Music > Live Reviews

Red Rooster Festival

08/06/16

Although there are parts of the weekend where my memory is a tad hazy (mainly of the Friday night when I arrived and drank ALL the whiskey!), there is a moment from Red Rooster that will stay with me as a reminder of the awesomeness of a small scale festival.

The weather was pretty shitty Thursday and Friday with only the whisperings and promises of “it’s supposed to be nice tomorrow…21degrees tomorrow…blue skies tomorrow” so when we all woke up from our cosy little tents (in my case with no recollection of pumping up my air bed or taking off my make up) to find the sky overcast and dull I think I speak for everyone when I say we were pretty bummed out. Oh well, nothing that a cold beer and a scrumptious OMD Hotdog (https://www.facebook.com/OMDhotdogs/) can’t cure.

I made my way to the food field, determined to sit on a hay bale, drink a life-giving smoothie and eat a hotdog in four mouthfuls. As I sat down, surrounded by people in bad-ass denim dungarees the magical moment came upon me. The SUN (yeah, remember that guy?!) burst his way through the clouds and beamed down on all of us and people went wild! Cheering, clapping, dancing, doing the hoedown (OK, I exaggerate) and celebrating the fact that finally we could enjoy the Rooster to the fullest.

With only 2,500 rootin’ tootin’ festival goers present in the grounds of Euston Hall, deep in the beautiful Suffolk countryside amidst the infamous Thetford Forest, the whole weekend felt relaxed, spacious and clean. The grass was long and full of wildflowers, hammocks hung between the trees, the lakes were home to swans (and the occasional plastic flamingo) and fairy lights guided our way at night. Families huddled round campfires and friends old and new pulled up log seats and camping chairs by the main stage to sit and listen to the beautiful bluesy blues.

They say the way to a woman’s heart is through feeding her delicious food; if that is the case then Red Rooster Festival- take me! I’m yours! The choice was extensive and each pop-up kitchen provided an authentic taster of the Deep South and its famous delicacies. There was everything from finger lickin’ chicken’ to Creole sausage and BBQ shrimp to pulled pork,  jalepeño nachos and curly fries. Of course my personal favourite tasty treat came from Norwich’s own local heroes - a pile of melt in the mouth ribs smothered in homemade smoky BBQ sauce, all served up by the gorgeous guys at the Harbercue tent. Tasty treats! The ribs were pretty great too.

Musical highlights for me included the American bands that came from over the pond like The Daddy Long Legs Trio, Swamptown and Jeb Loy Nichols that really impressed. King Khan and the Shrines absolutely owned the main stage as the Saturday night headliners. However it is well worth shouting out to all of the incredible country, rock n roll, folk and acoustic performances delivered by all of the acts that weekend as it all seemed to blend together as we strolled around catching odd snippets of everything here there and everywhere.

As for the DJ’s in the disco tent by the lake, as well as those that played after hours in the main stage, we salute you! They played all the classics that get people off their hay bales and onto the dancefloor; Ray Charles with Mess Around, Aretha Franklin with RESPECT and Otis Reading’s absolute classic Hard to Handle.

For me the pinnacle of the evening was the discovery my friends and I made (being nosy biatches) in the closed off poker tent by the disco. There was a swinging saloon gate in the shape of the Ace of Spades which lead though to a tiny tent lit by red bulbs. We thought the tent was empty but then realised there were a couple of random dudes at a table who beckoned us to come join them. We declined. Then they made us aware they were more than just those two random dudes in the poker tent.....they were magicians! Those Two Magicians (aka James Tae and Adam Henry) proceeded to blow our tiny minds with THE most seamless, startling, sensational show filled with disappearing cards, bending coins, mind reading and so much more! I literally screamed in amazement when a piece of string was set alight, burst into flames and magically morphed into a butterfly right before my eyes!

Red Rooster comes highly recommended with its laid back atmosphere, beautiful setting and hay bales galore! See you next year!