As if the village itself wasn't weird enough, the festival just topped it all off, from story telling and rave's in the middle of the woods to their enchanting fire and flame garden and a real life game of chess.
Iv'e personally never been to a festival quite like this. There was a much more laid-back feel to the weekend, especially as the average age was about 40, as opposed to 23! It was a high quality weekend, as attendees had the option to stay in the cottages and gatehouses spread around the village itself, or in the on site historic castle, Castell Deudraeth. The food outlets were a lot more unique than your average burger van, with a special Harvey Nichols food stand in the village and ice cream being sold from a Volkswagen camper van.
Air View of Portmeirion
Castell Deudraeth
The line-up was pretty immense for a first time festival, including two Mercury Prize nominees (Jessie Ware and Richard Hawley), and legendary bands such as Spiritualized, Primal Scream and New Order. With over 7 stages dotted around the whole site, there was always something going on wherever you were, so you were never feeling left out. On the Clough Williams-Ellis stage on Friday night, Carl Barat of The Libertines presented an exclusive screening of The Libertines film 'There Are No Innocent Bystanders', then graced us with an acoustic set of some of the Libertines classics. I was lucky enough to interview Carl after the performance (to follow), then drank whiskey on his balcony while he offered to play any requests on his guitar!
New Order
Primal Scream
Spiritualized
The only reviews I have read have all hailed the weekend a huge success, so hopefully they can continue it in the future. My only qualm is the fact that the camping fields were all on a slant, but hey, you can't get everything right!
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