New Music & Hop Farm Festival

The best thing about living in London (even as I type that it doesn't seem real still) - is having the option of seeing great live music at any given time of the week.

The worst things about living in London is that I would need to sell my car in order to afford to go to the big ones. I far prefer a nice intimate gig. The difference between seeing John Mayer play Shepherds Bush Empire in 2004, and seeing him play the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan in 2007 was incredible. The first was like a lovely hidden secret. He talked to the crowd, he hadn't yet crossed the line into mega-idiot-star. It was bliss. I even sqeezed up to the front and stood with my arms propped and folded on the stage. The second was so huge, I couldn't even see him. There were so many pre-teen girls screaming because they 'so related' to his music, and he had no rapport with the audience at all. He had turned into a mainstream monster and worst of all - Jessica Simpson was there. That's $60 i'll never bloody see again.

Give me the first any day.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see Ellie Goulding play at Dingwalls in Camden. Great little venue, and perfect for her. Everyone there was there because they knew they were onto something good. She belted it out with her Bjork/Julia Stone-esque pipes and made the crowd feel like they had got their money's worth. Her album is on constant reply on my iphone at the mo. Boootiful tunes.

My favourite thing is to find out about something good before the masses - which is why I am SO excited about getting some weekend tickets to the Hop Farm Festival!

It seems to be a new-ish festival in Kent, with massive potential to be the 'go-to' festival in the coming years. It's the same feeling I get about the Forfey Festival in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It seems more organic, creative and without all the crazy trimmings of the bigger festivals. This years line up (so far) proves they are onto a good thing:

Bob Dylan
Mumford and Sons
Seasick Steve
Laura Marling
Peter Doherty (bah)
The Magic Numbers
& Foy Vance

FABULOUS!

Get on it, the tickets are gonna go fast...