Worth the two year wait, Neighbourhood Weekender returned over the weekend. My sister have been to the festival a few times but, this time, we brought our parents!
These past few years have made me realise how precious life is and you need to enjoy it whilst you can. My tiredness today tells you that I enjoyed the two days I attended the festival and plenty of memories were made that day.
On Saturday, the four of us enjoyed plenty of indie acts old and new. The Coral, a band we all love and have listened to for years, were brilliant. The set was a lively affair of feel good indie tracks from Dreaming of You and newer hits like Lover Undiscovered.
Later on in the evening, Sam Fender graced the Main Stage. Fender was somebody I’ve wanted to see live for a while (but for some reason or another, I’ve always missed out) and — aside from a delay — he delivered a wonderful set, treating the audience to Hypersonic Missiles and new track Seventeen Going Under.
The final act to take to the stage, and the one that I was most looking forward to, was James. The first half of the set wasn’t great, as they didn’t necessarily go for crowd pleasers but thankfully they redeemed themselves towards the end with popular crowd pleasers like Sit Down and Laid.
Over at the Big Top, we enjoyed the act of the night Gang of Youths. The band delivered a high-energy, extremely professional set with tracks like the angel of 8th ave. and Let Me Down Easy. It was my first time seeing the band but it definitely won’t be my last. I’d urge anyone who hasn’t already to see the band when they can — you won’t regret it!
Fast forward to Sunday and my sister and I didn’t let our (mild) hangovers stop us. We enjoyed some of our favourite acts such as Miles Kane, Sundara Karma and Cassia and more recent listens such as Inhaler, Alfie Templeman and Sports Team.
Liverpool band The Wombats were brilliant, delivering high energy indie bangers to a lively crowd. Miles Kane’s set was full of confidence and effortlessly cool as usual. Though I was initially worried, headliners Catfish and The Bottlemen smashed their set with favourites like Pacifier and Cocoon.
The Big Top boasted plenty of great performances. Alfie Templeman proved that age doesn’t matter, as he delivered a confident, energetic set. Inhaler and Sports Team both delivered a fun, wild set. Sundara Karma cemented the fact that they are one of my favourite bands with a gorgeous set of old and new songs. The stand out performance at this stage, and I would say of the night, came from Red Rum Club. The Scouse indie lads delivered a great set, full of energy and charisma. It was the first time I’d seen them but it definitely won’t be the last.
Before Catfish and The Bottlemen, we saw Cassia. This band have soundtracked a lot of my summer and they delivered a fun, summery-sounding set. After seeing so many high energy performance it was nice to slow down for a minute and truly appreciate the music.
I’m sad that the festival is over for another year but I can’t wait for next year at Neighbourhood Weekender (yes, already!).
Jen Rose Writes🌹 
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