Last weekend we packed up the car and headed to Knebworth Park for a nostalgia fest! Usually festivals are a family affair for us but this time we decided to go it alone and leave the kids at home with Granny. Cool Britannia is a festival full of 90s bands and we fully intended to make the most of it.
After we pitched our tent and got comfortable, we cracked out the boxed wine and went to explore. First on the list, food. Setting up camp gives you an appetite! Although it’s a small festival, Cool Britannia had one of everything. From Burritos to Indian street food, pizzas to gourmet burgers - everyone was catered for.
Next up, a few bands. Friday was a warm up day but top of the bill was someone I was so excited to see - Baby D! I remember going to see her at the Subterranea in Ladbroke Grove before I was probably enough to drink and she was amazing! Unfortunately, she only belted out a couple of songs (Including Let Me Be Your Fantasy - classic!) before leaving the stage at Cool Britannia. A little disappointing but the DJ’s made up for it.
Over the course of the weekend we managed to see plenty of great bands including James, Sleeper, Embrace, Dodgy, Babybird and The Farm. Most of them stuck to the tried and tested method of rocking out the old favourites with the odd new one thrown in and that seemed to work well. Having seen last year’s line up, I think this year there were some noticeable gaps. They was definitely room for a few more massive bands from the 90’s. We mentioned to each other a few times during the weekend that some of the bands being played by the DJs inbetween live sets would have been great booking for the festival (Think Ocean Colour Scene / Lightning Seeds / Cast) and although I’m a massive Basement Jaxx fan, they did feel a little out of place on the line up but everyone seemed to have a great time including us.
Aside from the main stage, there was a Ministry of Sound Dance Tent and a smaller stage for new and smaller bands. They stand outs for us were The Britpop Collective (a super talented covers band) and Emily Cappell (A ska singer from NW London). Emily had humour and wit in between each song and it was funny to hear the little story behind them.
Even though the music was mostly 90’s the audience varied in age much more than I thought it would, from infants in buggies all the way up to pensioners. Granted, it wasn’t a teenage festival like Reading or Leeds but it didn’t feel like it was totally restricted to people in their thirties and forties. There were clearly lots of lucky young people there being schooled in the golden indie era by eager Mums and Dads! There was a dedicated Circus skills area for children and a small selection of funfair rides too.
What a luxury it was for us to go to a festival without the kids though. The last festival we had been to before this one was Camp Bestival in Dorset which is really big and basically built for little ones. Cool Britannia is very small and a perfect size for us old codgers - my hips still hurt from dancing and did I mention clean showers with no queues?! Until the next time….
