Festival Number 6

With over 550 artists, parades, carnivals, comedians and a variety of food Festival Number 6 has something for everyone. Set in North Wales in the beautiful Portmerion, which is perfectly designed for events like these, it’s fair to say the whole weekend was a feast for the eyes.

I had a wander around on the Friday but I can hardly say I saw the whole festival. The event was designed with such thought and creativeness that I discovered new nooks and crannies every day. One of my favourite locations was the woodlands. The magical woods was cramped with bunting, hammock, speakers and all fairy tale like items. In the 70 acres of woodland there were many stages hidden including ‘The Grove’ and ‘Lost In The Woods’ where Badly Drawn Boy played.

Stealing Sheep opened the Friday’s music scene on the main stage. The psychedelic pop band were immediately loveable in their matching leotards, colourful tights and massive beams on their faces. They were followed by Slow Club who were the exact polar opposite. The English duo played an average set but Rebecca Taylor interrupted multiple times with aggressive comments such as “fuck off laser pen twat” when getting a laser pen pointed at her face. The festival really started when Years and Years took to the stage. The British electro band owned the stage as soon as they stepped foot on it. Frontman Olly Alexander showed his background in musical theatre with non-stop dancing and his animated expressions. With the biggest crowd of the festival yet, Alexander worked this by jumping into the army of fans and putting the mic out for everyone to sing along. The festival ran into the night with the new Stealing Sheep torchlit parade and different DJ sets including Mark Ronson.

The Saturday line up was what I was looking forward to. With acts such as Catfish and The Bottlemen, James Bay and Everything Everything I had my wellies on and was down at the Castell Park, the main arena, as early as I could.

Although this was the biggest Festival Number 6 to this day, it was still very intimate with around 15,000 people. This made the weekend all very personal between the artists and the crowd, which for me was magical. Being able to speak to bands after performing, see every wrinkle and facial expression up close but still have the feeling of being in a crowd and screaming out every word to a song is how a festival should be. A band that really showed this was Manchester’s four piece rock band Blossoms. The boys played their set on Saturday in a quaint domed church-like building called Tim Peaks Diner curated by Tim Burgees himself. Originally told they were to do an acoustic set, Blossoms told the crowd of less than 50 “fuck it we’re doing it electric.” Although a struggle with all the kit, the band performed passionately and all the crowd were hooked. Only at Festival Number 6 would they have a rock band in a dome.

There was always something going on, so in between the music I didn’t have trouble finding things to do. Starting off every day was the human chess game, re-enacted from the Portmerion set television show The Prisoner. Then there were ukulele classes, talks from the likes of Steve Coogan and Q&As with artists such as Amy film director Asif Kapadia.

After grabbing some calamari, yes calamari at a festival, I headed over to the i Stage to see The Bohicas. The stage was concealed under a huge circus styled tent, adding to the festivals magical and dream-like theme. The indie rock and roll group filled the tent with the sounds of heavy riffs, corpulent bass lines and raw vocals.

Next up on the No.6 main stage was James Bay. Since hitting the charts with Hold Back The River, the stunning vocals of Bay have been heard by many. His adoring fans all stood cheering as the English singer songwriter in his iconic black hat sang his heart out. As the sun finally showed its face and shone down onto the picturesque Portmerion, Bay had the crowd in the palm of his hands.

The middle aged crowd started to drift off as the teenage committed fans of Catfish and The Bottlemen crushed up against the barriers. Frontman Van McCann with his new haircut and the other lads might call this something of a homecoming as they all were brought up down the road in Llandudno. The set was fast with no talking to the crowd or occasional “hello Festival Number 6” but what can you expect from a four piece mysterious rock and roll group. Beer was thrown, bodies were jumping and everyone was hanging on to every word of the entire set consisting of all their songs on their debut album ‘The Balcony’.

I sprinted over to the i Stage straight afterwards only to find that crowds were overflowing out of the tent cheering on Everything Everything. After bustling my way through I finally found a barrier to stand on and I couldn’t be more glad that I did. The alternative band played an epic set full of their classics but also many of their new songs from ‘Get To Heaven’. The whole crowd screaming the words to ‘Distant Past’ was something I will never forget. The memorable energetic set but still with glorious vocals led to the band being completely in command of the crowd. The perfect way to finish Saturday night.

It was fairly obvious that everyone had a wild Saturday night as most people came crawling out of their tents well after midday only to walk straight to the main stage to see James Morrison. After having a break from performing, I wasn't expecting too much. Morrison held the stage well, singing many new songs but also the sing alongs such as ‘You Give Me Something’. Following was Gaz Coombes who also did a good job at entertaining a crowd that didn’t seem to really know his music. Black Grape took to the stage around 6pm so kept reminding themselves to perform a “PG set” but that went out of the window in seconds. Shaun Ryders hilarious personality combined with Paul Leveridges vocals made an amazing set that had the crowd laughing and cheering all evening.

Festival Number 6 is a festival like no other. Although I was one of maybe a few hundred teenagers there, my eclectic weekend is one I will never forget. No need to worry about trekking through mud or tripping over a passed out drunk man, Festival Number 6 is the most sophisticated, stylish and swanky festival to this day. I would recommend the weekend to anyone of any age who just wants to let their hair down and party.