Festivals 2006 Blog

Another summer's over...

2006-09-12T13:55:00.000+01:00

Photo: Pete Axford / Oxfam

...sniff! This is our goodbye blog - it's been one helluva summer, and quite frankly we can't believe it's all over. We just wanted to say a truly intergalactic THANK YOU to everyone we've met this summer - from all the wonderful volunteer campaigners at every single festival, to the 10,000s who listened and picked up a pen to sign their name on our petitions. It's these signatures which put MASSIVE pressure on world leaders to act - and get rid of global poverty for good.

So, until next year, relive those golden memories with our 2006 festival review, with pics from every festival. And remember you can still enter our competition to win 52 top CDs (that's one a week for a year!). All you have to do is pull your best angry face and send us the pic - have a look at the 700-odd pics we've collected all summer. Ooh, and we've got CDs from The Fratellis to giveaway, too. Blimey, it's all going on.

And, if you remember one thing from the whole summer, remember this: the BEST way to get to the BEST festivals for FREE is to volunteer with Oxfam. See you at Glasto!

We love you Leeds!

2006-08-31T11:50:00.000+01:00

We just wanted to say what a FANTASTIC weekend we had at the Carling Leeds Festival last weekend. It was our last festival of the summer and we really went out with one helluva bang. The Oxfam Tent was THE late-night destination for dance-hungry Leeds punters in search of a good time - rocking every night til 3.00 am. And in the morning our delicious paninis and fairtrade coffees were the breakfast-of-choice for all discerning festival-goers, too.

During the day we were out and about meeting some brilliant Leeds people and telling them about our campaign to make health care and education for everybody around the world. We got 10,000s of people to sign up to our big petitition - a massive THANK YOU to everyone who signed (and, of course, to all of you who partied long into the night, every night). Your name will help us to put pressure on world leaders to make more money and resources available for health care and education.

Thanks also to everyone who had their photo taken for our how angry are you about poverty competition. The results are truly frightening.

More pics in our Leeds photo gallery >>

The Summer Sundae Festival

2006-08-25T11:37:00.000+01:00

At this year's Summer Sundae festival in Leicester, Oxfam joined forces with two locally based organisations - Skillshare International and Leicestershire AIDS Support Service (LASS) - to spread awareness of the importance of access to essential services.

More than 16,000 music fans were entertained by acts such as Elbow, Gomez, Belle & Sebastian, The Proclaimers and José Gonzalez with his trademark solo classical guitar.

Summer Sundae certainly reaffirmed itself as the 'grandson of Glastonbury' playing host to the likes of politically-edged dub maestros Michael Franti and Spearhead and the Coldcut collective whose gritty beats and innovative visuals cooked up a storm on the indoor stage.

Our campaigners were there with red ribbons and petitions, telling people about our Health and Education For All campaign. In the world’s poorest countries there is only one doctor for every 50,000 people, and only 400,000 people worldwide have access to HIV/AIDS treatment - less than 8% of those who need it. What’s more, millions of teachers in poor countries handle classes of up to 100 pupils in schools with few books and no running water.

Jonny Gutteridge of Skillshare said: "People were really positive about the issues that we were campaigning about and the most amazing thing was that almost everybody was wearing a red ribbon by the end of the weekend. There were about sixteen of us campaigning and we all kept smiling and had a good time, despite occasional wind and rain. Oh, and the music was good too!"

Bring on Summer Sundae 2007!

By Becky Clements - campaigner

We're at Leeds Festival

2006-08-25T09:33:00.000+01:00

Whilst we've been getting our huge tent ready over the last few days, thousands of festival-goers have been setting up camp in the lovely grounds of Bramham Park just outside Leeds. The traffic round the site has been a nightmare, but most people are in now, and although the music on the stages doesn’t start until later today, the festival is definitely in full-swing, and the atmosphere is great.

Thursday night at Leeds is always good fun, and last night was no exception. Our tent was crammed full of excited (and a bit drunk!) punters up for a dance and a shout. Our resident DJ Jon was nailing it on the decks, the music was awesome! And so the dancing went on until 3am - what a night...

