Review: The Galtres Festival, Crayke (From York Press)

Review: The Galtres Festival, Crayke

9:38am Tuesday 31st August 2010 in

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THE Galtres Festival might be in danger of outgrowing itself. Starting life six years ago as a beer festival with music, the event is inching towards becoming a full-blown summer music festival.

However, it’s obviously incomparable to the likes of Reading or Leeds, which took place over the same weekend, and its problem is it might want to start resembling them a little too much – and end up being a third-rate little brother.

Last year, it was held nearer Crayke, around the cricket ground, where families could take their children to the nearby playground or wander round the village. It had the feel of a real community event, almost a fete, with decent music and, more importantly to some, quality beers.

This year, it moved a mile out of the village to afford it more space, and, in trying to improve the line-up on stage to attract a larger attendance, it mixed a host of decent up-and-coming local bands with a few big names, albeit ones whose chart days are behind them.

It also increased the admission fees and introduced a voucher system as festival currency, with the natural result being less value for money and a move from community towards corporate thinking.

The indifferent weather – high winds and annoying showers – did not help, so any value for money, given that most folk wouldn’t pay £30 just to enter a weekend beer festival, therefore depended on people’s good nature, which happily remained intact throughout – and, of course, the acts.

Sunday headliners The Beat and Dodgy were energetic and enthusiastic, while on Saturday the Lightning Seeds were professional enough and likewise played their old hits as expected, albeit giving the impression they were going through the motions a little. They also omitted from their set their biggest hit, the footballtastic Three Lions, although, given England’s terrible showing at the World Cup, it would probably have gone down poorly anyway.

Local favourite Chris Helme was a standout performer on Saturday. He played a few of the singalong hits he had with The Seahorses, some solo numbers and a couple of covers, mixing vocal gentleness and power throughout.

All were excellent, even if his ‘band with no name’, who ably backed him on some tracks, had only been set up a few rehearsals earlier. He was probably more ebullient, too, than Miles Hunt, of Wonderstuff fame, who also proved popular during his acoustic set.

Some of the lesser-known names down the lengthy bill, meanwhile, played far above their rating, among them young Littlemores, recent Battle of the Bands winners, who kicked off proceedings with aplomb, the almost-quirky Alvin Purple, the enthralling Davis Ward MacLean with his strong yet soft Scottish tones, Mantra and the curiously named The Dilfs.

Acoustic sets by Andy Stones and performances, and workshops, by the Funky Junk Trio were among the many other acts to go down well on the smaller stages – all helping to make the once quaint festival a success once again despite its changing format.