Review – Glastonbudget Festival overview 26th – 28th May 2023

Local band The Mercians on the Main Stage. Photo (c) Kevin Gaughan

at Turnpost Farm, Wymeswold, Leicestershire.

Reviewed by Steven Hellyar and Kevin Gaughan

Glastonbudget Music Festival on Facebook

Glastonbudget 2023 review Friday

Glastonbudget 2023 review Saturday

Glastonbudget 2023 review Sunday

Kevin writes:

For once, I arrived at Glastonbudget early – Friday (26th) – morning, in fact, with plenty of time to set the caravan up – Music in Leicester’s HQ for the weekend – and have a beer before getting my wristband etc. Usually, it’s quite a stressy affair as I always like to see the first few bands and end up getting stuck in queues. Our other reviewer for the weekend, Steve, joined me later in the evening.

This is NOT Steve, it’s someone else in fancy dress!

This year’s weather forecast was nice and sunny for most of the weekend and I was looking forward to seeing my favourite regulars – Oasish, Kazabian, Dolly Parton and especially the Tina Turner tribute band, Totally Tina! – as the real Tina Turner had sadly passed away just a few days earlier.

Despite its budget name, this is by no means a budget festival, usually attracting 10,000 to 15,000 happy festival-goers over the weekend each year. It has four stages – the small outdoor IcOn stage, the much larger Loco stage, the huge (my favourite) Big Top marquee and the massive Main Stage.

There is also a small stage in the VIP marquee for late-night acoustic performances after the other stages have closed (around 10.30pm). You’ll need a VIP pass for this but you’ll often see the musicians chilling in here.

Main arena with the Main Stage in the background

There’s also a proper real-ale festival in the beer tent with 30+ beers to choose from as well as most other cocktails & lagers you might want to wet your whistle with.

Food was comprehensively catered for with stalls offering food from all over the globe and offering vegetarian and vegan options. There’s also dodgems and various inflatable slides for children, as well as a big wheel for those that can deal with heights (not me!).

There was also a LOROS fancy dress competition and LOROS and Age UK were also being supported.

Jilted Generation (The Prodigy tribute) working the crowd in the Big Top

One of the things I love about this festival, apart from the music, is the friendliness – everybody in the crowd, security and staff are always so friendly and take time to chat with you and have a laugh. The band members, too, can often be seen watching other bands or in the VIP area, so it’s great to nip over and tell them what you thought of their performance.

Glastonbudget 2023 review Friday

Glastonbudget 2023 review Saturday

Glastonbudget 2023 review Sunday

 

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