We've had our tent open for an hour or so now this morning, to provide well-needed coffees and paninis to some hungover girls and boys. The music starts at midday, and I think Pearl Jam are headlining Main Stage tonight - can't wait. More blogs, and some photos, to come.

Wish you were here? Didn't manage to get a ticket this year? Send us in a comment or a question about this year's event and we'll give you the inside knowledge!

The Green Man festival

2006-08-23T15:19:00.000+01:00

Last weekend the Brecon Beacons played host to the chilled-out Green Man festival. Spectacular scenery, quality acts spread over three stages, foodstalls serving up an array of organic Fair Trade fayre, and some of the loveliest festival-goers ever known to man (green or otherwise) all combined to make the Green Man festival the highlight of the Welsh festival summer.

Six of our campaigners were there and over the three days they succeeded in signing-up nearly 600 people to the I'm in campaign, made many useful contacts for Oxjam events, and sold new and second-hand clothing from our recently waterproofed stall.

Dodgy weather on the Friday and Saturday dampened clothes but not the enthusiasm, as King Creosote, The Aliens and the Silver Jews were all received with gusto. Happily, the rain stayed away on Sunday and headliners Calexico (pictured) built on people's good feeling and rounded off a fantastic weekend with their enchilada-tinged sound.

How can it be? It's all over at V...

2006-08-22T15:30:00.000+01:00

What a weekend - the music was great, everyone loved our fair trade coffee stall and chill-out tent (pictured above), and thousands of people signed our petition to make health and education available to ev eryone. This petition will be presented to Kofi Annan at the next G8 summit to help keep pressure on the government to deliver their Millennium Development Goal promises. So, if you were at the V Festival this weekend and you signed then thank you, and thank you to all our campaigners for spreading the word!

We also had loads of funny/peculiar/amazing entries to our how angry are you about poverty competition. If you were at Chelmsford and we photographed you then check out our V gallery now, if you were at Stafford then don't fret - these will be coming soon! If you missed us because you were hiding from the weather in your tent, then why not add your photo online? For more photos of the V Festival look out for our photo gallery coming soon.

My personal highlight of the weekend had to be Faithless live on the main stage, what was yours? Add your comments below and let us know.

Soggy in Stafford!

2006-08-20T12:54:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone - after a deluge of rain all day yesterday, the Oxfam crew up here at V Festival in Stafford are just drying off in preparation for a good day today. The line-up for later is awesome - Bloc Party, Keane, Beck and Radiohead!

It sounds like down south in Chelmsford the weather hasn't been great either - top blogging Hannah! Our massive tent here in Stafford survived the storm though, and played host to our exhibition, the beautiful campervan, giant Jenga and our funky chairs and beanbags. It was packed yesterday afternoon.

So apart from the mud, everything's fantastic here. I managed to catch a bit of Razorlight last night... pictures later! They were brilliant, so look forward to that later down in Chelmsford. We're all looking forward to Radiohead tonight. Here are a couple of pics we've just taken as I blog from outside our tent.

Chilling in Chelmsford

2006-08-18T15:17:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been manic the last few days getting everything ready here at V Festival in Chelmsford, but I've finally managed to find time to report back to you!

Our chill-out tent is looking great, we've got bean-bags, fair trade coffee, paninis, giant jenga, connect-four and a whole team of campaigners arriving today to tell you all about our Health and Education For All campaign. We'll also be taking photos for our how angry are you about poverty competition so, if you think you've got what it takes to pull the angriest face, and potentially win a year's worth of music, then come and see us - we're located opposite Stage three.

If you're one of the thousands heading over to Chelmsford this weekend you'll be happy to know that despite reports of thunderstorms the sun is shining and everyone here is in good spirits - so come on everyone, the weekend has landed!

If line-ups were like cake...

