The Magpies Festival
Venue: Sutton Park
Town: York
Date: 8th - 9th August
Website: https://www.themagpiesfestival.co.uk/
Having heard so many good things about the previous four Magpie’s Festivals, I headed North to
experience this for myself, and I’m so glad I did.
The Magpies are a charming trio and having met the guys before and regularly played their music on my
radio show, I was pretty certain that their own festival would be something special.
Set out in the beautiful grounds of Sutton Park near York, you just relax from the moment you arrive.
Masses of spacious camping and my car next to my tent - what’s not to like?
The festival itself is based around two stages - the large ‘Main Stage’ with a facade facing right across the
whole main site, and the covered ‘Brass Castle’ stage, offset and just beyond the excellent bar. It was
there I headed first on Friday evening to see the opening set by the wonderful Jasmine and Zoe who play
under their Roswell Road banner. You can straight away tell how a festival is going to go, and the guys had
the crowd in the palms of their hands immediately.
It was then a quick shift over to the main stage for the awesome Simeon Hammond Dallas - new to me -
who’s soulful songs emanated right across the site and straight into everyone’s hearts. The festival
programme nicely concertinas between each stage so you miss nothing and the rest of Friday evening
panned out like this with brilliant performances from The 309’s, who had the crowd up dancing, the
fantastic Gnoss on their festival tour, a set which included our first sight of The Magpies themselves who
joined the guys on stage to add some backing vocals, Theo Miso and Banda and then the hard hitting
Swedish legends, Baskery, with their own form of banjo driven folk rock. The crowd lapped it up and
eventually headed back to their tents, campers and caravans happy and fulfilled apart from those hardy
late nighters who stayed for Ford Dimensional’s brilliant DJ Set and of course, the ‘last man standing’
obligatory sing around in the bar into the early hours!
As the campers stirred on Saturday morning, I took a wander around the rest of the site. Like most
festivals, its side shows and stalls are an integral part. I chatted with guitar makers, face painters,
crafters and many more before sampling the range of culinary offerings scattered around the periphery of
the site. Also, like most ‘folk’ festivals, there are workshops, and none better attended than ‘Magpie’ Bella
Gaffney’s Sea Shanty workshop which had festival goers young, old and somewhere in between,
hammering out Nelson’s Blood, South Australia and the more melodic Lowlands Away.
Just like that, it was time for the stages to get going and opening the afternoon on the main one was the
stage manager himself Dan Webster. I always come across someone I hadn’t heard of before, but I
certainly have now, as he charmed the crowd with his dry wit and his own form of Americana and
narrative songs that were the perfect start to Saturday.
As the day evolved and the crowd shuffled from stage to stage, there was a real variety of live shows, all
bringing something different in their own way. Norfolk’s The Shackleton Trio had made the long journey to
share their brilliant trad tunes and clever self-penned songs - they even played a tune for me privately in
the woods for my show ‘The Folk Club’, as did the quirky Edwina Hayes who plays from the heart and has
you laughing along with her stories. Mishra brought their own form of world music to the main stage with
Ford making his second of four appearances over the weekend. Julian Taylor, announced by Bella as “the
coolest thing” her and Holly had ever seen, had flown in from Canada and immediately found new fans
with his bluesy soul set. Then Janice Burns and Jon Doran shared their stories from days past and an
intelligent narrative song about the right to roam.
But now it’s the moment everyone had been waiting for - the festival hosts themselves, The Magpies -
Holly, Bella and Ellie - took to the stage to the biggest applause so far, the brief showers not detracting
the massive crowd from appreciating this wonderful set. The guys are such talented musicians and there
was no sign of the stresses and strains it must take to put on a festival like this one. They completely
nailed it and as the show progressed so did the band - into a ‘Magpies Supergroup’ - guest after guest
joining them on stage including Blair Dunlop, Evan Carson and Magpie original Polly Bolton to name but a
few.
We were still far away from the end though and The Jaywalkers with their bouncy bluegrass set, Rob
Heron and the Teapad Orchestra and The Deep Blue carried the feel-good factor right through to dusk.
There are few better late night festival headliners than Elephant Sessions and as the sun set, the heart
beat and the lights flashed, there they were with their form of Scottish instrumental dance music that
had everyone on its feet, providing a fitting climax to this wonderful festival – apart, of course, from the
essential late night ceilidh played and called with gusto by Archie Churchill Moss, Jon Doran, Evan
Carson and with his 4th appearance at the festival, (as he was also in the Magpies super group), Ford
Collier.
I came to The Magpies festival open minded but left it in no doubt. It is rapidly becoming one of the best
small festivals in the UK. There’s something for everyone, its slick, it’s very chilled, the sound is great and
with a really good mix of music, activity and everything else – it’s a fabulous weekend.
