Preview: Lindisfarne Festival 2017

By Johnathan Ramsay

This year marks the third instalment of Lindisfarne Festival, and consequently my first full festival experience.

In all honestly, I’m not quite sure what to expect. I’ve read a lot about the ‘chilled out vibe’ of Lindisfarne, activities like ‘Meditation’ and ‘Holistic Therapies’ aren’t my usual cup of tea…but I’m excited to get stuck in.

However, I’m not rushing to buy a tie-dye t-shirt and braid my hair just yet. So, let’s talk about something I do know a little more about; the music.

The View and The Fratellis are two Scottish indie rock bands that were both kings of the noughties in their own right.

Friday’s headliners, The View, will play their debut album Hats Off to the Buskers in full at Lindisfarne. This was the album that smashed onto the No.1 spot on the UK albums chart back in 2007, boasting the band’s biggest hit, ‘Same Jeans.’

Saturday’s headliners, The Fratellis, broke onto the scene only 1 year before, in 2006, with their epic debut album Costello Music. The album spent three weeks at No. 2 in the UK albums chart and produced their biggest hit, the indie anthem that is ‘Chelsea Dagger.’

If Scottish Indie bands aren’t your thing, then not to worry, Lindisfarne has 100’s of other acts performing across the weekend. Including a curious number of acts with food related names; Beans on Toast, The Lancashire Hotpots and Colonel Mustard & the Dyon 5 to name but a few. Unsure if this is a strange joke by the organisers or just a happy coincidence…

If Holistic therapies, Scottish indie bands AND bands named after food aren’t your thing (you’re obviously lying), don’t fret. Lindisfarne Festival will also see the cream of North East hip-hop talent descend upon it’s stages for The Bridge: Hip-Hop takeover.

The line-up for the hip-hop take-over is genuinely something special; from veterans like Rick Fury, Leddie MC, Ken Masters and Rex Regis to fresh innovators like Kay Greyson and Kema Kay, and many more…

This is a line-up full of talent and diversity that I doubt will be replicated any time soon.

So, with the tent I stole off my little sister and enough cans of cider to sedate a bull, I’ll be boarding the train to Berwick on Thursday and hopping on the bus to Lindisfarne for a long weekend of meditation, finding myself and poor hygiene.

All jokes aside, this is shaping up to be an incredible festival with a huge range of acts and activities that are sure to create a very unique festival experience. See you all there!