2006-08-15T13:31:00.000+01:00

...V Festival would be a super-duper rich chocolate gateaux cake with double cream and chocolate sprinkles on top! There's something for everyone: Morrissey (for your dad, perhaps?); Rufus Wainwright (for mum?); Matisyahu (for your sheer amazement - see pic); and Faithless, Hard Fi, Radiohead, Keane, The Magic Numbers, Daniel Powter, Sugababes, Razorlight, Kasabian, Kula Shaker (yep, we thought they'd split-up too!), Editors, The Charlatans, Groove Armada, Fatboy Slim, Girls Aloud, The Feeling and a whole load more that we would list but we've just run out of breath.

So, if you're one of the thousands of party people heading to Hylands Park, Chelmsford, or Weston Park, Stafford, this weekend be sure to bring your spoon! Oh, and your tent, sleeping bag, wellies, and waterproofs (we've still got our fingers crossed but the weather isn't looking too good - but then again when you've got chocolate gateaux, who cares?!).

We'll be bringing our own little slices of happiness in the shape of Oxfam campaigners who will be talking to you about our Health and Education For All ca mpaign. We're asking world leaders to remember the promises they made at the G8 and ensure that millions of poor people across the world get free access to healthcare and education.

We'll also have a Oxfam shop-stall and a chill-out zone with coffee, snacks and games like giant jenga, so make sure you come and say hello. If you can't make it then don't worry - you don't have to miss out completely, just keep your eyes on this blog for pics and updates.

A limited number of Weekend Camping Tickets are still available for both locations and Day tickets are still available for Weston Park. Remember, under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Find out more >>

Even babies get angry y'know...

2006-08-08T16:06:00.000+01:00

Just had to share this entry to our how angry are you about poverty competition. How cute!

Festivals in photos

2006-08-03T15:11:00.000+01:00

Catch-up on what we got up to at this year's NASS and WOMAD festivals by viewing our photo galleries and taking a look at all our angry face competition entries. Always had a hidden talent for gurning? Why not enter your own angry face online - you could win yourself a year's worth of music!

Put your bikes and boards away for another year...

2006-08-01T12:02:00.000+01:00

The dust has settled on another extreme weekend at NASS06 - it rocked!

For the second year running Oxfam was there alongside thousands of skaters, BMXers, in-liners, and any other extreme action sport athletes you can think of. At NASS06, held at the NEC in Birmingham, we were right at the heart of things, which was awesome. Our campervan looked sweet - and posed for photos with hundreds of people over the weekend - and the exhibition was a big hit. The structure looks amazing, and everyone loved sitting around it watching the trials biking next door to us.

Our extreme team of volunteer campaigners, who get in to the event for free in return for a few hours work, had a wicked time roaming around the festival chatting to people about Oxfam. We were raising awareness of the dire lack of essential services in developing countries, like doctors, nurses and teachers. Oxfam is asking the G8 leaders, who promised so much at last year's summit in Gleneagles, to deliver on those promises and turn them into action. It's also important that the governments of the developing countries who receive aid ensure that it is spent on the provision of healthcare and education for all. Nearly 5,000 NASSers took action over the weekend to demand this - the pressure is growing!

Keep your eyes peeled for a NASS photo story and don't forget to check out the angry faces too.

Eye-popping pics from NASS

2006-07-31T14:38:00.000+01:00

We've just travelled back in our campervan from an awesome weekend at NASS - we took loads of photos of NASS-faces for our how angry are you about poverty competition (where the winner gets a year's worth of albums from Universal Music). And the results are truly frightening...

Look at the angry faces from NASS >>

A wet WOMAD

2006-07-31T14:10:00.000+01:00

WOMAD is winding down for the final day of world music. The rain finally arrived but the crowds are still smiling! Our tent is packed full of people drinking coffee and taking refuge from the wet weather. Our campaigners, however, have been out and about telling people about our Make Trade fair campaign. Last night we experienced the surreal world of the Pink Flamingo Bar where we were greeted by people in strange fancy dress costumes!

WOMAD played host to an impressive line up including our favourites, Emmanuel Jal and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. Emmanuel, who played the BBC Radio 3 stage, is a Sudanese child soldier turned rap messenger who's quick fire hip hop addresses the corruption of his country. As the sun goes down it was Sharon Jones who stole the the funk crown with her mix of James Brown driven soul. The weekend finished in style with the funky diva Angelique Kidjo headlining the open air stage..

