With an abundance of festivals all over the UK, to add another to an already overflowing array may seem daft to many. To Middlesbrough promoters The Kids are Solid Gold and Pay For The Piano, however, it seemed like a great idea and from that idea Twisterella was born.

The festival is spread across five venues just off Middlesbrough Town Centre, and boasts a line-up of over 40 up and coming local, national and international bands. We arrive early in the afternoon heading straight to Teeside University Union, to catch the awesome Fatherson, their brand of Scottish indie rock audible even from the street.

Entering the venue, we’re hit by a wall of sound and settle in for a particularly rocky set, it's no wonder why Fatherson are on the up. Unfortunately their set is over all too soon for our liking, though we’re certain that this isn’t the last time we’ll catch these guys.

We swiftly move on and with so many bands to see we head to one of our favourite Middlesbrough venues, Westgarth Social Club. We’re just in time for Spaniards IEPI, from the outset these guys are here to blow away the early afternoon cobwebs. A total out and out aural assault, delivered with visceral power and guile.

When we thought our ears could not take anymore, the utterly phenomenal That Fucking Tank replaces IEPI. Hardly a new band unlike many of those on today’s line-up, Tank are here to show their prowess. Their instrumental rock is unrivalled and they prove themselves as true behemoths. As usual, we’re completely blown away, by their set.

Today is seemingly growing from strength to strength, and as Night Flowers take to the stage everyone seems to be getting in the swing of things. Hailing from Humberside, their set is something of a move away from the previous rock behemoths. A much poppier affair, but an accomplished set from a band that are on the up, lead singer Hetty charms us as she dances away and serenades the amassing crowds at Westgarth.

We make our way over to TS One, to see a north east representative in the form of The Lake Poets play a rare solo set. The venue is packed to the rafters with standing room between the tables only as Martin takes to the stage, his sweet voice coupled with his particularly dark lyrics he has the crowd locked in from the first note. His mesmerising delivery and his awesome talent cements his place as one of the best north east artists around right now.

Unfortunately though our time with The Lake Poets is cut short as this packed line-up forces our hand, making our way back to The Westgarth to see one of our favourite bands, Menace Beach. Arriving as they take to the stage, their set proves to be one of their best and one of the most random of the day. Before they’ve even begun Ryan Needham has covered his mic with his sock.

Their passionate indie rock sounds as fierce as ever today, with tracks like ‘Drop Outs’, ‘Tennis Court’ and ‘Fortune Teller’ all sounding on top form. Every time we think we’ve seen something great today another band trounces their efforts and for us Menace Beach are top of the pile today. We’re left overly excited about their debut long player which is coming early 2015.

We take a short breather before making our way to The Keys for the first time, entering the venue we’re really unsure of what to expect. All we can see is dancing lights and a hefty crowd of people milling round, though it’s not long before Bad Breeding are let out of their cages. These guys come out of the traps already fired up, with an aural assault that is unrivalled by any other band on this bill.

As their lead singer throws himself around the stage and then into the crowd, the band remains unbelievably tight. It’s a performance of epic proportions and we’re just blown away by the atmosphere and the excitement that builds as the set reaches its crescendo. As the band literally stand on each other. there’s a truly triumphant intensity to the end of this short but incredible set.

We leave The Keys sweaty and overwhelmed as we fall back in to TS One to catch the start of the acoustic stage headliner the ever-brilliant Sweet Baboo, who has long been a favourite of ours. Tonight is no different and he takes to the stage to rapturous applause; a rare solo appearance completely stripped back his songs to their barest, but we unfortunately have to leave , once again showing the strength of this line-up.

We head along to The Westgarth again, just in time for the up and coming Happyness, with a ton of radio play and support tours under their belt, we’re excited to see them again, the only problem is this excitement is very short lived. Last time we saw these guys they supported Speedy Ortiz and we thought their banter was nerves and perhaps slightly misplaced. It turns out that’s really not the case; they’re just rather rude, patronising and far from happy.

Their attitude severely detracted from their mediocre music. We get the fact your from that big city down south, no need to force it down the people of Middlesbrough’s throats. They just come across so obtuse and obnoxious, it leaves us feeling slightly annoyed that we’d left Sweet Baboo to see this shambolic waste of time.

We head off early and head to The Keys as the awesome Brontide take to the stage. These three unassuming guys unleashing their intense brand of post rock, drawing us in. There’s a wall of noise as we occupy the front of the stage, eyes wide staring in awe at the sheer amount of noise that these three guys create. By the time the band are done with us, we’ve forgotten about everything that had previously happened, as we float down the street back to The Westgarth to finish our evening.

We catch the well-tipped Longfellow, a band we’ve never heard at all but they’re accomplished set of indie rock has a very polished sound, though is pleasant enough. They hold the crowd well and whilst it’s not setting our world alight, we’re almost positive that these guys will be huge before long. Just like the next and final band to take to the stage at The Westgarth.

Prides have played the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and they’re certainly one of the most fancied acts on today’s bill. Despite the time creeping on and an impending long journey home, we stick around for this Glaswegian trio. These guys have honed their sound that is made quite clear the only problem is there’s very little deviation away from it.

Fortunately it’s a pleasant sound though, and the band are set to be huge. With excellent reason too, in a few months we shall look back on this, as it’ll be one of those we were there moments. Their set is accomplished and sounds as huge as their ambition; tracks like the new single ‘I Should Know You Better’ are burnt in to our minds with their exquisite hooks we find ourselves humming on the way home.

Overall though, despite one minor hiccup, we’re completely blown away by the inaugural Twisterella Festival. These guys have their pedigree as individual promoters but combined they’re unbelievable, today is a complete triumph from start to finish. Fantastic line-up and even better organisation, having been to so many inner city festivals the trek between venues is always a pain but Twisterella have this down to a tee.

