Standon Calling 2014 – Festival Review

By James Warner Smith, 5th August 2014

For a private little house party Standon Calling has gotten pretty out of hand! Indeed, ever since Alex Trenchard’s
barbeque back in 2001 this annual affair has escalated to ever-higher heights.
From a makeshift stage with local bands to today’s plethora of top musicians,
the grounds of this Hertfordshire manor house have been transformed, becoming the
place to go every August for a fresh round of boutique festival fun. Threaded
through it all, however, remains a touch of that local garden party feel; a swimming
pool for anyone and everyone to jump into, croquet on the top lawn and an old
cowshed that’s been mucked out and spruced up into a nightclub, throbbing through
the early hours until the sun reappears. Punching above its weight, Standon Calling
can now claim to be a party where everyone is welcome, hosting a mix of
recognisable names along with newer breakthrough musicians.

Friday night kicked
off with a scintillating set from Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls,
someone with such depth through his albums that earlier songs like The Road could intertwine seamlessly with newer material to rise in a rock-‘n’-roll crescendo
as the set progressed. By the end, the entire festival crowd were at his beck and call,
revelling in the meadow that spreads out beyond the main stage.

Saturday’s top
slot was filled by Public Enemy, one of the first hip-hop groups to hit the
festival scene and a band that still retain their straight talking lyrics and
raw honesty. Some of it, perhaps, fell a little on deaf ears, their clanging
rap about ‘Dr Murray’ that followed a long Michael Jackson-loving preach
failing to make much impact on the British-countryside crowd. Yet by the end, they too could claim one of the biggest crowds of the weekend, bobbing around
to old classics like Fight the Power and Harder Than you Think.

The real pleasure at these smaller boutique
festivals, however, lies in discovering those on the cusp of mainstream success
and with names like Mumford & Sons and Florence & The Machine on their
old billboards, it’s clear Standon Calling has an eye for picking out the
best. Recent chart-toppers Clean Bandit thrilled the crowd with their fusion of
classical strings and dancey pop beats, while local girl Charlie XCX got a
young audience thumping along as she leaped around the stage. Pleasant
surprises coming from the earlier afternoon slots included two from Nottingham;
soulful quintet Amber Run on the main stage and singer songwriter Saint Raymond
in The Big Top, an atmospheric setting regardless of the music.

Standon Calling offers far more than just tunes,
though, and its boutique credentials are testament to the endless list of other
things going on. Arty workshops, comedy booths and a scattering of dramatic
activities are all encompassed under the yearly theme, this summer ‘Lost in
Latin America’. Mexican wrestling and tango courses entertained revelers who
donned their best fancy dress on the Saturday, winding around the site in an
afternoon carnival to end at the main stage where costume winners were
announced. Amongst them were face-painted kids charging about in sombreros, a signature
sign that they’d spent a morning immersed in Bambino Banditos, the children’s craft area in a quiet corner of the manor house gardens.

In fact, Standon Calling has some of the
best ratings around as a family festival. A designated
family camping area boasts a very separate location from the more clustered
main camping field, a riverside meadow that has been cleared of the local cows.
Toilets throughout all areas are remarkable – proper flushing loos that are
clean enough you’ll actually sit down on them and a shower block with hot water
– top notch for the UK festival scene! Kids and adults alike could enjoy the
safe, local atmosphere of the festival and the chance to run around with out
endless worrying.

Beyond the interwoven guy ropes of acres of
normal tents lies the boutique camping area, a real treat for those willing to
splash their extra latino dollar. Options are plentiful, with yurts, tipis,
bell tents and vintage airstream caravans, all of which have access to
exclusive toilets and showers. Kitted out with serious comfort in mind,
glamping here offers some of the most high-end luxury on the festival circuit
and campers can really tailor it to their style and price range by picking from
basic glamping packages up to the highest spec VIP pitches. Those with motor
homes can also pull up in the camper van area where electricity hook-up is even
available at an extra cost.

Whatever camping you chose, you’ll never be
too far from the main festival area with a layout that seems to make everything
close at hand without becoming too overcrowded. The route from your
tent to the bubble of themed fantasy is via tempting food and drink vans. Grab your choice of food, head to the main stage and sit for the
afternoon bands, enjoying the thoroughly laid back atmosphere that is accentuated
on Sundays by the dazed majority who are catching a kip in the sun. By evening, the energy seemed to have returned however, as heads bobbed and hips wiggled along
with charismatic Paul Smith, lead singer of Maximo Park who closed off the
festival with songs old and new, inevitably ending with Apply Some Pressure and Girls Who Play Guitars.

The slamming of their final chords closed
the curtain on another year of quirky Standon success. Breakthrough acts had
threatened the main headliners who in turn had drawn the masses with their
experience and fine-tuned sound. Cast amid the vibrant colour of a world lost in
Latin America, this little house party has once again stepped another rung up the festival ladder.