Summercamp Festival 2013 – Review

As part of Liverpool’s International Music Festival and the many events going on across the city over August Bank Holiday, the Camp and Furnace held the very first Summercamp Festival. Situated in Liverpool' s Baltic Triangle, the warehouse has been home to many events over the last year including those hosted by Chibuku and Circus and their very own Food Slam every Friday night. So when it was announced as home of the first Summercamp it certainly wetted the appetite in more ways than one.

A two day festival of Music, Food, and Arts kicked off with the theme of a street party style that carried on indoors and across all stages. It wasn't just music that made this event so attractive, with a very mixed line up which strayed away from the 'usual' events at festivals - a selection of food from chefs such as Glynn Purcell and Tree Huggers were also cooked at their tables (which had to be bought separately), extending the appeal beyond the usual musical thud.

A screening of the film Turksib and a lecture using sound and images from Simon Bookish were just a few of the other events that were taking place across the weekend. Now, onto the music...

The line up across the two days featured a mix of bands and DJs, taking to both stages all weekend. Although originally on the line up to play Saturday, Ghostpoet instead took to the Furnace stage on Sunday to play a 40 minute set after shooting down from Leeds Festival. His performance included songs 'Survive It' and 'Liiines', to a semi-busy Furnace stage with a mixed crowd of older adults, and families with small children. His otherworldly beats and rhythms created a relaxing atmosphere, which suited the diversity of the crowd.

Moving to the Camp stage after Ghostpoet's performance, Benjamin Francis Leftwhich took to this stage to give an hour long show, which brought the crowd to silence as he performed. He performed songs including 'Pictures' and '1904' before stepping away from the mic, coming into the small audience and sitting down on the floor to play his last four acoustically, which included 'Atlas Hands'. This created the feeling of a very intimate gig, with the handful of people sitting down around Benjamin to listen to him sing.

Later into the night, Delphic took to the furnace stage which of course attracted the crowds. They were the last band of the festival to play, just leaving two DJ's to follow on. Performing well known tracks 'Halcyon' and 'Doubt' they certainly knew how to keep that upbeat feel to their set, keeping the crowd dancing, and the stage filling up constantly.

With time to catch one last act we danced to Lunar Modular, a trio of Chibuku resident James Rand alongside Ryan Blakely and Martin Kuchta who rounded off the festival. They delivered an unusual style of music, purely using synthesizers, drum machines and samplers, but it gave us the perfect way to see how what had been a delightful maiden voyage for Summercamp.

Overall the festival was definitely a success, and as part of Liverpool's International Music Festival first showing certainly one of the highlights of a great weekend for music and frivolity in Liverpool. We just hope it’s back next year for it to grow even more!