Festival Round Up - The Long Road 2024

With 2024 being our second year at the Long Road Festival, the iconic sign saying “welcome back old friend” seemed extra poignant – and the “friend” part really does sum up the vibe of the festival.  With around 8000 attendees you could expect to feel crowded and just one person in a sea of humanity, but that’s not how it feels at all – instead you wander around a well-spaced out event, either to a plan based on the very useful app or just drawn by the sound of music coming from one of the five stages – six, if you include the new, intimate stage in the VIP area.  If you’re a regular at TLR or on the UK country scene you will no doubt be bumping into friends along the way – but if you’re not, you’ll quickly make friends in the shared spaces around the stages, or squeezing onto a table to eat some of the great food on offer around the site.  “Can I sit there” is always answered with a smile and a “yes”.  For those attending solo, the Facebook group for attendees had a wonderful idea of badges so that people could meet in real life those they had met online!

This feeling of being one big family extends to the artists too.  We’ve long held that the UK country scene is a supportive family, and as we watched acts on stage it was heartwarming to see other artists stopping to watch a set – Chrissy and Ben from the Shires caught the First Time Flyers on Sunday, Alan Finlan and his band watched Oscar Corney from the side of the Front Porch stage before their own set and we bumped into Dan Smalley from Nashville catch some early morning folk from Clara Mann

The UK scene was well represented, although many of the sets were on Friday afternoon.  Kezia Gill popped in to watch Jade Helliwell and joined her on stage for a duet on her second set, and the VIP stage saw a range of UK artists gather quite a crowd, including bands heading back from the Main Stage – Colour Me Country All Stars and Morganway certainly enjoyed some shows.

 

What of the rest of the festival?  Tickets for most big events are sold on the headliners – this year we had the legendary Don McLean and on Sunday Russell Dickerson – but The Long Road is more than that.  Many people attending are wondering who will be the “new find” of the weekend (and that’s a very personal find, someone you haven’t heard before even if others have).  For us Flatland Cavalry on the Interstate stage delivered a superb set with great audience participation.  Also on Interstate was Kaitlin Butts whose set was loud and full of energy – in contrast to her later, acoustic set on Buddy’s – but both were absolutely unmissable.   For sheer crowd numbers Dasha deserves a mention – her audience stretched a long way outside the tent and her start was even delayed due to safety concerns.

 

With the music, the car show, the shopping, the food, the BBQ demonstrations, boot branding, Yeti’s roping, O’Donnells Cornhole or just the chance to meet up with friends, there is something for everybody, no matter how big a Country fan you are.  Don’t forget the little possums – the event welcomes children with their own play area, and especially welcomes dogs!

The Long Road is a family.  A very very big one!

See you next year old friend

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