Hi everybody, if you follow me on social media you will know that I was lucky enough To have been invited to attend Leefest 2017. This is my first time attending the festival so here I am, sharing with you all my first ever LeeFest experience, enjoy…
Let me give you a bit of background into the festival, So basically it all started when a 16-year-old boy called Lee was told by his parents that he was not to have a house party while they were away. So instead, he and his friends set up a tiny festival in the back garden. Over the years the festival has started getting bigger and bigger even winning awards from the BBC who branded it ‘A mini version 0f Glastonbury’.
The festival was set into three lands, Mermaid Lagoon, the Neverwood and Scull ridge. Each with their own stages and entertainment.
Within Mermaid Lagoon there was ‘The Beach’ a place that held children’s entertainment/games in the day and then music through the night into the early hours. Here they also had ‘The rainbow room’ this was a cinema by day and a drag club by night.
Skull ridge was the home to Hooks Rook a stage for all the best Rock and Garage. Also in Skull Ridge was The Jolly Rodger, the place for all things pirate, including a casino and magic shows.
Then there was ‘The Neverwood’ this was the main section of the festival, here was the circus and main stage along with many food stalls and tents offering things such as henna designs and UV body marbling.
All these areas were so well put together and the attention to detail made it feel really special.
I attended the Friday of the weekend however the festival does run Thursday through to Saturday. The headliner was Jake Bugg, If you follow this blog you will know that I have mentioned Jake numerous times here over the last couple of years. Apart from Jake Bugg, there were a couple of other acts that stood out to me on the large line-up including Tom Grennan and Superfood.
The music started at about 11 and the first set I caught was by a singer-songwriter Soussa. I had never heard of him before but I am so glad that I did take the time to watch him. He sang a couple of covers including Rhiannas ‘Man down’ and Jake Buggs ‘Seen it all’ while also throwing in some original songs which I absolutely loved, his voice is so powerful and he is so gifted when it comes to songwriting and performing. He only did a half hour set, I really wish it could have been longer because I was really enjoying it.
Throughout the afternoon I just hopped in between stages watching parts of sets from acts including ‘Vinyl staircase’, ‘Top Cat collective’ and ‘CHILDCARE’ all of which were absolutely fantastic.
Then at half four, I head over to the main stage to catch Tom Grennan’s set. I have been following Tom for quite a while now so I was really excited to finally be seeing him live. I watched most of his set from the photographer pit at the front as I had a press ticket which meant I was super close. He had so much energy, he interacted with the crowd really well and you could really see his passion and personality come through which I really loved. He again only did a half hour set but I could have listened to him for hours. After his set, I went backstage and was lucky enough to meet him. He was super nice and took a picture with me. I would love to go and see him in the future if I get the chance.
After Toms set I dropped in on another couple of sets the main one of which being Superfood. They played a couple of news songs and they sounded great so I can’t wait to hear them when they are released. I also saw a bit of Parcels I briefly met them backstage earlier in the day and although they aren’t really my type of music I did really enjoy what I saw of their set and they seemed like really nice people.
Then the time came for Jake Bugg, He opened with the massive hit ‘Two fingers’ before continuing as follows:
There’s a Beast and We All Feed It
Trouble Town
Messed up kids
Taste it
bitter salt
The love we’re hoping for
Put out the fire
Kingpin
Slumville Sunrise
Simple pleasures
Gimmie the Love
Broken
Going back to my roots (Richie Havens cover)
Lightning bolt
This setlist was perfect as it had a perfect balance of songs from each of his 3 albums. The atmosphere within the crowd was electric with people of all ages singing along. He put on an absolutely spectacular show. I was also really lucky to have been able to meet him, He was extremely sweet and took a photo with me.
Like I say in every live review post I do I could write for hours about how amazing it was but a video just sums it up a lot better, I’d like to thank everyone at Leefest for such an amazing experience and I would love to come back next year if you would have me.
Here is my Leefest 2017 experience video, enjoy…
LUCY MCCOURT 
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