Spotlight: Kendal Calling - A Retrospective Look And A Preview Of What's To Come

So, this Thursday will see the start of Kendal Calling 2025, the family friendly festival that embraces all kinds of music from rock, to indie, to dance, to pop and so much more is turning 20 this year. On the 31^st of July 40,000 people will descend on Lowther Park to make it, temporarily, one of the largest towns in Cumbria.

The sold out festival (don’t worry, if after reading this you really want to go there are some resale tickets on a well know second hand ticket site beginning with Tix) starts on the Thursday night with a mix of acts including the fabulous Sophie Ellis Bextor and the Riotous Kaiser Chiefs.

The fantastic music continues throughout the weekend with headliners the Courteneers, Fat Boy Slim and the Prodigy. I will go into more detail about some of the acts you can see later but as this is my fourth year in a row covering Kendal, I thought it was probably worth explaining why I have gone back so often before getting into this year.

The main reason I love it as a festival is quite simple, the people, it’s incredibly friendly, incredibly relaxed and so easy going. People are nearly always respectful of each other, and you can choose whether to be in party central for camping or somewhere quieter, but you can also find things going on at nearly every time of the day and night. The people who run it are lovely, the people who marshal, the security staff, the people in the various bars and food outlets are all brilliant. The huge selection of food itself is amazing, you can get pretty much most cuisines there (please let the Himalayan dumplings be back!) and the setting, in Cumbria, is beautiful.

So, downsides? You might enjoy yourself a little too much, I have seen the occasional bit of over imbibing but, to be fair, less than I’ve seen at many single band gigs. The weather isn’t always perfect but name me a festival in this country that can guarantee perfect weather and there are usually too many clashes between great acts.

What to do? Well, there is so much you just need to go see it all, don’t just stick to the main stage, Calling Out, Parklands, Woodlands and Chai Wallahs to name just a few are well worth a visit but also try the Stagger Inn and the Bier Halle. If you doubt me a couple of years ago, I wandered up to the Woodlands stage as I’d been told the next act was pretty good. There were only about 50 of us there to see the Kendal debut of Rianne Downey, last year she was on the main stage with Paul Heaton, still one of my favourite Kendal headliners.

I’ve found fantastic new bands over the last three years, to name a few Panic Shack, Shelf Lives, Home Counties, The Lottery Winners (a perineal Kendal favourite), the K’s, Elvana, Henge, Pale Waves, the Hunna, the Lancashire Hotpots, Corella, Brooke Combe, Dead Pony, Red Rum Club, Rats, Jamie Webster (an accidental find, we wondered why Parklands was so busy, apparently some guy called Jamie Webster was playing it) Confidence Man and Circa Waves and that doesn’t even begin to tell the story of how much great music I’ve discovered over the last three years.

The Lancashire Hotpots are very much a Kendal tradition, usually the second act on the main stage on a Sunday I would plead with you not to miss them, arm yourself with a flat cap, a need to conga, a sense of humour a willingness to pull some awesome dance moves and the ability to not care what other people think about you (everyone else is doing it at the same time). I have one request of them for this year, bring back I Fear Ikea and Shopmobility scooter, in fact Kendal Calling, could you extend the Hotpots set, two hours seems about right….

The joy of the wide selection of music at Kendal is the simple fact of discovering something new, as I said before, don’t just stick to the main stage. Untold Orchestra on the Woodlands stage was one of the highlights of last year (and incredibly busy!).

There is always some pop royalty at Kendal, I’ve seen Natalie Imbruglia, Heather Small (who I was lucky enough to interview, she is lovely!) Sugababes etc. This year, there is some kitchen disco fantastic pop royalty in the shape of Sophie Ellis Bextor plus Pixie Lott (what a brilliant first album she had), Corrine Bailley Rae and so many others.

Who would I recommend this year, well this is an interesting year for me, usually I do lots or research before I go but this time, due to other things happening in my life I’ve not had time. Its also the first year since I’ve been going, and I haven’t known a lot of the bands further down the line up. It’s therefore going to be a voyage of discovery for me, but one I can’t wait for, but I suspect that my other half won’t be happy about as I usually end up ordering some vinyl from newly discovered bands after Kendal and apparently, we have no more room…

So, of the acts I do know, Corella, Sophie Ellis Bextor and the Kaiser Chiefs will be a tremendous Thursday night, get ready to dance a lot.

On the Friday I will do my best to see Pixie Lott, the K’s, Corinne Bailey Rae, the Wombats, The Big Moon, Covasettes and Revivalry. I know clashes won’t let me see them all and I will discover some other great stuff, but Big Moon are not negotiable!

Saturday I’m aiming for Fatboy Slim, Lottery Winners, Reverend and the Makers, Royston Club, Pigeon Detectives (as I wanted to see them last year), Dutch Criminal Record, Lindisfarne and Nina Nesbitt.

Sunday, well of course the Hotpots! Also Frank Turner, Maximo Park, The Last Dinner Party (who have just announced a new album), Inspiral Carpets (reliving my uni days), Stone and the Prodigy, I’m not happy a lot of the bands I want to see are towards the end of the day, it may be the most steps I get all weekend trying to fit them.

Kendal Calling is, quite simply, the best festival of its size (anyone other festival the same size wanting to disagree feel free to offer me the chance to come and review you) but I think you will have your work cut out. We are also a conscientious crowd, last year over 99% of tents were taken home, this year let’s try for 100%!

I can’t stress enough how much I love this festival, it’s a brilliant four days, full of music, laughter, great food and is also, as far as I’m aware, still the only cask ale accredited festival in the country.

I can’t wait, see you in the fields!

Preview - Iain McClay