Festival Coverage: Kendal Calling - Day 2

Overnight the rain can only be described as biblical, waking up to a flooded tent was not the greatest start to day two. Having cleaned up our tent we head for solace of Tim Peaks, where we dined out on the finest cake and Yorkshire Tea to warm us up.

Kicking off our musical endeavours on day two are The Heavy, even though the rain is still lashing, the crowds have turned out in their masses to catch one of the best bands of the weekend; a plethora of party tracks don’t go amiss as they restore the smiles on this excited crowd's faces. The Heavy seem completely overwhelmed by the turn out for their set, we all know that braving this horrific weather is well worth it. purely for tracks like ‘What Makes A Good Man.’

Feeling slightly better we venture back to the Calling Out tent in time for local Carlisle lads The Lucid Dream. Perhaps more at home at one of the many psych festivals around now, this is still their home festival and the crowds have braved the weather to fill out the Calling Out tent. The Lucid Dream do not disappoint - one of the finest sets of the entire weekend.

The Heavy cheered us up, but The Lucid Dream blew us away it’s been a while and they have honed their craft with relentless touring. Today sees them playing tracks from their debut Songs of Lies and Deceit, with a five minute long psychedelic jam to close their set. We’re left completely in awe of these guys it seems that they’ve helped to finally finish off the rain and the suns returned.

Perhaps not the sunniest band on this afternoons line-up, but arguably one of the most seriously underrated, are Lanterns on The Lake. The most atmospheric and cinematic of bands you’ll find on any line-up, their music is beautiful. They fill this tent with ease; their tracks, beautiful cacophonous symphonies. Breathtakingly brilliant just as the sun begins to emerge, we’re truly dazzled and it’s still pretty early on.

The time has come for Newcastle via Chicago exports Gallery Circus to make their Kendal Calling debut, calling these guys a power duo would be a complete understatement. Hefty blues-rock of the highest calibre, their brutal delivery and aggressive drumming is a sight truly to behold. These guys have got everything that you could want from a duo, ‘Supercell’ goes down a storm. They’re firmly marked as one to watch and today proves that they’re every bit as deserving of that mantle.

We do have to rush away from the end of their set though to make sure we catch John Robb’s Membranes in the House Party tent next door. As we enter the tent a wall of smoke hits us and as that clears, John Robb and his crew belt out some of the best punk around greet us. From one awesome band to another, Kendal is truly bowling us over this weekend.

It just keeps on getting better though it's wall-to-wall brilliance. A short walk from the House Party and back in a very sweaty Tim Peaks. Sunderland’s Frankie and The Heartstrings are there to entertain us. By this point, the sun's at its peak and it’s blazing. Tim Peaks is sweltering as crowds gather all around the wooden cabin to hear and to try and catch a glimpse of the band.

Playing tracks of their as yet unreleased album alongside old favourites including ‘That Girl That Scene’ and ‘Hunger.’ This has to be one of the sets of the weekend, a rousing sing along from start to finish, not only are we having a great time it looks like the band are too, despite the immense heat.

Unfortunately though as Frankie and The Heartstrings finish their set, the dark clouds are back and just as soon as it came, the sun has gone again, replaced by misery as the rain lashes. Taking cover under a tree we watch the Happy Mondays from afar, they raise a smile despite the rain and to be honest who wouldn’t when Sean Ryder and co are twisting their melons.

With just a short while to wait, we’re off foraging for food again, stumbling upon the awesome rotisserie. Armed with chicken we settle in for Frank Turner, even though the rain is still lashing. Frank takes to the stage and wastes no time in getting stuck in, with tracks from all three albums. Kicking off with the brilliant ‘Photosynthesis’, the crowd bounce in the swamp that is the main stage pit but for these few moments everyone’s lost all of their cares.

‘Peggy Sang The Blues’ almost sets off a riot; tonight’s set is being played at a blistering pace. Frank breaks it down during the middle part of the set with acoustic renditions of tracks like ‘Love Ire & Song.’ Perhaps the biggest triumph of this evening is his courage with new material, bucking the typical trend, he has the entire crowd on his side as they dance.

The latter part of the set sees the likes of ‘Recovery’ and ‘I Still Believe’ turn this crowd into a mess of bodies. A truly triumphant, brilliant set, Frank and The Sleeping Souls are truly embraced by tonight’s huge crowd. As always though once the pyrotechnics have died down, Kendal once again springs more surprises.

The site is lit up like a beacon in the sky wandering back up to Tim Peaks we catch the early part of The Everly Pregnant Brothers late show, before taking a leap into the completely unknown. We wind our way up past the Woodlands stage and through the Garden of Eden, to a clearing high up in the wooded area of the site.

Here we’re greeted with a small gathering of people and a shed packed with equipment, there’s a warm up DJ on. As the clock strikes midnight, through the back-door of the shed enter two figures clad in cagoules and their typical shirts and ties. Its only 2ManyDjs, this clearing is like a palace compared to the rest of the site - no mud, no rain.

Stephen and David are in particularly cheeky moods, posing for selfies with the small crowd and making mischievous hand gestures behind others heads. All the while thrilling us with their usual immense DJing skills, mashing up the likes of The Strokes, Bryan Ferry and Talking Heads. It's an awesome end to the day, it helped us to forget all about the rain, even if just for a short while.