Review – Glastonbudget Festival, Friday 24th – 26th May 2019

Photo: Abba Revival on the main stage by Kevin Gaughan

at Turnpost Farm, Wymeswold, Leicestershire

Reviewed by Aleksandra Brzezicka, Trevor Locke and
Kevin Gaughan

Glastonbudget 2019 review Friday.
Glastonbudget 2019 review Saturday with video interview.
Glastonbudget 2019 review Sunday with video interviews.

This year’s Glastonbudget was blessed with good festival weather, it felt as though it was well attended and presented us with a strong, killer line up.

This festival is great for young bands who would like more exposure to an audience who wouldn’t normally turn up to their gigs. It works by having large, crowd pulling tribute bands playing on the bigger stages, like Oasish, Mercury and Robbie, for which people pay to see, and while they’re there, they catch an original band who’s sound they also like, hopefully, and leave having broadened their musical horizons.

Pretty much all tastes were catered for including rock and metal, hip hop, acoustic, ska, folk, rap, prog. rock and pretty much any other genre you’d care to mention.

Each year, between ten and fourteen thousand people attend, so it can be a huge opportunity for smaller bands, especially if they use the opportunity wisely.

Jilted Generation (The prodigy tribute) in the big top Photo: Kevin Gaughan

Glastonbudget is always very well organised, with plenty of very cheery and helpful staff manning all the gates as well as patrolling the crowd for their own safety.

The sound and lighting of all five stages was excellent, each performance felt like they were performing their own hand-crafted gig with custom lighting and sound set up to match. Even the toilets were, actually, not bad. Over the years, all festivals have got much better at providing clean loos, so that is no longer a reason for staying away!

The crowd having fun at the main stage Photo: Kevin Gaughan

Pleased to say, the real ale marquee was loaded full of my favourites as well as pretty much anything else you’d like to quaff. Also, the food moved with the trend and had a lot of veggie and vegan options, along with the meat eaters’ staples.

It did rain a bit on the Sunday, however, those watching bands in the marquees didn’t even notice, it was only a problem at the small icon stage and the main stage, as these were the only outdoor stages.

Glastonbudget is also very child friendly, with dodgems, fairground rides and a huge (over 50ft high) spiderman web slide thingy.

Originals band Beneath the Embers playing their own songs on the icon stage Photo: Kevin Gaughan

The auditions have already started for next year’s Glastonbudget, if you’re in a band and would like a fantastic opportunity to get your music out to a wider audience, email muz@glastonbudget.org – hurry as places are in demand.

Even the auditions themselves are well organised and attended gigs. If you type ‘GLASTONBUDGET’ in our search box at the top right of this page, you will see lots of our reviews of the auditions.

BRING ON GLASTONBUDGET 2020!

Click here for the festivals Facebook page.

Glastonbudget 2019 review Friday.
Glastonbudget 2019 review Saturday with video interview.
Glastonbudget 2019 review Sunday with video interviews.

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