Stuart Green
The Magpies FestivalHaving heard so many good things about the previous four Magpie’s Festivals, I headed North to experience this for myself, and I’m so glad I did.
The Magpies are a charming trio and having met the guys before and regularly played their music on my radio show, I was pretty certain that their own festival would be something special. Set out in the beautiful grounds of Sutton Park near York, you just relax from the moment you arrive. Masses of spacious camping and my car next to my tent - what’s not to like?
The festival itself is based around two stages - the large ‘Main Stage’ with a facade facing right across the whole main site, and the covered ‘Brass Castle’ stage, offset and just beyond the excellent bar. It was there I headed first on Friday evening to see the opening set by the wonderful Jasmine and Zoe who play under their Roswell Road banner. You can straight away tell how a festival is going to go, and the guys had the crowd in the palms of their hands immediately.
It was then a quick shift over to the main stage for the awesome Simeon Hammond Dallas - new to me - who’s soulful songs emanated right across the site and straight into everyone’s hearts. The festival programme nicely concertinas between each stage so you miss nothing and the rest of Friday evening panned out like this with brilliant performances from The 309’s, who had the crowd up dancing, the fantastic Gnoss on their festival tour, a set which included our first sight of The Magpies themselves who joined the guys on stage to add some backing vocals, Theo Miso and Banda and then the hard hitting Swedish legends, Baskery, with their own form of banjo driven folk rock. The crowd lapped it up and eventually headed back to their tents, campers and caravans happy and fulfilled apart from those hardy late nighters who stayed for Ford Dimensional’s brilliant DJ Set and of course, the ‘last man standing’ obligatory sing around in the bar into the early hours!
As the campers stirred on Saturday morning, I took a wander around the rest of the site. Like most festivals, its side shows and stalls are an integral part. I chatted with guitar makers, face painters, crafters and many more before sampling the range of culinary offerings scattered around the periphery of the site. Also, like most ‘folk’ festivals, there are workshops, and none better attended than ‘Magpie’ Bella Gaffney’s Sea Shanty workshop which had festival goers young, old and somewhere in between, hammering out Nelson’s Blood, South Australia and the more melodic Lowlands Away. Just like that, it was time for the stages to get going and opening the afternoon on the main one was the stage manager himself Dan Webster. I always come across someone I hadn’t heard of before, but I certainly have now, as he charmed the crowd with his dry wit and his own form of Americana and narrative songs that were the perfect start to Saturday.
As the day evolved and the crowd shuffled from stage to stage, there was a real variety of live shows, all bringing something different in their own way. Norfolk’s The Shackleton Trio had made the long journey to share their brilliant trad tunes and clever self-penned songs - they even played a tune for me privately in the woods for my show ‘The Folk Club’, as did the quirky Edwina Hayes who plays from the heart and has you laughing along with her stories. Mishra brought their own form of world music to the main stage with Ford making his second of four appearances over the weekend. Julian Taylor, announced by Bella as “the coolest thing” her and Holly had ever seen, had flown in from Canada and immediately found new fans with his bluesy soul set. Then Janice Burns and Jon Doran shared their stories from days past and an intelligent narrative song about the right to roam.
But now it’s the moment everyone had been waiting for - the festival hosts themselves, The Magpies - Holly, Bella and Ellie - took to the stage to the biggest applause so far, the brief showers not detracting the massive crowd from appreciating this wonderful set. The guys are such talented musicians and there was no sign of the stresses and strains it must take to put on a festival like this one. They completely nailed it and as the show progressed so did the band - into a ‘Magpies Supergroup’ - guest after guest joining them on stage including Blair Dunlop, Evan Carson and Magpie original Polly Bolton to name but a few.
We were still far away from the end though and The Jaywalkers with their bouncy bluegrass set, Rob Heron and the Teapad Orchestra and The Deep Blue carried the feel-good factor right through to dusk. There are few better late night festival headliners than Elephant Sessions and as the sun set, the heart beat and the lights flashed, there they were with their form of Scottish instrumental dance music that had everyone on its feet, providing a fitting climax to this wonderful festival – apart, of course, from the essential late night ceilidh played and called with gusto by Archie Churchill Moss, Jon Doran, Evan Carson and with his 4th appearance at the festival, (as he was also in the Magpies super group), Ford Collier.
I came to The Magpies festival open minded but left it in no doubt. It is rapidly becoming one of the best small festivals in the UK. There’s something for everyone, its slick, it’s very chilled, the sound is great and with a really good mix of music, activity and everything else – it’s a fabulous weekend.
Stuart Green
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