games to space hopper races! Lil’ Possum County was popular all weekend – with envious adults watching on, although there were games around the site to try out!
For the dogs it was a chance
to strut their stuff with many – or most – wearing bandanas, jackets, hats,
some even had their own cowboys on their backs!
They also had a dedicated area for running off a bit of energy, nothing
is too good for the pooches! The
festival also featured some invited VIP dogs who welcomed attention and
cuddles!
The festival has a number of
areas and stages.
Buddys has
a chilled out acoustic vibe. Hidden away in the woods with its own bar it
played host to some wonderful intimate shows, included the last Round Up
songwriters round, and was a great place to get close to some acts that you may
not have seen before.
Front Porch is a beautiful set up and is literally a house with a front porch and smoke curling from the chimney! As well as featuring a number of artists and takeovers including Color Me Country and the Americana Music Association. Despite not having a covered seating area the crowd would frequently spread out across the field!
The Interstate
stage is the next biggest, with acts to match!
A big marquee, it is the second stage for the festival and hosted artists
from both the US and UK, with some of those absolutely blowing the roof off!
The Rhinestone Stage
is easy to find and hard to miss!
Visually it is clearly a big festival stage and is situated by the
entrance to the festival, overlooked by Stanford Hall. The area in front of it was usually full when
there was an act on stage, and adjacent is the VIP area (with posh
toilets!) Headliners Blackberry Smoke
and Cam drew huge crowds, but as with all festivals it is worth seeing
the other acts too, especially those who are on earlier…
As well as these stages –there
are other areas playing music – everywhere you go, there’s music!
The Showground
played host to not just music but also to dancing and eating competitions.
Festival partners Team
Kentucky had a marquee where you could relax and find out more about
Kentucky Tourism – and on Sunday afternoon their small stage featured Kentucky
native Tyler Booth who played an incredibly popular set which filled the tent
and beyond!
With so much to see and do
on the site, it is important to keep your strength up and keep well hydrated –
at least that’s our excuse! For food,
there really was something for everyone, ranging from a smokehouse with its own
fire truck smoker; to Game and Flames roasting venison; toasties, Cajun; pizza;
Persian street food…. You could have a different type of food for every
meal! There were also bars aplenty, plus
specialist outlets selling craft beer, moonshine cocktails and more. The prices were reasonable, bearing in mind
it’s a festival, and the quality was great.
Our aim for the weekend was
to walk around and just soak up the atmosphere and listen out for music. There were many great acts, but our attention
was especially grabbed by Tyler Booth at Team Kentucky and later
on Buddys stage; by Alana Springsteen who delivered an absolutely
superb show as first act on Rhinestone on Sunday afternoon and by seemingly
everyone’s favourites Chapel Hart who played on the Front Porch
as part of Color Me Country and truly grabbed our attention and our
ears!
As with life, the festival
shows that not everything goes to plan. I’m sure a great deal of people were
disappointed that Jon Pardi had to pull out but credit where its due, the Long
Road team reached out and got Cam at short notice (evidenced by the lack of
backdrop in her set).
So, if you’re asking, should
I attend, ask yourself, do you like country music? Do you like having a good time? If so, this festival is not going to
disappoint.
See you there old friend.
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