leefest – and so she thinks

Leefest is back!

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 10:01:03 +0000

As a big fan of grassroots festivals and new music, it’s great news to hear that Leefest turns ten this year, and will be celebrating in style. Set up in Lee Denny’s back garden in 2005, they took a break last year but are back and ready to bring upcoming sounds to festival goers on 28th – 30th of July 2016 at a new secret location in Kent. Denny says ‘We’ve been crafting LeeFest for 10 years now, and we’re about to embark on our next adventure! We’re moving to a new venue, taking the best bits from our past and throwing in some new ideas to create something really special. A new era begins!’
A limited amount of super-earlybird tickets, priced at £70 for the weekend, go on-sale tomorrow (Thursday 12th) at 9AM and are expected to sell out fast.

Leefest – movers and shakers!

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:14:09 +0000

Ordinarily I wouldn’t think that a weekend couched somewhere between Croydon and Bromley worth spending my time on, let alone writing about for all to read. But Leefest 2012 – that’s different. Well deserving of its accolades and praise, this genuinely is one of the best festivals in the country, which, when there are 450+ running, is a big deal.
Having resigned myself to the fact that none of my festival experiences this summer were to be accompanied by anything resembling heat and summer, we cracked on, drink in hand, exploring the many stages and surprises that this 2500 capacity festival manages to pack in, some key highlights below…
We were pleased to see Bwani Junction on a bigger stage than our roof (see the videosfrom The Great Escape for more…), their reggae beat rock teasing the sun out from behind the clouds and their track Civil Wars again standing out as one to go big and make them that ‘Glastonbury institution’ that NME have predicted.
Of course, I made a beeline for Slow Club, and Rebecca and Charles did not disappoint. Playing material primarily from second album Two Cousins, interspersed with their deadpan Sheffield banter they seemed to be having as much fun as the crowd, and thoroughly deserving the response they received.
Radlands is starting to embed itself in the audience consciousness now, Mystery Jets will be pleased to have seen when they took to the stage on Saturday night. Of course it was Two Doors Down and (Half In Love With) Elizabeth that lit things up even further, from the pretty blazing level Blaine and the boys set.
Having seen the band a few times this year we didn’t stay for the end, but checked out Ghostpoet, an artist whose track Lines has been spinning round my head for a while now, but I’ve never made the effort to explore further. His unique style spanning spoken word and melodic music made the stage feel intimate, and was a real highlight.
So, another year, another success. Usually one wants to wish for ‘bigger and better’ things for something they love, and the organisers of Leefest are likely to be searching for a larger site – let’s just hope that with starry success they remember where all the best things start – the back garden – and keep in mind their motto – ‘You, the movers and shakers of our generation. You, think freely, think differently. You, provide the inspiration, the motivation. You, make things happen.’
Here’s to next year.
Check out the video of the weekend here!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p51tgy470g]

Leefest – this weekend!

admin — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:44:47 +0000

Reasons to love Leefest
1. It is this weekend, meaning only a few more days of waiting.
2. As well as Ghostpoet, Friction, FOE, Let’s Buy Happiness and Bwani Junction, Slow Club are playing. Rebecca and Charles are the kind of pop stars you actively want to be friends with.
3. The weather doesn’t look nearly as shocking as it did for last week’s Isle of Wight.
4. England are out of Euro 2012, so you can watch all the bands you want to, without feeling like you should be doing some kind of patriotic duty.
5. Bingo becomes cool, as Jess Indeedy brings her unique brand of musical bingo to a tent near you.
6. Mystery Jets headline set should now see a crowd knowing lyrics to the tunes from Radlands, making the whole set a celebration of happy chaos.
7. The great Tom Williams & The Boat will be strumming their latest single, Too Young. The video is amazing and we shall be engraving the band’s initials into our desk.
8. You can reach the festival entirely on your Oyster card, or join the active car sharing team, or the lovely folk have even sorted out a scenic cycle route for you.
9. The winner of the ‘Can I party with @IAH_music @Leefest?’ competition will be there – well done Ohad!
10. Armed with this map you can make your way around the site like Christopher Robin embarking on an epic discovery.

Win tickets to Leefest!

admin — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:51:25 +0000

When parents go away for the weekend and fail to leave explicit instructions dictating that their loved children ‘must not throw a festival in the back garden’, events such as Leefest are inevitable. Having evolved from its 2006 roots as a party in the garden with seven bands, the not for profit festival in Bromley returns on June 29^th-30th with one of the best line ups of the summer.
Slow Club, Mystery Jets and Summer Camp all incite squeals of delight whenever I see/hear/think about them, and are reason enough to make the epic half an hour journey from London, even were it not for the whole raft of other acts, including Tom Williams & The Boat, Scotland’s sunniest export Bwani Junction (check out the videos from The Great Escape Rooftop Sessions), the Long Blondes esque Lets Buy Happiness, synth pop via CasioKids and Distiller signings Sound of Guns.
The music line up is amazing, but if you want to go beyond that, there’s visual art from Screen Social, a live curation of Inc magazine and a showcase of musical scores from The Sound Of Film and a glittery whirlwind of magical fun courtesy of Wonderland. A whole batch of stuff proving why the festival has been praised by The Guardian and won accolades in the UK Festival Awards, for being small but perfectly formed.
If you want a taster of what’s in store, check out the playlists that Leefest have kindly pulled together for you.
Tickets are like, mega good value, at only £57 for the weekend, and profits support Kids Company, making it a more than worthy way to spend the weekend. Or you can try and win a pair with It’s All Happening – simply tweet ‘Can I party with you @IAH_music at this year’s @Leefest?’ by midnight on June 15^th, and we will pick a winner at random! Good luck!