REVIEW: INDIETRACKS FESTIVAL 2011
Indietracks – taking place at the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire – has just celebrated its fifth anniversary. It’s a tiny festival of just 1,000 attendees, but it’s also one of the most unique and heartwarming. A celebration of all things indiepop, it’s a quiet riot of xylophones, handclaps, girl groups, C86, quirky lyrics and DIY ethics, with lashings of real ale, cardigans and steam trains.
This year’s headliner was Edwyn Collins, formerly of Scottish post-punks Orange Juice, and best known for his 1994 worldwide hit ‘A Girl Like You’. In 2005 Edwyn suffered a brain haemorrhage, leaving him with severely reduced movement and speech. He’s still fragile, walking with a cane and managing little onstage banter beyond the carefully pronounced song titles. But his performance, mostly made up of songs from latest album ‘Losing Sleep’ plus his classic hits, was spirited and powerful, and enthusiastically received by the crowd.
Canadians The Hidden Cameras finished Saturday night with a fantastic set and stage show including synchronised dancing and blindfolded band members. A mid-set interruption by a Midland Railway volunteer to announce that nearly all the toilets were out of action was received with amusement and cheers. At such a tiny festival, things do go wrong, but they’re always quickly resolved, and it adds to the amateurish charm of the place.
A highlight of the festival is the train stage, where bands perform in the guard’s carriage of the Butterley-Swanwick steam train. Local band Peru performed intricate and melodious guitar parts despite the boiling hot conditions. In the Church Stage, Denmark’s Sock Puppets were one of the louder bands of the weekend, with catchy three-chord punk songs.
On Sunday there was a surprise four-song set in the merchandise tent from Derby local hero Jyoti Mishra, better known as White Town. Sweet and shy, he introduced #1 single ‘Your Woman’ with the words ‘this is my only hit song. And it will be my only hit song’. Which is a shame, because there’s far more to his touching and intelligent songs than than the one-hit-wonder label suggests.
As well as the bands, there’s a tent running a variety of workshops. These included a tea party run by Anglo/Swedish record label Fika, featuring free tea and cakes, and an acoustic performance from the wildly entertaining Moustache of Insanity.
The perfect weather was a great opportunity to explore the festival site. As well as steam train rides, the Midland Railway Centre has a collection of vintage buses and steamrollers (which sounds nerdy but was actually quite cool), and a 35 acre country park. Camping isn’t including in the festival price, but the Golden Valley Campsite is a five minute walk down a picturesque lane. The party continued there until the early hours of the morning, with discos provided by the best indie clubs from all over the country including Cardiff’s Twisted By Design.
After five festivals, Indietracks have got their formula just right. The organisers have stated that they have no ambition to expand, because the site, the size of headliners and the relaxed atmosphere is just perfect. It’s a wise decision, because this is one of Britain’s best festivals.
Download this year’s Indietracks compilation – all proceeds go to the Midland Railway Centre www.makedoandmendrecords.bandcamp.com
Words and photos: Annie Scott
