It’s the final day of the festival, plenty of fragile figures stroll the site looking for some much needed musical therapy to bring them back to life ahead of a rowdy end to the weekend. Thankfully we had a nice peaceful start with…
Will Varley
One of the unsung heroes of acoustic folk music, Will Varley’s lyrical wizardry has seen much praise with artists like Frank Turner lashing plaudits upon him. Will had to sit out from his passion for a number of months thanks to a medical diagnosis, so was extremely thankful to be back in front of an adoring and engaged crowd in the Chai Wallahs tent. We were serenaded with songs both heartbreaking and hilarious and even had a surprise appearance by long time fan, Frank Turner himself. It was a joyous set to blow off the cobwebs and prepare us for our next bonkers act.
The Lancashire Hotpots
Any Kendal Calling regular will be plenty familiar with this next act. The local heroes of working class folk have graced the fields more times than not and always entertain. Their goofy take on common northern experiences elicits laughter, singalongs and even the odd conga line or two. Always a perfect experience for an early afternoon on the final day, those in the audience had their funny bones tickled and suitably prepared for our next performer.
John Bishop
In a last minute change, Jason Manford had to unfortunately pull out of his much hyped festival appearance thanks to a burst appendix. Not ones to disappoint, the Kendal Calling have pulled out all the stops to make sure the popular comedian was replaced by an equally popular one in John Bishop. The Liverpudlian talent had plenty of laughs for us, his northern working class wit was perfect for the whopping audience that had came out for some laughs. It wasn’t lost on him how odd it was to be performing in an outdoor setting to those who were waiting for the likes of the Prodigy and Skindred, but seemed to enjoy himself plenty. One could argue that the lucky festival goers had had an extremely forgiving introduction to the day, but things were about to get plenty more rowdy.
Frank Turner
Another man very familiar with Lowther Deer park is Frank Turner, the former hardcore vocalist has been serenading the Cumbrian landscape with his upbeat Folk music for well over ten years now and has even had the pleasure of headlining the show. The music of the diverse artist has evolved plenty since the days of taking on the world with an acoustic guitar. Unapologetically punk, the commanding frontman has afforded himself the opportunity to lean into his heavier musical roots with some more raucous tunes which were received with great energy along with the timeless hits that we know all too well. Fond of a bit of a bit of crowd interaction, Frank came prepared with a plan. It was his Neice’s first Festival and he had roped her and a friend into a planned crowd surf which was pulled off immaculately by the compliant and caring crowd, making sure nobody was dropped. The crowd participation didn’t end there, we had mosh pits, bouncing on command, Frank took to the crowd himself and we even had delicate pirouetting as Frank performed his closing song. This bump up in vitality was much needed and it didn’t stop there as we looked to our next act.
Skindred
Possibly Kendal Calling’s most left field pick on the line up, Skindred are more often found on the bill of metal festivals like Download Festival or 2000 Trees. The heavy hitters need not worry about their demographic as they have one universal talent which is unarguable, pure unadulterated showmanship. The band entered the stage to a massive and curious crowd. Lead singer, Benji Webbe, adorned a huge fluffy jacket which immediately told you what sort of personality we would be dealing with. The frontman has the sort of confidence you would find in the likes of Freddie Mercury, not the sort that comes across as arrogant, more so the type that you would follow into battle. The reggae-metal fusion went down an absolute treat with the crowd still warm from Frank Turner’s performance and showed no signs that they didn’t fit on the eclectic line up. The band closed out with a common feature should you know the band, but likely new to many in attendance. In an action the band have labelled the “Newport helicopter”, the four piece directed us to remove our shirts and spin them above our heads creating an incredible sigh. I’m not sure the Kendal Calling crowd pulled it off quite as successfully as some of the metal crowds that I’ve seen, but it was a valiant effort and importantly there was great enjoyment in the antics. Only one more act to go on the main stage but we briefly step away to get an extra portion from the Parklands stage headliners.
Maximo Park
The Middlesbrough outfit are a huge fan favourite in these parts, plenty of North Easterners were dotted about the fields all weekend and would have snapped at the chance to see a band that always delivers and another former headliner. There were a few teething problems as the experienced band took to the stage with frontman, Paul Smith, claiming he couldn’t hear anything in his in ear monitors. Had he not said, you would never have know, the singer was on key and in time regardless. The vivacious vocalist is know for bringing the performance with his kicks, jumps and engaging body language, a perfect pairing for their lengthy back catalogue of unique hits which the crowd knew all the words for. A fitting way to close out the daytime entertainment on the second stage and just in time for us to sprint on over to the main event.
The Prodigy
The weekend was wrapped up by a real legend and arguably the biggest headliner the festival has ever hosted. The Prodigy practically defined their own corner of heavy music. One of the first to combine electronic dance music with punk, they were one of the most unique musical projects to come out of the 90s and their iconic music still holds up today. The powerful band hasn’t been seen much as they sadly lost the irreplaceable Keith Flint in recent years, best known for the Firestarter music video, in which he sported his trademark spiked hair tufts. Fortunately our headliners have reemerged to melt our brains once more as we’re sure the late member would have encouraged. The show was a blinding blitz of strobes, lasers, aggression and dancing. Frontman, Maxim, repeatedly called us his warriors, and that’s precisely what the show made us feel like. Packed with hits, old and new, the performance was breathless and everything anyone could have wanted, 6 stars out of 5!
As the band left the stage an emotional reel showing 20 years of the festivals history aired to the tune of Fatboy Slims “Praise You”. The song choice was an appropriate one as we had indeed “Come a long long way together” and I caught myself tearing up a bit, reliving some of the early years that I was a part of. It has been the greatest of joys being in these wonderful fields the past few days. I have not seen one bit of negativity, a true example of the community that a festival can foster and importantly offer a part of the country that doesn’t often get much exposure to such high profile music and entertainment. Though the weather was questionable as we left, I trust that everyone got home well and hope to see them all in the field next year for another edition of this glorious gathering of giddy giggers.