By Desh Kapur, Rock At Night Manchester

Neighborhood Weekender Festival 2019–Victoria Park, Warrington, UK-MAY 25TH – 26TH 2019

SATURDAY-SO MUCH FUN IN THE SUN

It was a short drive up the M56 to Warrington, for a festival that had me very excited indeed. After it’s debut outing in 2018, Neighbourhood Weekender returned to Victoria Park with some of my favourite artists on the bill, mixed with some very exciting up and coming bands that I’ve been wanting to see for a while. It was basically this Indie kids dream; Richard Ashcroft, The Charlatans, The Vaccines, The Hunna, Pale Waves, The K’s, Maximo Park, Primal Scream and the list goes on. And the young, the middle aged and families have all gathered in one place to appreciate all that is cool and indie.

Now as far as reviewing each band individually, I wont be doing that, mainly because that would make this the biggest review and almost a small novel, all I really want is to give you an overview of what an exceptional festival The Neighbourhood Weekender is, but with that said there are a few bands I would like to comment on as I go.

After arriving on Saturday afternoon about 3ish, we quickly grabbed our photo and review passes, wander into Victoria Park and the place was already buzzing with happy festival goers, painted faces, silver flares, bucket hats, lightweight parkas and Ray Ban sunglasses. There’s gin bars, street food, wood fired pizza, beer and fairground rides. The bands were split over 3 stages, and thankfully the distance between the 3 was not too much, meaning with some exceptional timing, you could get to see most of the bands you wanted to, perfect!! Add to that the sun was bloody shining; it was going to be a good good time.

Saturday started off with Embrace on the main stage and what a perfect start, I sometimes wonder if Embrace didn’t get the critical accolades they deserved. They are a very good band that has written some of the most iconic songs of the nineties. Danny McNamara’s vocals are very underrated; sometimes he has a vulnerability to his voice, which is quite special.

And we were off! Next up were The Blinders producing an electrifying set of alternative indie; brilliant stuff! Following them, The Twang, Maximo Park and Tim Grennan all put in excellent performances. THEN the Hunna and I have to say what a performance, this bands knows how to rip up a stage, set free from their record label and management and they were loving life … add to that they write great tunes! I can’t wait to see them headlining their own show soon. The day finished up with Pale Waves (awesome), Nothing But Thieves, Primal Scream (seminal) and then radio favourite and seeming to be the man of the moment, George Ezra, who launched straight into a set of happy, uplifting tunes and it seemed the perfect way to end the first day

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