Very much for the festival go-ers who like either dressing up as Vikings, or Marcel Marceau, or both in some cases, the laid back, extremely friendly, three day Lindisfarne festival proved yet again this year that there’s a strong market in the 30-50 year old who fits the music-lover-still-loving-a-festival bracket. Something of a festival for those not young enough to stay up all night, but will try their hardest to do so, the strength of Lindisfarne is it’s curation; there’s interesting music and entertainment throughout the day in a tight, compact, setting but things don’t get ‘really’ lively until about 9pm – meaning that the morning can be kept to a lie in, the afternoon is a gentle steady pace back into party mindset, and the night.. well the night is left for festival liveness. Thursday sees a pop style outing on the main stage with both Scotuing for Girls and Lottery Winners playing indie pop-rock which gets the festival off before sonic pioneers Hawkwind take us to just past 11pm with the type of space jam designed for an outdoor festival so close to the backdrop of Lindisfarne. Friday gets livelier thanks to the electronic vibes coming from the Shanti Bee tent (shout outs in particular to Kevin Sands, Shanti Residents and DJ Maia) and also from a comprehensive day at the main stage; local acts Lucy Spraggan and (bandless) Sonny Tennet put on great shows (including a superb “stand by me” set) before a lovely run of Inspiral Carpets in to Doves into party-maker Armand Van Helden keeps things tight and lively. Saturday’s final day again sees a relaxed start to the day, this time possibly with a great amount of fancy dress, before a 1-2-3 combination of Surghall Gang, Jamie Webster and The Waterboys (stunning) bring us to return back to tent and side step more of the disco/electro that maintains the night. As a festival for the slightly older crowd, who really enjoy music but also like a little sleep, both Hardwick and Lindisfarne really stand out in the NorthEast as being friendly, helpful and filled with great music.
