Wilderness Festival

“This is very very nice. You’re very polite, all of you” beamed Laura Marling to a crowd of hipsters and hippies. And she wasn’t wrong. The first ever Wilderness Festival; with boating, lake swimming, theatre, debates and an eclectic line up of music, was a civilised affair. Of course there was the unavoidable festering portaloos and the faint sound of vomiting from the surrounding tents serenading you to sleep, but this was nothing. There was no litter on the ground, an infectiously friendly atmosphere, and the only heckles were requests for the actors to speak up during the phenomenal Factory theatre company performance of Bugs.

With such an array of alternative entertainment on offer, it was easy for music to become part of the background. Indeed, on Saturday, with a weaker line-up, the tiny audiences, barely any of whom were on their feet for the earlier bands, meant that the day had the air of a support act for what was to come. Hayseed Dixie did their best with an energetic, if bizarre, performance, but it was the final day that really gave the festival its leg up to a pedestal it deserves.

Daniel Johnston proved an endearing presence as he strummed his way through vulnerable melodies, his cult hero status obvious by the extraordinary number of his trademark “hi, how are you?” t shirts. He chose to dress more casually, in a hoody and tracksuit bottoms- there was no glamour, just a vulnerable presence.

Next up was Laura Marling, who slunk onstage with such lack of spectacle that she could have been mistaken for a sound technician. Until, that is, she began to sing, and from the first note it was clear that we were witnessing something special. So mesmerizing in fact that every single person was on their feet. After one marriage proposal from an over-zealous fan, Marling smiled and shrunk back, striking the first chords of her next song, before saying “You know, I wish I was wittier. But I hope you’re all ok and not…” the rest of her sentence drowned out by the polite screams of the audience. What her lack in self-belief didn’t hinder was her genuine delivery. Every line seemed to show such honest emotions that, as she glanced up into the clouds for the line “I wrote the sky, and I have no reason to reason with you” it was impossible not to be affected. Announcing that she was “going to sing a really slow depressing song”, Marling grinned and gave a sarcastic rock out hand gesture before embarking on such a breath-taking rendition of 'Hope In the Air'. One person remarked, as the set finished “That was life changing. I just don’t know what to change”.

The last act of was Antony and the Johnsons, whose already beautiful music was made even more spectacular by the Heritage Orchestra. Antony spent more time talking about the importance of dismantling the seat of male privilege than singing, but when he did sing, it was stunning. Numbers such as ‘Hope There’s Someone’ and ‘For Today I Am A Boy’ left the crowd silent.

With just 7,500 attending, Wilderness has plenty of room to grow, but grow it undoubtedly will. Its niche music styles may never reach the dizzying heights of the big UK festivals, but who wants to have cups of urine hurled at you anyway?

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