The Western Park Festival

The Western Park Festival took place on Saturday 6th July, from 12 noon to 8 pm

See Western Park Festival on Facebook | See the festival website

Photos from our media team at the festival. Scroll down for reviews.

Photographs: copyright Kevin Gaughan

Western Park festival

Reviewed by Pete Coombs

Titan

Leicester band Titan

Arriving just in time to hear Lead singer; James Shaw, announce that they are “ready to be one of the best bands in Leicester” I was immediately put off by the arrogance. Titan have created musically tight, well-constructed rock, however they are at risk of being a little too generic for my liking.

Vocally they lack a lot of depth and are seriously in need of more backing and harmonies. This being said; there is no doubt these guys have talent and are definitely one to keep an eye on, of course once the vocalist has climbed down from his pedestal.

Mondigreen

Although only catching the final three songs, these guys sound really good; I am gutted I missed the rest of their set.

Cleverly constructed indie rock; catchy and interesting throughout; emphasised by cleverly swapping the lead vocalist for almost every song, maintaining a constantly engaging, thoroughly enjoyable set.

Becky Edwards

Time to find some shade, sit down and enjoy some acoustic music; so naturally I head over to the band-stand stage, where I am greeted by the vocal tones of Becky Edwards; melodically strumming her acoustic guitar, she performs piece after piece of subtly passionate compositions; all sung over with her crystalline voice and beautiful lyrics.

Friendly Enemies

Although seriously lacking confidence, the young Friendly Enemies play one of the strongest sets of the day; the only thing that could have improved it is if they knew it too; they looked scared, like they couldn’t wait for their set to end.

Frontman Eddie Cohen is yet another talented Leicester musician with real potential, and Drummer Isaac is flawless in his performance.

Once they get some stage presence and confidence (and swap the multi-effects unit for single pedals) they could be playing much further afield than Leicestershire.

Flying Kangaroo Alliance

Leicester band Flying Kangaroo Alliance

Finally a bit of attitude; Meri Everitt and her band F.K.A. perform an excellent set of 90s’esk alt/grunge/rock….in fact; I’m not quite sure what their ‘genre’ is, but whatever it is; they do it well.

Meri’s voice is aggressive and captivating as she spills cleverly written anti-mainstream, f-you lyrics. Under which the band play exceptional music; very clever discordant figures and contesting parts between the two guitars and the bass give a very interesting textures for the listener’s ear.

Lead guitarist Ali Findlay, is nothing but outstanding, generating layer upon layer of musical ‘noise’, along with a fitting amount of solo twiddling; creating a thick, full sound to each piece.

The band, admittedly, were a little unpractised, but their on stage mistakes were professionally laughed off and joked about with the crowd. All in all a really good, fun set of real music.

Skunk-Boy Project

Back to the bandstand for the inquisitively named ‘Skunk Boy Project’; his set starts with his ukulele, which he describes as the instrument of sunshine; very fitting for the sunny Saturday, and once his impeccably powerful voice kicks in we all know we are in for something special.

Easy listening, very well written songs, with highly relatable lyrics, and when mixing in some elaborate rapping, he makes it seem like we are listening to more than just a solo artist.

Three songs in, Skunk-Boy swaps to his piano for a cover of John Mayer’s Stop This Train, emphasising his musical talent and amazing vocal ability; followed by another great original before swapping back to his ukulele for the rest of the performance.

With every song he brings something new, each as impressive as the last, making for an absolutely outstanding set that I (as well as many others) was very sad to see end.

En Route

Dubious to watch as they were billed as an ‘acoustic covers’ band; I am immediately annoyed at myself for missing the first half of En Route’s set.

Made up of exceptional musicians, clever instrumentation and an absolutely fantastic vocalist; En Route have created an inspiring performance of folky goodness. The only negative is their use of sheet music on stage, but I’ll forgive them as they really are an example of the talent we have hidden in Leicestershire.

Previous information

Mainstage and Bandstand together with Marquee Stage will host an array of the wealth of local talent on Leicester’s newest Festival. We have selected acts from this years obsunplugged acoustic event and the OBS, and what an amazing array of talent has been involved this year!
A fun packed day is scheduled for this, the newest family friendly festival with something for everyone to enjoy.
The WP “Kidzone” will host an array of fun and interactive activities for the youngsters and young at heart
Real Ale tent and quality food outlets as well as a variety of stalls will all be on site.
This is a free event, show your support by sharing and publicising and of course, coming along on the 6th July to enjoy what is set to be a fantastic family festival. Please click the link and invite your friends to join the page.

BANDSTAND ACOUSTIC
11.35 – 12.00 Greg Gent
12.30 – 12.55 Rosie Doyle
01.25 – 01.50 Becky Edwards
02.20 – 02.45 Rainy Day Gallery
03.15 – 03.40 Skunk Boy Project
04.10 – 04-35 Dan Wright
05.05 – 05.30 Eaves & the Thieves
06.00 – 06.25 Siobhan Mazzei
06.55 – 07.20 Simpletones

MAINSTAGE BANDS

12.00 – 12.30 THEIA
12.55 – 01.25 Mondigreen
01.50 – 02.20 Midnight Wire
02.45 – 03.15 Stop That Train
03.40 – 04.10 Mysterians
04.35 – 05.05 Violet Cities
05.30 – 06.00 The Fallows
06.25 – 06.55 Brandy Thieves
07.20 – 08.00 Leaving Party

Marquee STAGE 10 ACTS
12.15 – 12.40 Chris Armson
12.50 – 01.20 Titan
01.30 – 02.00 Friendly Enemies
02.15 – 02.45 Rusty and the Cheese
03.00 – 03.30 Ash Mammal
03.45 – 04.15 Incidents
04.30 – 05.00 Son of Glenn
05.15 – 05.45 The Harrowbrooks
06.00 – 06.30 Smokin the Profit
06.45 – 07.15 Echolocation

See also:

The home page for Leicester festivals

Look for dates of festivals in 2013