We’re overwhelmed by the talent that we’ve seen today, special thanks has to go to Menace Beach and the unbelievably awesome Bad Breeding. Both bands we’re sure will be huge and for the right reasons. The long drive home seemed like nothing as we’re surviving purely on the adrenaline of the day. We simply cannot wait for Twisterella 2015.

Thunderstorms are predicted to arrive around 6 and 8 in the evening, but thankfully, none actually make it to the party. A welcome change to these past few days (though I understand I sound like your boring great aunt Babette talking about the weather so much, but please understand, for a festival, not so trivial at all).

Spoon is playing one of the main stages, and the Americans are gearing up for the release of their new album. The last one, Transference, kind of gets the cold shoulder, with the set heavily drawing from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Gimme Fiction and Kill the Moonlight. That doesn’t mean they weren’t planning to play more than just the guitar heavy ‘Got Nuffin’’, as with it being only about their seventh show since their little break they kind of mismanaged the time. Daniel graciously accepts the blame after jokingly having put it on his guitar technician who, he smilingly says, wants to boot them off stage.

 The boys are enjoying playing live again though, and they manage to cherry pick all your favourites. You’ve got the booty shaking bass of ‘I Turn My Camera On’, the synth powered ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’, and yet the set seems to be high on “rockers”, with ‘Small Stakes’, ‘Jonathon Fisk’, and ‘Got Nuffin’’ all getting some air time. ‘The Underdog’ gets the audience screaming out the line “That’s why they will not survive!”, while album-mate ‘Don’t Make Me a Target’ gets the audience pleading the title line as well. The new song that appears mid-set is lovely, and sounds like something they haven’t quite done yet, which is a good sign for the new album, I reckon.

 Connan Mockasin, playing the Vice stage on the outskirts of town, draws a sizeable crowd, and it is easy to see why. His voice is such a treat, and a rather rare one at that. It’s not always one hears that sound, not to mention coming from someone who can play a lick of guitar. Near the end, the band has ballooned up to about nine people, including Dev Hynes, and they launch into a jam that can be best described as going nowhere slowly. The blues imbued psychedelia is probably at it's best when Connan doesn’t meander too long in those jam and transition phases, though no doubt some in front of the stage will laud the very fact that he isn’t really about “songs”.

 The earlier mentioned Hynes is playing one stage down a bit later in the evening as Blood Orange, and at the midnight hour they sure get the funky into the festival. Their set is absolutely lovely, though just like more bands on the Pitchfork stage they do have a few hiccoughs to overcome. First his vocals are too low, then you can barely hear hers. After about a song they start to hit their stride though, and they show no signs of stopping. They play the album favourites and manage to funk them all up a bit so that the crowd has every opportunity to get some dancing done.

 Not only can the audience have a little dance to it all, Hynes is also an excellent frontman. He is a real smooth singer, can play some guitar, and he isn’t afraid to bust-a-move. The backing band, too, is lovely, with two good female singers, a second guitarist who certainly gets a few riffs in as well, a drummer, and a saxophonist who also hits some high notes as secondary vocalist on one of the songs. Tracks like ‘Always Let U Down’, ‘You’re Not Good Enough’, and ‘It Is What It Is’ are played brilliantly, and the slowed down medley near the end is boogielicious, and even gets a bit of Solange in there. It is an impressive performance all around.

 Chromeo is all about the fun, and not just for the audience. They play their catchy pop tunes quite tongue-in-cheek, though these tunes themselves are actually crafted so well that the creation of the music itself must have been quite the serious affair. And so they get the sizeable crowd up and dancing with tracks that are contagiously fun like ‘Night By Night’ and ‘Sexy Socialite’, all the while pretending they are doing a major rock show (even to the point he throws in an Angus Young guitar walk). And if they play that they are rockstars, who are we to say that they are not?

Closing it all out on the ATP stage is Cut Copy, who are just one of the most fun acts around. Both for people who like their indie rock/synth-pop as well as for those who just want to dance it all out. The people who like the former get their fix when they play (a lot of) their old material, even going back to Bright Like Neon Love. Maybe the numbers prove me wrong, but it seemed that this album, in combination with In Ghost Colours, actually had a bigger slice of the pie than their two most recent albums, Zonoscope and Free Your Mind got. The audience sure jumped their socks off on especially the In Ghost Colours entrées, with ‘Lights and Music’, ‘Hearts on Fire’ and ‘So Haunted’ getting a raucous response.

That they are leaning to dance more than before is, however, already clear from the get go, as a botched up version of the old house staple ‘My House’ by Chuck Roberts gets played to introduce the band. The lads from Australia aren’t letting the audience do all the dancing though, as they go all out themselves as well, and that in turn inspires the public to get moving even more. The older material gets the crowd jumping, though the dancers amongst the fans can do some of that “jackin’” to the Free Your Mind material. Like, for instance, the title song, and the housey ‘Let Me Show You Love’. When the band starts (03:30) it has already become quite chilly, though despite that I am quite confident that a large portion of the crowd will have worked up quite the sweat by the time the band plays their final note.

I imagine that those who actually live in Barcelona might have gone down to Daniel Avery to try and really be the last to leave, though the many international visitors might have a check-out time to consider. Our hotel goes easy on us with their 12 o’clock check-out time, though when all the dust has settled that still leaves only about four hours of sleep to get our energy up again. And this after four days (!) of all kinds of ways of enjoying music. Life’s not easy when you try to enjoy it, and Primavera 2014 sure gave everyone lots of opportunities to do just that.