It’s difficult to tell if it was the festival theme and fancy dress, the smaller size of the festival, the setting, the mix of music, or a combination of all of these factors, but Standon Calling 2012 had an amazing atmosphere! It was certainly easy to feel right at home at this really friendly festival.
Well the theme was ‘Journey to the Ends of the Earth’ and organisers had created a great setting at Standon Lordship which was amplified even more on the Saturday when everyone donned their fancy dress outfits. There were costumes of all kinds to be seen including traditional explorers, Wizard of Oz characters, characters from Up, native Indians and much more, some of which words cannot begin to describe!
Although this festival is smaller than many, this helps contribute to the friendly atmosphere as you encounter the same people multiple times throughout the weekend. The setting and multiple stages of Standon Calling are certainly at the level of much larger festivals though – and how many festivals do you go to where there’s a swimming pool?!
The music at Standon Calling 2012 was definitely a key factor in generating its amazing atmosphere. The 3 days of the festival were packed days with live music which catered for everyone as there was practically every type of music you can think of – rock, dance, drum and bass, folk, reggae, ska – a complete mix. From small unknown bands to Standon Calling regulars right through to Beardyman – there was a lot to take in.
Overall Standon Calling 2012 was a great festival with an amazing, super friendly atmosphere with a lot of music and fun for your money!
The action all kicked off on the Friday with loads of people arriving and not just setting up camp, but unloading their BMX bikes, skateboards and inline skates. The Razor skate park was open for public sessions for most of the weekend, letting everyone of all abilities get involved with their own kit as was the outdoor Motion ramp, until the rain started.
The Squibb Freestyle team also managed to put on a bit of a display on Friday before the rain started. Indoors at the Pro Skate Park there were lots of practice sessions going on ready for the competitions to be held over the rest of the weekend – these included skateboarding, BMX and inline. You could already tell from the practice sessions that the competitions were going to be exciting, with some real displays of talent.
Into Friday afternoon and evening, the live music started. Relentless NASS 2012 had a wide range of music across the various stages and arenas. The night featured some great acts on the main stage including Shy FX and Chiddy Bang, who built up the atmosphere before the truly energetic performance of DJ Fresh, who everyone went wild for. A great mix of DJs played sets in the UKF and Drum & Bass arenas as the crowds got bigger and more drunk. The highlights were Subscape, Cutline, Fred V & Graffix (who also did some great crowd surfing), Loadstar and Doctor P. The Front Magazine stage featured music that was definitely more of the rock variety from the likes of Set Your Sails and Marmozets.
Saturday saw a lot more rain and a lot of mud. A lot of the sports events planned for the day could unfortunately not go ahead due to the weather, but indoors at the Razor Park the UK Champs took place as well as a best trick competition, while it was a very busy day in the Pro Park with the qualification rounds for all sports.
The anticipation at the Main Stage built up and up throughout Saturday evening as Pulled Apart By Horses played, followed by a bouncing show from Modestep and then perhaps the most anticipated act of the weekend – Sum 41. Many of those at the festival had grown up with Sum 41 and loved seeing them perform classics such as 'In Too Deep'. The Drum & Bass Arena and the UKF Stage were once again busy as people enjoyed great sets from the likes of Crissy Criss, Friction & Linguistics, Drumsound & Bassline Smith and DATSIK.
Sunday eventually saw some sun, and all the athletes were keen to make the most of it, which saw some great displays on the Relentless Street Spots course, made all the more exciting by the cash incentives offered for tricks. It was a busy day for the action sports part of the festival, as the finals of the competitions for all sports also took place in the Pro Park.
Overall, Relentless NASS 2012 was a great festival, despite the mud and rain, that perfectly combined music and action sports, and even provides the opportunity to get involved by having a go at the public skate park.
Summer Break is not your ordinary festival. It’s advertised as being a 96 hour long party, and that’s not far from what week 1 delivered. Unlike your average festival, except for the few that have chosen the camping option, there’s no tent pitching to be done, but rather collecting the keys for your static caravan. By festival standards, this is pure luxury living with all the facilities you could want. You can definitely see why the site is referred to as the ‘student village’ with a real feel of uni halls.
After everyone had settled into their new homes for the week, it wasn’t long before the fancy dress started, along with the music and drinking. And of course the drinking games! This was followed by a short walk to the on-site club, known for the week as ‘Sundown Field’. This first night had a real union club night feel with most people in fancy dress and starting to make new friends among this big group of students.
The following morning, once everyone had soothed their hangovers a little, it was time to head to Fistral Beach. The weather was glorious with bright sunshine – the ideal weather to enjoy Summer Break’s own area of the beach. With DJ sets on the beach throughout the day and many games of football and volleyball and a sandcastle building competition. And of course a trip to Fistral Beach wouldn’t be complete without some surfing, swimming and skimboarding. Most students had signed up to take advantage of the bus transfers on offer, which provided an easy way to travel between the holiday park and the beach.
The buses took on a whole new atmosphere when it came to the evening. The second night took place at Sailors nightclub in Newquay town centre. Having enjoyed pre-drinks and plenty of drinking games in caravans throughout the early evening, everyone on the buses was really excited for the night ahead and there was a lot of singing and chanting! Sailors nightclub was packed and everyone had an amazing night with DJ sets from Urban Knights, Jaymo & Andy George and the week’s special guest DJ, Mr Hudson. The crowd went absolutely wild for Mr Hudson with the dancefloor packed during his set. Everyone had an excellent night partying through to around 3am before getting on the bus back to the campsite.
The next day was another trip on the buses down to Fistral Beach for even wilder beach antics. These included beer can races, pegs on faces competitions, blind sack races and marshmallow eating competitions. And of course, with another day of wonderful sunshine, there was more surfing and splashing around down on the beach as well as rugby, Frisbee and cricket.
That night’s activities took place at another popular Newquay club, Bertie’s. With MC Majestic pumping everyone up all night, the atmosphere was great. The nights DJs were also great including sets from Jakwob, R3wire and Cutline.
On day three, the weather took a bit of a turn and we woke up to rain. This put a bit of a stop to the planned activities on the beach, which should have included bikinis contests, ‘Mr and Mrs Summer Beach’ and a tug-of-war. No-one seemed too bothered by this downturn though, almost welcoming the opportunity to have a slightly more chilled day relaxing in their caravans and soothing their sunburn.
By evening though, everyone was ready to make the most of their final night, which took place on-site at the Sundown Field. The club was roasting hot, but everyone was still pumped up and ready to party. The atmosphere built up more and more with sets from lots of DJs including Urban Knights building up to a highly energetic set from Kissy Sell Out and MC Cobra to finish the night off.
Overall, the first week of Summer Break was filled with lots of crazy antics both on-site at the ‘student village’, at Fistral Beach and at the clubs in town, with many people living up to the ’96 hour party people’ motto! Rather than a traditional festival feel, Summer Break is more like a large scale student holiday with crazy beach days and energetic party evenings!
