If there is one way to spend a 30 degree summer weekend, it would be Leefest. The sun blazed for the three days at Leefest, and the only way I survived it was by grabbing bottles of frozen water and watching the bands under the tents and gazebos as well as sitting on the grass.  I was one of the only few that arrived at the campsite with no tent or anything because London was only 30 minutes away but it led me to missing out headliners.  Since this was my first Leefest, I had no idea what to expect but it turned out to be one huge party in an intimate setting. As I looked around the festival, girls were walking around wearing flower hats, people were playing frisbee and things such as the sand pit area where everyone danced and did competitions such as wrestling and throwing glitter on everyone’s faces. Apart from the bands, that area was my favourite part of the whole weekend, just because everyone looked like they were having a great time.  Everyone that I bumped in to were chatty, and friendly, which you would expect for people who are taking a break from the world of work.

Each band set were fantastic and even though I didn’t quite get to see the headliners as I had to catch a train back to London, every other band that lead up to the headliners gave the festival an atmosphere that got the crowd pumping. Bands that stood out to me on Friday were Lola, who had their own fanbase that waved around flags with LOLA chalked on them.They were a melodic , post rock kind of band and were the first band to set off the start the festival. They reminded me a mix between Kyuss and This will destroy you. Stagecoach  sounded like Weezer, they were a quirky indie band, and they were a good band to chill out to on the grass while the sun was burning down on us.  The Other Tribe were something I’ve never seen before, and it was a different and refreshing experience to see a band that played instruments other than guitar and bass. On Saturday, bands like Story Brooks, To Kill a king and and King Charles blew the crowd away with much enthusiasm on the stage and the built up the excitement for Noisettes later that night.  A band that personally  made my whole weekend, was London Grammar, the tent was filled to the brim with half of the festival in the second stage, which I found amusing because the band had more of a turnout than any of the bands on the main stage! The feeling of calm and bring free were evidently shown during their set and it displayed a professionalism and understanding that London Grammar will get bigger for the next coming months. Clean Bandit were a sure favourite too as they played on Sunday and were a chilled dance electronic kind of band, that got the crowd going.

Sadly on Sunday, I couldn’t take any photos except a few of the crowd because my camera ran out of battery, so to explain in words of what happened at the sand pit wouldn’t be as exciting as seeing it visually.  In the sand pit area, was one of the best things I’ve seen up close after many times watching people throw coloured powder paint(holi paint) at eachother online. The area was instantly filled many different bright colours as it clashed together upon everyone. It was a moment I would keep as a Leefest favourite memory!

Leefest ended on a high, and it made me realised that not all small festivals are bad, not all big festivals are great, so if you want to save your money, it is good to start with Leefest to see up and coming bands and have more of a chance to meet people in a more intimate festival setting! I’ll definitely go next year again but making sure I will bring camping stuff as I underestimated the distance and times!

Sarah Tsang