This is not meant to be a full review of the Indietracks festival. I am not sure I have the energy (or the memory) to fully do last weekends festival in Derbyshire justice. After last years festival I went to this years event with an equal measure of anticipation and fear. Anticipation of seeing some wonderful bands and a little fear - that the event would lose its' appeal as it grew in size - from 300 people in 2007 to over 1000 in 2008. Would the essence of what made the festival last year remain intact?

It was a low key start on the Friday night as I met many friends (some old, plenty new) on the platform. Then we took our seats near the Tea Tent to see MJ Hibbett and his Validators run through his life in rock (which is on at The Edinburgh Fringe festival next week). The humour and banter was just the perfect way to start the weekend. Beers started to flow. Onto to the How Does It Feel to be Loved disco on a train - a crammed train carriage of people dancing to indiepop hits - augmented by many more standing on the platforms and meeting friends. The atmosphere was lovely.

The Saturday was the day when The Wedding Present came to town and the ranks swelled to 1000 people and yet the atmosphere remained incredible - people were sweltering in the heat. The sun tried to break people - but all I saw throughout the day were smiling faces - which were slowly turning pink under the glare of the sun - none more so than mine! But the pop thrills kept coming - Town Bike on the new outdoor stage starting the day with a bang! Or The Parallelograms on the main stage - by which time I was doing my stint on the Merch stall. That alone was a highlight seeing the people coming up and enthusing over badges, fanzines, 7" singles and CDs. Smiling faces everywhere. I got off the Merch stall just in time to see the set of the weekend by Pocketbooks. My My - what a band and what a reaction. Stunning stuff.


As Saturday wore on the real ale started to take hold and I danced and swayed my way through Red Pony Clock and The Lodger. The excitement of seeing The Wedding Present for the first time never really dawned on me. I was fairly close and the band were good. I spent a lot of time wondering why I'd not managed to see them before in the past 20 odd years. The night was capped off by a manic DJ set by the Bubblegum Killers - even daring to end with Pete Greens 'Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly'.

Sunday was slightly more low key - and the outdoor stage was out of action for at least 2 hours leaving me a little confused as to who I could see and when. I saw and enjoyed Brontosaurus Chorus on the main stage - quickly followed by the need for shade - so I retired to a shaded seat on the platform and chatted to those who came by. I got back into seeing bands in time to catch The Smittens on the outside stage - and they were rather infectious with their candy coated pop. A hit, for me at least. Then it was time to catch the always wonderful Manhattan Love Suicides. They were as great as always and even débuted a great new song called 'Veronica'. The whole set only lasted 19 minutes - but boy was it a thrilling thing to see and hear. After this I caught a few songs by The Deirdres and despite loads of people being into it - it just wouldn't click for me - so I wander off into the distance in search of new musical thrills - where I happened to catch the tail end of The Rosie Taylor Project - all gentle strums and soothing tunes. I had thus far not strayed into the Church for fear of heat exhaustion - but as the sun was starting to set I had time to take in Je Suis Animal and they were wonderful with their shoegazing tinged pop. Emerging from the Church to catch Ballboy doing 'Avant Garde Music' on the open air stage was one of the most perfect moments of the whole weekend for me.

Then a while later finding myself on the platform for an impromptu sing-along where a few festival bands did acoustic sets with all doing a cover version for good measure - those being Pocketbooks ('Like Dylan in the Movies), The Smittens ('Daydream Believer'), Bobby McGees ('Ask') and finally Pete Green ('Crash'). All in all a wonderful end to a great weekend. It wasn't all about the music - but the music I got to hear was mostly wonderful. Indietracks is so much more than this -but it's hard to find the words that can sum it all up. The steam trains, the smiling people and location make it something I was just happy to been a part of.

So after taking the time to write this - I guess it has turned into a mini review. A headlines only take on the whole weekend. I am sure the other writers will come up with more detailed accounts of their favourite moments. I hope this gives you a little flavour of how Indietracks was for me. And to answer my own question - Would the essence of what made the festival last year remain intact? The answer has to be a resounding 'yes'. Roll on 2009.