Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
Driving in from Buxton in the sunshine was very pleasant, even more so when we caught sight of the Y Not Festival fields a few miles out as the impressive sprawl of the scale of the site caught our eye, on arrival at Pikehall farm the festival site was ready for a party, after a quick run around to familiarise myself with the four stages it was not long before long 5pm had arrive and it was time for Dead Pony on the Big Gin stage, the Glasgow alternative rockers led by Anna Shields have been gaining attention this year after the release of their debut album IGNORE THIS in April. During the set we would get to hear an impressive six tracks from the album, the opening track Voodoo People, a Pendulum cover got the crowd fired up for what was to come. It wasn’t the biggest crowd with festival goers trickling into the arena throughout the evening but that was made up for by the bands performance, MK Nothing and biggest track to date 23, Never Me were the standout tracks as Shields and guitarist Blair Crichton kept the energy high on the stage. Great start to the weekend from a band on the rise. 9/10 (AB)
A quick run down to The Allotment tent for another Scottish band, Greenock’s Strange Dimensions was well worth it as the indie rockers entertained 200 or so people, new track Occasions was appreciated all round as was the Talking Heads cover This Must Be The Place. The band are made up of Paul Leslie on vocals & guitar and he is joined by his cousin Liam Docherty while John & Anna Jack are on the bass and drums respectively, so a nice family feel to the set in The Allotment which would be visited a lot during the weekend, showcasing emerging talent. 7/10 (AB)
Over in The Allotment stage, co-curated by This Feeling and Scruff Of The Neck throughout the weekend, it was time for Casino. Carnal bass lines and rapturous guitar licks went hand-in-hand with frontman Dillon Kelly’s fantastic croon; slower tracks, such as the goosebump-raising Fool For You mingled magnificently with the bouncy Visions, or phenomenal closer Back in the Day, to deliver a stunningly soulful set that even got the Thursday crowd — crammed swelteringly together in the teeny tent — happily clapping and dancing along. Catch them live at their big ol’ hometown headline show at the O2 Academy Liverpool in October! 10/10 (JOS)
As the early evening sun began to settle its weary head — bless it, it’s not used to working this hard in the UK — it was time for returning favourites Ten Tonnes. With it being five years since the singer-songwriter’s last appearance, a lot had changed for the 27 year old; a few new singles, multiples tours, and even a whole new album. And yet, he charmingly hadn’t changed a bit. The band’s raucously rocky set, delivered with the singer’s usual nonchalance, proved a perfect balm for their baking audience — from the early numbers of Lucy or Born To Lose, to the more recently released Little Lovin’, each track seemed to build upon the last. Even the multiple false starts of Lay It On Me, evidently not meeting Ethan’s exacting expectations, only served to highlight just how dedicated the band were to delighting Derbyshire; and, although the lack of a crowd-led choir may have belayed a band not as known to their audience as some of their Big Gin Stage contemporaries, the smiles and cheers throughout suggested that that would soon be remedied. 8/10 (JOS)
Think back to 2007. The original iPhone is about to come out, Gordon Brown’s just become the new Prime Minister — and of course, Scouting For Girls are just about to release their self-titled debut album. Said album became so iconic, so successful and just so damn beloved that it must have also spawned the worry that they couldn’t ever top it. Heartbeat, Elvis Ain’t Dead, and of course She’s So Lovely… instant classics, the lot of them. But then came 2010’s Everybody Wants To Be On TV, and with it the track that became synonymous with (admittedly cheesy) love songs nationwide; and suddenly Scouting For Girls were a household name.
Since then, they might not have managed to quite reach that same chart-topping peak, but fourteen years later and they’re undoubtedly stronger that ever; an (almost — get on it) fully sold out October/November tour, last year’s The Place We Used To Meet, and of course sub-headlining the Thursday of YNot— and the set reflected every second of the ride. A lot of classics, sure — from openers Heartbeat or This Ain’t A Love Song to the closing duo of Elvis Ain’t Dead and She’s So Lovely, the crowd singing along to each and every word — but there were a host of newcomers too, such as Song I Can’t Forget or The Missing Part, and even the surprise appearance of Busted’s Year 3000, a staple indie favourite. They may not have been headlining the Thursday, and they might have been edged out in terms of crowd volume by Kaiser Chiefs, but the gauntlet for pure crowd enjoyment had well and truly been set. 9/10 (JOS)
Toy Car is a project created by Liverpudlian singer/songwriter Shaun Hough, the bands music has been described as ‘refreshingly retro’ and went down well with the Allotment crowd, their collective energy was fantastic as they worked the crowd, most probably seeing them live for the first time tonight. The five-piece band’s music is hard to define, there are elements of post-punk, indie and rock with tracks such as Rat Race creating a nice vibe in the tent. We will be hearing much more from Toy Car. 9/10 (AB)
Kaiser Chiefs need little introduction, as the Leeds post-britpop legends took to the stage to The Weathergirls track It’s Raining Men, ironic really as the sun was just going down behind the stage. Originally know as Runston Parva then Parva from 2000, they settled on the Kaiser Chiefs name in 2003, the line-up has remained almost consistent since then with Ricky Wilson on vocals, Andrew White (guitar), Simon Rix (bass), Nick Baines (keyboards) and since 2013 Vijay Mistry on drums, who replaced founding drummer Nick Hodgson following his departure in 2012. 2024 has been a busy year for the guys with their eighth studio album being released in March quirkily named Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album as well as loads of tour dates, this was their first album release since 2019. We would get to hear three tracks from the latest release, Beautiful Girl, How 2 Dance and Reasons To Stay Alive, the first mentioned sounded so fresh and went down well with the crowd. Of course everyone was waiting for them to play the big tracks and they didn’t let us down as the crowd sang along to Every Day I Love You Less And Less followed by the anthemic Ruby. I Predict A Riot could have easily caused one within the crowd, there was a cover of The Who track Pinball Wizard in the encore, which ended with Oh My God. The Leeds band provided an enthralling hour and a half of indie rock to end our opening day on a high. 10/10 (AB)
Written by: Alan Brown and James O’Sullivan
Photo gallery featuring Dead Pony, Scouting For Girls and Kaiser Chiefs.
