Not Many Experts

Britain… the great and envied land of tea, croquet, cucumber sandwiches, the Queen and Piers Morgan (unfortunately). However, if there is one thing that our island can be truly proud of as a nation of music lovers, it’s the sheer number of festivals on offer and the hordes of people who faithfully flock to a campsite where awful weather comes for free with the extortionate ticket prices, all for the love of music. And so, NME features writer & interviewer George Mills sets out on a noble quest to search high and low for the most underappreciated festivals our country has to offer….

Festivals; the staple of any self-respecting summer diet. However, with NME, the so-called New Music Express, assuming the role of the conscience of the majority within this great nation, you would be forgiven for assuming there were any other festivals aside from Reading/Leeds and Glastonbury this summer. Over the coming weeks, Not Many Experts will be previewing not only some of the UK’s finest lesser-known festivals, but also Europe’s hidden treasures.

We begin our FestQuest (trademark George Mills 2009) in the deepest, darkest south-western corner of the British Isles at Relentless Boardmasters. Situated both on and around some of the country’s most popular and iconic beaches, Boardmasters has been quietly amassing a reputation as one of the liveliest festivals around today. Aside from the support of Radio One over the last couple of years, the festival has been largely ignored by the wider media, making the achievement of attracting such acts as Groove Armada, Seasick Steve, Razorlight, Feeder and this year, The Streets, all the more impressive. Obviously those folk down in Newquay know how to ‘do a festival’. With this in mind, Not Many Experts have decided to pack our Primark pumps, our Aldi tent and our board shorts into an impractically small sized car, and go and sample the thing for ourselves.

As mentioned before, The Streets will be making an appearance at Boardmasters, but who else, I hear you cry?

Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip – The Essex duo will be making their first appearance at Boardmasters, combining Scroobius Pip’s intelligent poetry with Dan Le Sac’s innovative and dangerously catchy beats.

You will have heard: “Thou Shalt Always Kill”
Listen out for: “Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – Rappers Battle”

Calvin Harris – Calvin, the ever-present Scotsman. Expect unnecessarily large and expensive ‘fly-eye’ sunglasses, complimenting huge anthems bound to stir the thousands into action.

You will have heard: “I’m Not Alone”
Listen out for: “Calvin Harris – Colours”

Cypress Hill – Arm poppin’ West Coast rap that you either love or hate. My guess is that the Latino quartet will be an ear-perforating success with the Newquay massiiiive.

You will have heard: “How I Could Just Kill A Man”
Listen out for: “Throw Your Set In The Air”

Tickets for the festival are available from here: http://www.relentlessboardmasters.com/static.php?c=tickets
Prices are: £54.99 for 2 Days access to the Watergate Arena Music Festival. £29.99 for day tickets to either Friday or Saturday.

More information can be found on: http://www.relentlessboardmasters.com/