5 years after it first appeared on the festival scene, Solfest continues to evolve and the changes made this year were, once again, substantially for the better. For a start we were able to arrive and set up camp on the Thursday afternoon and despite the fact that this was only announced a few days before the festival a good number of people took up the opportunity to get their party heads on a day early. The new e-ticketing system seemed to work reasonably well although a long queue of traffic developed on the Friday which was compounded by a large truck heading the opposite direction down the predominantly single track road approaching the site.

Each of the 4 campsites had a flag adorned “village green” with a communal fire, basic shop and catering facilities. The one in the “noisy” field we were parked in also had music throughout the night and what appeared to be a welfare tent for people to crash & chill in. In the arena itself the main stage was changed to a large saddlespan design & the dance tent was smaller than 2007, albeit still a very decent size for the scale of the event. The Bar tent was extended this year and the indoor stage here improved again so that bands of the status of Bad Manners and Sham 69 could be accommodated reasonably comfortably.

The Solfest Ale went down well at a very reasonable £2:50 a pint and canned and bottled beers, ciders & soft drinks were also available at 2 smaller bars positioned near the Dance Tent and the Drystone Stage. There were also the usual cocktails to be enjoyed at the Disco Du Fromage which had a Saturday Night Fever style illuminated dancefloor. Toilets were generally OK although there were a few queues and overflow situations. Weather-wise we were actually quite lucky. There had been a lot of rain in the days leading up to the festival but the site had dried out reasonably well before we arrived and the only heavy rainfall during our stay came after we had retired to the van on the Saturday night.

The things that still make Solfest stand out for me are its wonderfully remote location and the friendliness of the atmosphere. Despite being a fairly reasonably sized festival these days there is never a hint of any aggravation. Police and security are both present but unobtrusive and there was no searching of any kind at the arena gate other than a polite request to show wristbands. The effort that goes into decorating the site and the fancy dress that the majority of punters get involved in on the Saturday night only go to enhance what is already an almost perfect festival experience. Long live Solfest!

PS. There are a few of the acts where I’m not 100% certain I have the names right so please feel free to leave me a comment with any amendments. Thanks.