Review – Barn On The Farm Festival – The Bristol Gig Guide

As experienced by Craig Simmonds

Barn on The Farm is a pretty unique festival, usually the only time you see ostriches at a Festivals it’s in burger form but not at this festival. Barn on the Farm takes place on Over Farm in Gloucester a fully functioning farm that even when the festival is running, it is still open to the public for mini golf, farm animal trails and, despite areas being cordoned off, you can come face-to-face with real ostriches at the Outdoor Stage. I lost count of the amount of acts that commented that they were playing opposite them and quite often you’d find one just casually watching the music.

This goes to say that Barn on The Farm is a pretty unique festival, it’s small and independent and the vibe is different to any other festival that I’ve attended. Whilst Glastonbury and 2000 Trees Festival have a community spirit Barn on The Farm feels more like one big family gathering and that’s apparent in their line-up too. Many artists return to Barn time and time again, they booking team have seem to have a knack for capturing artists just before their big break and in return, these acts come back even when they’re status in the industry means they’re probably too big for this kind of festival now. In the past, acts such as Lewis Capaldi, George Ezra and Ed Sheeran have returned. This year was no different.

The festival starts off on Thursday with an intimate day with only 500 capacity and all the acts play in the Wooden Barn Stage which is quite literally a wooden barn. It’s one of the most unique stages I’ve ever seen with acts playing on a balcony overlooking the crowd below. Due to the intimate nature, it means that it’s a great place for up-and-coming artists to get their shot – this year saw the likes of Devon-based rising stars Tors play and soul artists Jake Isaac being two of the most promising during the day, the latter of which provided a one of those “you had to be there” moments when he got off the balcony and stood amongst the crowd with just his acoustic guitar for “Thinking Bout You”. You remember those big stars I mentioned returning? Well, we definitely had one on Thursday when the secret headliner turned out to be none other than Mahalia, who previously played the festival in 2016. Mahalia delivered a stripped back set that was peppered with stories that inspired the songs that made her famous.

If that wasn’t enough, there were two other huge secret sets during the weekend. On Friday there was an artist on the line-up called Cam Aspen. If you’d spent time trying to find music from Cam Aspen beforehand to prep for the set you’d have come up short. That’s because Cam Aspen doesn’t exist, it was simply an anagram from “Spaceman” aka Sam Ryder – a trick the festival played previously when secret set “Reggae Zero” turned out to be George Ezra. Despite the repeated trick, it seems not many people had put two and two together and had to make a mad dash when they heard Sam Ryder’s huge vocals filling the field. On Sunday, a “Special Guest” was listed for a set on the Wooden Barn stage. No one was really sure who to expect but most people assumed it be a returnee. Earlier in the day a set was played by “The Farm Band” the line-up of which rotates each year with a combination of different artists from the weekend, this year it was Flyte, Ber and Billie Marten (who wasn’t on the line-up). The set was a relaxed affair with the artists sitting down on wooden chairs and playing acoustic versions of their songs, however there was also a spare chair – a chair for the secret artist. The crowd absolutely erupted when out walked pop sensation Sigrid to fill the seat and later take the secret slot.

Just like Mahalia before her, this gave Sigrid the opportunity to play the songs in a way that she rarely gets too now – it was just her and a keyboard. You could sense how much enjoyment she was getting from being able to play this intimate setting, taking requests from the audience, asking whether they wanted happy or sad songs and telling her manager “see this is all you need” gesturing at her keyboard. It was incredible to hear and see the songs performed how they were written before all the big pop production was added and I’m personally hoping this influences the upcoming songs that she informed the crowd she’d been in the studio working on.

This was only a fraction of what was on offer during the festival, the main stage and outdoor stage never clash, it’s only a 5 minute walk between all of three stages (Main, Outdoor and Wooden Barn) and the sets typically last between 30-45 minutes for most of the acts during the day. That means over the course of the weekend you can easily catch a ton of different sets, I certainly did – I managed to see 51 full sets from Thursday – Sunday. Unfortunately, it would take me forever to write about everything I saw (and it would take you forever to read it all) so I’m not going to be able to cover all of the amazing music throughout the weekend.

As mentioned previously, the Barn team have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to booking bands at the right moment. This was evident this year with two Tik Tok starss on the lineup – Michael Aldag and Caity Baser. Both of which were massive hits with the younger members of the crowd, at times it was difficult to hear either set from the pit as the front section of the crowd was screaming along to every word. It was clear that their songs about growing up and modern romances, as well as their exuberant personalities and performances, were a huge hit at this year’s festival.

All three of the second stage, the Outdoor Stage, headliners are right on the cusp of big things. Dylan, who performed on Friday with her defiant tales of heartbreak and romances on songs such as her breakout hit “You’re Not Harry Styles”, has just last week announced a UK and EU tour with a huge gig at London’s Eventim Apollo. Saturday’s headliner, soul-pop artists Olivia Dean provided a beautiful set with tracks from her recently released debut album that currently sits in the Top 10 in the mid-week UK Album charts and Sunday saw Wunderhorse expertly rip through their debut album “Cub”, with a smattering of new songs, just a week after their huge Glastonbury performance.

The festival also managed to secure some of the most exciting headliners to be seen at UK Festivals this summer, Australia’s Gang Of Youths close the Friday. Booked as a last-minute replacement Lizzy McAlpine it initially seems like an out-of-place booking for the festival as they’re not an instantly recognisable name for most. However, lead singer Dave Le’Aupepe is acutely aware of this and pauses between songs to help get the crowd onside and get them moving. By the end of the set, everyone in attendance has been won over and the chants of “in the wake of your leave” linger long after the band have left the stage. Probably one of the biggest bookings ever seen in Barn on the Farm’s history is Saturday’s headliner, Bleachers. Fronted by songwriter/producer/musician-extraordinaire Jack Antonoff, the band pull of a huge multi-instrument performance with a set reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. The final day is closed out by another Barn alumni, Holly Humberstone who provided an emotionally charged raw set full of talent and passion. Despite having only just announced her debut album, the Barn Family are screaming the words back to every single released track so far.

Lower down the line-up provided some ones-to-watch too, Dolores Forever already have huge synth-pop anthems destined for huge stages. Edinburgh’s Swim School are one of the first bands performing on Sunday just before noon when punters are nursing their hangovers from the Future Utopia DJ set Saturday evening/ Sunday Morning but the band manage to awaken the crowd with their swirling soon-to-be indie anthems. Shortly after in the barn sees Katie Gregson Macleod, an incredible talent whose vocals and relatable personality have the crowd silent. She tells us how she’s spent most of her major label advance in jest but it’s clear to see why they she got that advance – she will be massive in the years to come, another early catch for Barn on The Farm.

There’s so much more that I haven’t covered in this review but, rather than reading another thousand or so words of what it’s like to be at Barn on The Farm, I suggest you grab yourself a ticket for next year, come down to one of the best hidden gems of the UK festival scene and become part of the Barn family.