The weather was kind for the whole weekend as families flocked to North Yorkshire to enjoy this year’s Deer Shed Festival. In the countryside near Thirsk, this is a festival that caters to all ages. There is as much entertainment to be found in trees and hay bales as there is from big name headliners on the main stage.
As you walk in, past the extensive camp site, you’re heading past tree climbing activities that, even early on Friday, have queues of excited kids waiting to scale the heights. There’s a main drag of independent shops, selling everything from records, vintage outfits, customised beanie hats and face glitter on one side, and a great variety of food stalls to cater to every taste on the other.
Beyond, you’ll find the kayaking lake, leading to the swingball arena and the science tent. There’s also a huge sports arena, which hosts all kinds of activities from American Football, Kapow Wrestling, volleyball and Nerf Gun Wars.
As I said, something for everyone.
The same could be said of the music. Interspersed within the other activities are 4 music stages, which played host to nearly 60 acts over the course of the weekend. There was a great mix of genres, so everyone will have found something they loved, or experienced something for the first time.
Ellur kicked things off on the main stage to a sparse crowd, families still filling in from the campsite. Still, she is as ever, a captivating performer, whose dreamy indie-pop vocal always manages to reach out and connect with the crowd.
Man / Woman / Chainsaw, the London art-punk outfit offered something completely different with resonant guitars, folk inspired violin parts and mimes of a sports day tug of war.
Genre-defying Jessica Winter, London based singer-songwriter-producer gave us a set that spanned pop, dance, drum and bass with a punk aesthetic. Song to song, it seems to be whatever the right genre best expresses the message that she wants to deliver.
A real highlight was the performance of Jalen Ngonda, coaxing us through the afternoon with soulful, falsetto vocals, as smooth as billiard ball. A real class act, taking us back to the timeless feel of 70s soul, reminiscent of Marvin Gaye, yet still completely his own sound.
Pillow Queens headlined the In The Dock stage with a great set, before everyone congregated towards the Main Stage for The Coral, closing off the day’s entertainment with a crowd pleasing set. For me, it was a little one-dimensional, and didn’t ignite the crowd in the way many others did over the weekend, but still, it brought things to a pleasing close on Day 1.
Saturday threatened a bit of rain, but it didn’t really materialise, so again, families staked out their favourite spots for probably the best day of the festival overall.
The morning kicked off perfectly with Tapir! on the Lodge Stage. An exquisitely chilled set, perfect for this time of the day, as some were still coming round from the night before, or perhaps being awoken earlier than planned by some of the younger campers. Beautifully layered instrumentation will have calmed even the most frayed nerves though, setting a beautiful tone for the day.
Picture Parlour, the London based indie-rock quartet drew a growing crowd throughout their set, as their sound rolled across the fields. They raised the energy mid-set, with more forceful delivery and soaring solos from Ella Risi.
I don’t think any of us were ready for just how much Frozemode were about to ignite things. The In The Dock Stage was sparsely populated when they took the stage, but the alt-rap trio’s beats, flow and choreo were enough to drag people up the hill, filling up the tent by the end of their electric set.
Deadletter kept things going. The Yorkshire band, gave a typically high octane performance. Frontman Zac Lawrence is a huge talent, bringing what is a very civilised and family oriented crowd to life through the sheer weight of his personality.
Among the music, there’s a packed cultural schedule too, and today saw Poet Laureate Simon Armitage return for a second day for conversation and readings of his work, having played with his band LYR on Friday. There’s a good crowd gathered for this, before heading back out into the daylight to catch the rest of the music.
KOKOKO! kept up the eclectic tone, appearing at first in all black overalls, head to toe, before exploding to life in scarlet outfits, an image to match the vibrancy of the music they delivered. Out of Kinshasa in the DRC, their sound is undeniably influenced by those African roots, but enhanced by unique, homemade instruments, some made from washing up bottles and empty milk cartons. Something really unique as we headed towards the evening.
Birmingham based folk singer Katherine Priddy was the perfect foil to this energy. Songs of her homes, past and future, reminiscing and dreaming in equal measure, it’s a perfect tone for early evening at the Lodge Stage, as the sun begins to set over the boating lake.