It's been a whirlwind experience and we will definitely be back next year for more!

View our WOMAD photo gallery >>
View our WOMAD angry face competition entries >>

Wind over WOMAD

2006-07-29T14:24:00.000+01:00

It's another beautiful day at WOMAD and there is a refreshing breeze to help us recover from the sauna of the past few days! We're still buzzing after the dubbed-up tango and spell-binding sounds of the mighty Gotan Project, who headlined the Siam Tent last night.

In the early hours of this morning, our tent was packed full of hungry festival goers eagerly queuing up for hot paninis. Today we're looking for angry people to photograph for our 'how angry are you about poverty' competition (hard for the chilled out, grinning WOMAD people to do but they're managing it!).

Highlights of today's line up include the 15 strong rhythm force samba reggae band 'Batucada Sound Machine' - a crescendo of spicy Latin lines, hip hop and trumpets! Tonight, Ska Cubana will get the party started in true mambo style on the Open Air Stage, followed by the African legend Femi Kuti. But for now, it's time to relax on a bean bag and watch the WOMAD world go by...

WOMAD in the sun

2006-07-28T15:13:00.000+01:00

The sounds of Africa are playing in the distance, the sun is shining, the aroma of exotic foods is drifting over: a myriad of cultures to tempt all the senses - we've just arrived at WOMAD. Our lovely team of campaigners are out in the main arena gathering support for the Make Trade Fair Campaign. In our tent people are relaxing on beanbags and sipping fair trade coffee whilst giant jenga tumbles to the ground! In the background the carousel is spinning and the fun fair is in full swing! It's another wonderful year at the WOMAD. We are off to check out Yerba Buena, the Latin American samba band playing on the open-air stage - watch this space for photos and more updates!

Extreme sports and charity: a match made in NASS heaven

2006-07-28T13:13:00.000+01:00

For those of you who don't know it NASS (the National Adventure Sports Show) is a weekend festival packed full of yep, you guessed it, extreme sports. There's skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX-ing and live music - expect DJs, breaks, beats and metal heads.

We had such a laugh at NASS 2005 that we just had to come back - and I don't think we're going to be disappointed. This year NASS reaches the ripe old age of ten and to celebrate, none other than legends Tony Hawk (above) and Matt Hoffman will be demoing on the Saturday and Sunday - sure to be the highlight amongst the 20,000 strong crowd of extreme sports dudes who will be descending on Birmingham National Exhibition Centre this weekend (29th & 30th July).

Once the day is over and everyone is all skateboarded out they can leave all their heavy equipment with us in our Bike and Boards stall whilst they browse our exhibition - all about the causes of poverty and suffering and how we can work together to overcome these, sign our Millennium Development Goals petition asking for health and education for all, and marvel at our 1960's campervan (very popular last year).

Tickets are still available by calling 0870 120 0723

WOMAD brings the world together again

2006-07-27T15:00:00.000+01:00

The World of Music, Arts and Dance festival - better known as WOMAD - is back once again (not with the renegade master, however) and we will be there stewarding festival-goers around the site, selling clothes and Rakhi bands on our stall and campaigning to raise awareness for our Make Trade Fair campaign.

As the name suggests the performers featured come from all over the world so, whilst you may not have heard of some of them, this festival certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual. My personal favourites (after a bit of research) are The Mahotella Queens from South Africa, Wang Ki Soek - a Korean singer who sings a whole opera on his own to the sound of a single drum - and DJ Mr Bongo, whose unique Brazilian beats and grooves can be found in his hip Soho record store right here in England. What's more, if any of these performers inspire you there's an opportunity to meet them at one of the many workshops taking place over the weekend to learn about their instruments and their way of life.

If the music isn't enough there is of course a whole array of other things going on throughout the weekend. You can tone up in the Yoga class, drink in the theatrical Saloon style bar, meet traditional Indian painters, polish up those olis on the skate ramp, rave the night away at Club WOMAD, spend all your money in the Global Village, see a traditional sacred xylophone (pictured) and eat food from all around the world at The WOMAD Foundation, and then come and chill out with us in our marquee located in the 32 acre field.

