CAMPER Calling at Ragley Hall just gets more refined and more fun year-on-year and the 90s-themed headliners never fail to impress – but this year there were lots of stand-out stars from the noughties and some great newbies too.
There’s no end to the vast array of things to do for all ages at this family-friendly festival – from zen yoga to silent discos, massages to a Midsummer Night’s Trail and from pottery to pilates, it had it all.
It’s the bands who undoubtedly are the main draw though, and with Cast, Pop Will Eat Itself and Feeder as the big names on the Arrow Stage and Ocean Colour Scene, McFly and Gabrielle on the Lakeside Stage, there’s no better way to spend your August Bank Holiday weekend.
The Shires – an English country band – were fantastic on Saturday afternoon, before Gabrielle wowed us all with her impressive back catalogue.
On Sunday, I was delighted to finally get to see Badly Drawn Boy, aka Damon Gough, whose dry humour and humility belied his incredible songwriting talent and musicianship.
Among the newer bands, Daytime TV went down a storm on the Arrow Stage. Later though, there were some real crowd-pleasers from the powerful and popular Women in Rock.
It was back to the Lakeside for me though on the closing night for a superb pairing of Fun Lovin’ Criminals whose New York funk got us all in the mood for a party before we all ‘got blown away’ by the headliners Ocean Colour Scene.
Local(ish) boys Simon Fowler, Steve Cradock, Oscar Harrison, showed they’ve still got all the hits and the skills of their 90s heyday and it was a non-stop sing-along for us 40-somethings.
It was a real case of the generation game too as Steve’s son Cass was on keyboards while many parents were treating their next generation to the Ocean Colour Scene sound.
Let’s do it all again next year!
