29th – 31st of July sees the peaceful Peak District transform into the UK’s best medium festival of 2015.
Celebrating its first official decade this year, Y Not festival has grown considerably for 2016. It currently boosts 11 stages, an extra night, over 200 acts and great food and drink spots, ranging from a western saloon to cocktail bars. The festival has also gone against alcohol limitations this year, in a bid to win back people who felt let down by the festival last year. Additionally, Y Not have teamed up with National Express to provide transport from fifteen towns and cities, including Nottingham, with a 25% discount for groups of four.
So as Y Not bring their hype and promise an impressive, cheap and memorable festival, Impact is here to give an exclusive walkthrough of the ideal weekend in the Peak District, giving the low-down on the biggest names and best upcoming artists.
If you can get tickets for it, Thursday night should be night one of your festival, where The Big Gin and Arnie’s will be open for action. Arnie’s is a new stage built in association with BIMM and is, therefore, one of the best places worldwide to catch the newest acts live.
The Big Gin kicks off with Broken Witt Rebels, an upcoming rock outfit who rival Reef with their groovy verse and Kings of Leon with their vocals. Hit track ‘Shake Me Down’ has nearly reached 100,000 streams on Spotify, whilst their latest EP ‘Georgia Pine’ picks up 4-star reviews with ease.
“Penelope Isles are a newcomer with well-crafted, unique and intelligent tracks”
The Coral and Milburn will be gracing The Big Gin Stage later in the evening and promise a belter of a start to the festival. Getting waved to Milburn’s ‘Send in the Boys’ and The Coral’s ‘Dreaming of You’ is our perfect way to extend the weekend into a four-night frenzy.
However, if going back twenty years isn’t how you’d dream of starting a festival, check out Arnie’s. The beauty of Arnie’s is summed up in Penelope Isles. Playing the stage Thursday evening, Penelope Isles are a newcomer with well-crafted, unique and intelligent tracks. They boast mesmerising hushed vocals, tantalising lo-fi guitar, gorgeous backings and beautiful percussive soundscapes. Tracks ‘Apple Juice’ and ‘Round’ offer a hypnotic and serene atmosphere, whilst ‘Bad Head’ screams enough fuzz to get any keen crowd bouncing.
“Beans On Toast is an ideal way to ease yourself into any festival. He’s a true Essex-bred type who rants about ‘GCSE politics’”
Friday marks the official start of the festival, and there’s an abundance of killer acts throughout the day. So if you can’t find time for food, singer-songwriter Beans On Toast is an ideal way to ease yourself into any festival. He’s a true Essex-bred type who rants about ‘GCSE politics’, doing drugs, not doing drugs and loving in his simply un-dislikable cigarette stained smoker’s voice. He might even drop a track about Robin Hood. Later come Yak and their ineffable wail of feedback and raw, gritty, lo-fi post-grunge tracks to get the crowd pumped by mid-afternoon.
By the evening, Wakefield lads The Cribs will dominate the main stage and ensure the crowd is jumping along to their busy, pretty and chantable guitar fuelled arena rock. After The Cribs, you have the hardest decision of the festival: indie legends Editors at The Gin Stage, or DJ Fresh at The Quarry? Regardless, both acts are huge in their fields and are a treat live, with dazzling visuals and an all-round entertaining display of great music.
“Or you can pop over to the main stage for Noel Gallagher’s Highflying Birds, a band not to be overlooked as a shite middle-aged attempt to revive Oasis”
The impressive start is only heightened on the Saturday, where you can indulge in acts including Heck, Neck Deep, Band Of Skulls, and Peter Hook & The Light. Or you can pop over to the main stage for Noel Gallagher’s Highflying Birds, a band not to be overlooked as a shite middle-aged attempt to revive Oasis, and even less so to be missed live. Seriously. Noel Gallagher’s Highflying Birds are truly a master-class for modern songwriting and have earned the right to headline festivals without looking into Noel’s past. Besides, if you get a cover of an Oasis classic, that’s just a bonus, isn’t it? Check out recent track ‘The Ballad of The Mighty I’, or, if you’ve neglected them until now, their self–titled debut album is as good as anything Noel has ever been responsible for.
The fun continues well into the Sunday, where second-generation ska pioneers, and arguably the biggest act on the lineup, Madness, take the stage. They will be out in full force with all their classic tunes, but not before the other suit wearing power chord kings, The Hives, take to the stage.
There’s a reason why the festival is award-winning – we will be at Y Not taking in every gritty detail for you to read in case you miss it or want to relive it.
Here’s the full line up:
Rhys Thomas
Images courtesy of Y Not Festival