Tickets for this years event at Rivermead in Reading are still available from the WOMAD Box Office. Call 0118 939 0930
Children under 13 go free but must be accompanied by an adult.

Lovebox: Loveblog

2006-07-26T16:54:00.000+01:00

The Oxfam campervan trundled across to Victoria Park in London last Friday for the Lovebox Weekender. With a bigger site, headliners Groove Armada and Jamiroquai, and an increased capacity, this is one festival that Yazz could well have been thinking about when they sang "The only way is up". Err, but enough about 80s pop.

For one weekend Victoria Park (in Hackney, east London) was transformed into an eclectic festival site, with mini-stages featuring the likes of the Insect Circus, burlesque dance and pirate shows, fairground rides, all the different types of festival food you could imagine, and one massive main stage with quality music (and our Oxfam banners) on from midday until late.

We were in the London Soul area, a laid-back zone with a beautiful atmosphere and one message: have a lush weekend! And next to us was the metres and metres of white-washed temporary walls which over the two days were gradually filled up by graffiti artists - the end result was incredible.

So finally we were able to get our lovely 1961 campervan and our brand new exhibition together at a festival - and they looked fantastic. People could see our massive "YOU CAN BEAT POVERTY" sign from all over the site. As ever, we had a tip-top team of volunteer campaigners who were on-hand to talk to festival-goers about Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign, and our work to overcome poverty, which has to involve everyone. Including you!

Look at more pics from Lovebox >>

Lovebox: lovely photos and angry faces

2006-07-25T16:02:00.000+01:00

We've just got back from the Lovebox Weekender - and an awesome weekend it was too. We've got a lovely little photo story to help you relive those happy memories (or gaze in envy at another festival missed) and we've also collected dozens of angry Lovebox faces, raging about the injustice of global poverty (and trying to win a year's worth of music, too). More updates and a proper review real soon, promise.

Campaigning at Y Sesiwn Fawr

2006-07-24T17:33:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to update you on the festival some of our lovely campaigners in Wales went to at the weekend. Y Sesiwn Fawr translates as The Mighty Session, and pretty mighty it was too. The beautiful town of Dolgellau is entirely given over to this event, staged on Friday night and right throughout Saturday. The surroundings of the Snowdonia National Park make for a unique festival experience, and the relaxed atmosphere of the chill out field and acoustic tent behind the main stages was a welcome relief from the mania accompanying Goldie Lookin Chain, The Poppies, The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, Amy Wadge, Hayseed Dixie and former Gorky's frontman Euros Childs, among others...

A massive thanks goes to Rhydian James who came to help us campaign - with his help we managed to get over 250 people to say "I'm in" and show how much they care about ending poverty.

People at Glade: VERY ANGRY about poverty

2006-07-19T14:25:00.000+01:00

How angry are you about poverty? We spent our weekend at the Glade collecting photos of angry faces for our competition - the angriest face from all festivals (as judged by us at the end of the summer) wins a year's worth of music from Universal Music. The resulting pics are truly frightening / hilarious / surreal. Have a look at all the faces from the Glade and, if we took a pic of you, remember to enter the competition. Even if we didn't, you can still enter the competition by sending your own angry face pic to generationwhy@oxfam.org.uk (and put 'Angry face' in the subject header so we know what it's about).

Look at the pics from the Glade >>

Sunkissed campaigning at the Glade

2006-07-18T13:46:00.000+01:00

Even though the cows at Glastonbury festival are having some peace and quiet this year, a little bit of the UK's biggest festival went ahead in the Berkshire countryside this weekend. The Glade started as a dance and electronic music stage at Glastonbury Festival and everyone there seemed to agree that the Glade Festival has retained a very Glastonbury 'vibe': colourful, friendly and just a little bit crazy.

We've just got back from the festival and it's been an amazing weekend (even if we're tired, sunburnt and a little smelly). As well as nearly 500 Oxfam stewards keeping everyone safe, we had five gorgeously stunning campaigners talking to festival goers about the Make Trade Fair campaign. In the baking hot sun, we got a fantastic response with over 2,500 joining the campaign. A big thank you to the lovely Glade people!

