10 August 2013
James Coplin
The first day of Newquay's Boardmasters kicked off with the Sun in the sky in what has to be one of the best locations for a festival in the UK, high up on the hill overlooking Watergate Bay and the beautiful North Cornwall Coast.
Music news got here in time to see Velcro Hooks blasting their Pixies fuelled insanely catchy riffed beautiful noise from the main stage. They were well appreciated but sadly most of the crowd were lying basking in the Sun instead of forming a mosh pit. They deserved a bigger crowd but with strong tunes like they have their audiences will only get bigger.
This years festival has a different, larger layout to last year, one of the best features being the Keg and Pasty Pub, which along with it's Real Ales, Ciders and pub snacks, has sofas, a beer garden, and a stage with smaller emerging acts, comedy performances and open mic slots. We caught The Jonathan Stafford Band in there who built up quite a crowd with their Jeff Buckley-esque sounding performance.
The festival covers all tastes. Today saw Redlight and Benga topping the bill in the Dance Tent and Dinosaur Pile up and We Are The Ocean in the Metal/Hardcore Mavericks Tent.
The Main stage highlights were Velcro Hooks, 2 piece noise merchants Drenge, singalong crowd pleasers Everything Everything and the night was topped off by an awesome performance from the awesome Vaccines. Wetsuit has never been played in a more fitting location, and fan favourites Norgaard and If You Wanna had the whole of Boardmasters partying.
Still 2 days left, get yourself down here. For more details see www.boardmasters.co.uk
