Bingley Music live Festival

Bingley Music live Festival...Don't tell everyone!

Out on the outskirts of Bradford and on the way to North Yorkshire is Bingley a typical West Yorkshire market town,the unlikely setting for a music festival you would say. This is the fifth year this festival has been held at Mertle Park and it keeps going from strength to strength. The line up keep getting better each year, and for the first, this year year totally sold out!

This is the second year I have attended, just for the Saturday, though you could do the full weekend. But i'm a bit too old for that. (Friday is Free people!) This one was the best yet, from what I can recall, its a bit hazy (the beer was flowing quite fast that day). Some of the acts playing on the day were Jon Fratelli, Mystery Jets, Feeder and headlining were Maximo Park.

We made our way as close as we dare to the stage (IÕm not as brave as I was), found a comfortable pitch and made this our home for the next few hours to watch the days entertainment. It was Feeder that really impressed me, they came on playing all the classic tracks perfectly, hitting all the notes and sounding fantastic but on stage seemed to be lacking something at first, a little wooden I thought just going through the motions. Thankfully a few tracks in, they seemed to really start to enjoy it, with the performance going through the roof. Helped by the feedback of the crowd IÕm sure, we were really going for it, jumping, singing and shouting.

I missed out going to see them in their heyday in early naughties, so to me this was fantastic. As good as the other bands were, to me Feeder should have been headlining for sure! They said they were working on a new album so hopefully we should hear some new classics in the near future to match Buck Rodgers, High and Come Back Around... fingers crossed!

After Feeder it was time for Maximo Park, we decided to make a brave move (some would say stupid) and made an attempt to get as close as we could to the stage. About four deep back, not so bad. They came on, again the crowd going crazy and after five songs we were done, couldnÕt cope at the front any more, a combination of being crushed and covered in showers of beer (If it was beer?) so we made a bee line for the safer, not so crowded, beer shower free outer area to watch out the rest of the gig.

What can I say Bingley Music Live is a fantastic local festival, no way on the scale of Leeds but a real hidden gem with loads character and as I said earlier it just gets better year after year. So if you want the festival experience (on a small scale) make your way there next September, it wont disappoint.

Don't tell everyone, I don't want to miss out on my tickets for next year!

Added 05/09/2011.