The event is set in a beautiful, intimate setting with nine arenas pumping almost every sort of dance and electronic imaginable nearly 24 hours a day. From the moment we got there we knew we were in for a great weekend.

If you get tired of the psy-trance, drum and bass, techno, breakbeat, hip-hop, reggae etc etc etc, there are loads of other crazy and quirky ways to amuse yourself. From getting married at the inflatable church (with a wedding dress from the Oxfam Stall!) to watching the circus, or from dancing the can-can in the Pussy Parlour to lounging out of the sun in a hammock in the amazing Spiral Zone...

If we took a photo of you for our angry faces competition stay tuned - we'll have the pics online by Wednesday morning.

Were you at the Glade? Have as a good a weekend as us? Leave your comments below.

Roll up, roll up to the Lovebox Weekender!

2006-07-13T13:07:00.000+01:00

Click the image for the full Lovebox e-flyer

Lovebox, London's summer extravaganza, returns next weekend (22-23 July) over two days, ten stages and 20 acres of mature parkland. Some of the capital's leading lights will host a weekend of mind-blowing music, entertainments, food and frolics. And Oxfam will be there too.

The weekend's rip-roaring line up includes: Jamiroquai, Groove Armada, Hot Chip, Jimmy Cliff, Coldcut, Gogol Bordello, The Feeling, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Bees, Tiger Lillies, Larrikin Love, Norman Jay, Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff, Roots Manuva, Skitz & Rodney P and loads more.

Don't miss... RumbleTeaser: a wild surrealist arena music, performance, costume, games and hilarity brought to you by the infamous Fish Seeks Bicycle. Expect to be transported by Eastern fusion, Baltic rhythms, funk, reggae and gypsy beats...

Aerosolics: the UK's Aerosol art extravaganza, featuring cult, international graffiti writers and the first ever heat of the Write4Gold International Aerosol Art Competition.

London Soul: a vibrant space where you can get a massage, learn circus skills and drink chai. Check out the awareness stands for a greener lifestyle and this year's hottest charity campaigns, including our very own Make Trade Fair. Look out for our volunteers and our little green campervan, of course.

So we'll see you down there! You can still buy tickets online at: www.gtickets.co.uk (the Lovebox Ticket Shop), www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.gigsandtours.com.

Cornbury Festival: one of a kind

2006-07-11T17:29:00.000+01:00

We've just returned from the hay fields of the Cornbury festival and it's time to reflect on the success of the weekend.

It's a one-of-a-kind festival: an eclectic and eccentric musical carnival, Cornbury is a place for music lovers, cowboys, farmers and Morris dancers! It all began on Friday when we set off in our 1960s VW Oxfam campervan (and not being able to work reverse made the journey all the more interesting).

Our pitch was in the main arena nestled in between 'Bubble Inc' (who released an ongoing stream of bubbles throughout the festival!) and 'Concepts of Peru' stall (selling fair trade clothes). And, with a fantastic team of campaigners, we were all set for a perfect weekend.

Thankfully, the sun shone on the festival for most of the weekend and many punters came to sit down, relax under the gazebo and admire the Oxfam campervan! However, there was no escape from the snow machine next door and frequently we ended up covered in foam... all part of the festival atmosphere!

The hay barn, opposite our stall, provided a welcome break for many festival goers... a 'riverside' stage introducing alternative rock n roll bands and cowboys! The main stage hosted many high-profile acts, including Robert Plant, The Pretenders, Texas and my musical highlight - the hill-billy band Hayseed Dixie.

And when the sun went down, the festival-goers flocked to the warmth of the chai chapel entertained by a drumming circle. But we owe our successes to our beautiful and energetic campaigners who managed to recruit over 2,000 signatures for the Make Trade Fair Big Noise Petition.

Cornbury is certainly a country fayre with a twist - so grab your partners by the hand and docey-doe all the way home!

Look at our photos of angry faces from Cornbury >>