I was really torn at this point on Saturday, so ended up catching half each of two outstanding sets. First up, the late replacement on The Lodge Stage were political trip-pop favourites She Drew The Gun. Delivering typically incendiary lyrics and poetry, Louisa Roach perhaps underestimated how close we were to the former PM’s constituency, as the criticism of the outgoing Tory administration was not as universally welcomed as it might be over on Merseyside.
Reluctantly abandoning this one, I dashed back across the site to catch the end of Los Bitchos in the In The Dock tent. Packed when I arrived, I was left peering from the back as the pan-continental band delivered a massive set of joyful, South American inspired pop-punk-dance-funk. Honestly, it’s hard to describe. You know that bit on Wikipedia where it tells you what genres bands play in? It’s not there on Los Bitchos page. I’m guessing it was just too hard to pin down.
The second day wraps up with festival staples Bombay Bicycle Club delivering their catchy indie tunes to the delight of those who had taken an early spot at the barrier. The happy, upbeat vibe drew the evening nicely to a close as the crowd began to retreat to the campsites for the final night.
Sunday rolled around and the great weather continued. Early risers could take advantage of wild swimming, a sauna or some woodland running, underlining the thoroughly wholesome nature of this festival.
The Main Stage opener couldn’t have been more perfect. Cardiff-based psychedelic country pop outfit Melin Melyn gave us a thoroughly entertaining set, pulling people in from across the site with their witty lyrics and a brilliant trio of dancers.
The Tubs were the first real misstep of the weekend. Succumbing to some technical issues, which of course happens from time to time, they didn’t handle it particularly well and it was a bit of a relief as they brought their set to a close.
Home Counties got things back on track with a high quality set of polished genre-bending music, mixing a bit of funk with rock and electronic sounds to create a maximalist soundscape. Bess Atwell gave us the perfect Sunday afternoon chill out. People gathered on the hillside to enjoy a beer in the sunshine, listening to her folk-rock offerings, before heading back to the In The Dock Stage for one of the performances of the weekend.
O. is the combination of drummer Tash Keary and saxophonist Joseph Henwood, and they created more sound out of 2 instruments than I thought was possible. It’s the culmination of a ton of hard work, melding improvisational jazz and alternative rock. How Henwood got some of those sounds out of the sax was mind-blowing and the energy of Keary’s drumming is breathtaking, all creating an irresistible atmosphere for those in the tent.
The final stretch of Deer Shed 2024 was perfectly curated to leave us all on a high. The Go! Team blasted on to the main stage, Nkechi Ka Egenamba – a.k.a Ninja – is irrepressible at the front of this 7-piece outfit, leaping alongside Sam Dook on guitar, producing a euphoric feeling with their upbeat, rap infused indie-rock.
Back up the hill to the In the Dock stage for the final time, fans crowded the barrier early, awaiting the arrival of the band that the NME described as “2023’s wildest band”. The promise of a punk and techno fusion meant there was high anticipation for Fat Dog and they didn’t disappoint, generating the only proper pit of the weekend, which among this particular family festival crowd is no mean feat.
An altogether different, yet no less energetic prospect awaited down on the Main Stage. The sweaty and breathless Fat Dog crowd barely had time to recover before Irish singer, songwriter and all round force of nature CMAT, emerged to close the festival on a huge high. It was a set full of the highest quality songs from her recent album, CrazyMad for Me, crowned with a brilliant cover of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights. However, it is the way in which CMAT is able to reach out and connect with every member of her audience, no matter the age. There are men, women and children lining the barrier, cowboy hats and homemade signs all along the front row, singing each lyric with all their hearts. CMAT runs along the barrier at one point, to get close to the adoration that the crowd is offering. Once back on the stage, she is still picking out those stretching and climbing to get a better view. Everywhere she looks, she will have seen children on the shoulders of their parents, delighted little faces, transfixed by the spectacle in front of them.
It’s an image that endured throughout the weekend, these kids aloft on parents shoulders, dancing to artists whose lyrics they may not yet understand, but that’s part of the beauty of this weekend. It’s a great introduction to music festivals, one that I hope will instil a lifelong passion among some of these youngsters and keep the thrill of live music alive for years to come.
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