Foxton Locks Festival

Foxton Locks Festival 2013

The Foxton Locks Festival took place on 29th and 30th June 2013 Π

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Find out where it is:  Foxton Locks, Foxton, LE16 7RA

Photos from the Foxton Locks Festival on Saturday

Photos copyright ArtsIn Productions Ltd

Festival report by Trevor Locke

Fine weather as a lot of people made their way through the Leicestershire countryside to the Foxton Locks ground. This country-style boutique festival featured a main stage, an acoustic marquee and a lot else going on around the ground. I was there on Saturday but I heard that Sunday went well too.

A fun-day out for all the family, music was on offer alongside medievil pagentry, a large range of stalls and plenty of space to spread out into.

Leicester’s hardcore band Luzon Bleeding Heart were on the main stage at 15:20. The young band’s agressively hard rock sounds was probably not what the majority of the family festivalers were hoping for, but, suprisingly, they all stayed put and applauded enthusiastically for the musical artistry of this clever and colourful group. Rapper Jonezy joined them on stage for a song and a fair few people on the grass clapped along to the Vampire Song.

The heavenly voices of The Simpletones wafted through the warm summer breeze as they intoned their glorious harmonies for songs like Adele’s SkyFall and several of their well known classics such as Englishman in New York, evoking much love from those sitting on the ground or standing around the main stage area.

On the acoustic stage, singer Fat Boi entertained the fans between the main stage sets.

Rapper Jonezy was on the Funky stage with the high energy act that has won him increasing popularity. His version of popular, rap-style music with a positive, often emotional resonance has gained an increasing fan base of all ages.  Most of his audience were outside enjoying the sunshine on the grass but clearly listening to the sounds coming out from the acoustic marquee; it was easy to see that they warmed to his music even though many of them would not have heard him before.

The sound of folk songs came from Faye Brotherhood and her Cernewoda band, which included an accordion player. Just the right thing to go with a large ice cream and flake.

Leicester indie band Midnight Wire came to the Sanderson Stage to ply the audience with their set of deliciously ear-pleasing melodies. Having just arrived back in the county from Brighton, they rapidly shrugged off their weary expressions and gave the festival a fine set of tuneful songs, energetically led by the vocals of Alex Van Roose. Songs like Excuses and Running Forever drew enthusiastic acclaim.

Leicester’s folk group Paddywax played in the acoustic marquee where a large number of people had gathered to hear them.

The Fallows delivered a thoroughly enjoyable set from the Sanderson stage. The band appeared at the obsUnplugged show at the Musician in February and Arts in Leicester wrote ‘A set that was redolent of Mumford and Sons soon had the audience fully engaged. Into this heady cocktail they stirred some soulful refrains of their own and you could see a group of musicians who really enjoyed making music.’

foxton locks
The Locks at Foxton

Blessed with fine, sunny weather, this was an enjoyable event that drew plenty of people. The spacious grounds provided good grass to sit on, a bar serving real ales and a reasonably good range of food stalls. The main stage alternated  with the the nearby acoustic marqee, so there was live music in the air pretty much continuously throughout the day, thus avoiding those clashes of interest that bedevil other events. Although it was not a music festival,  the audience stayed in front of the stages and looked like they were enjoying pretty much everything that was on offer.

Previous information:

On the line-up

Live music all day Saturday and Sunday.
Daisy Richards Fay Brotherhood
Half cut Theatre Midnight Wire
Siobhan Mazzie The Paddywax
The Sea Above Muttz Nuttz
Ian Lovall The Fallows
Flip Like Wilson Silver Threetles
Jonezy Daz Lynch
The Accidents Rhett barrow
Fatboi Markus Reeves
Luzons Bleeding Heart Dirty G’s
The Simpletones Steve Faulkner

See also:

Festivals home page

Festival dates