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The offspring of a Manchester club night and the Cheshire countryside, the inaugural FoM festival was held in beautiful grounds of Capesthorne Hall, Macclesfield.
Promises of a heatwave didn’t materialise and the weather was pretty grim, but spirits ran high among the festival goers.
The grounds are small and compact, but there was a lovely feeling of space, it was easy to set up camp and not at all crowded.
The festival fields had a 10,000 capacity, yet several stages played host to a huge number of bands and artists with a very laid back and relaxed enjoyable vibe.
It is an encouraging trend for many families with little children to attend smaller, friendlier festivals like this, further creating the community atmosphere.
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First night saw Lightning Seeds take to the main stage and draw an impressive crowd before handing the first ever FOM mainstage headline slot to Bad Lieutenant, Bernard Sumner’s band, who played some of their own tracks, a bit of Joy Division, New Order and closed with a cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart.
We watched a few mins of their performance and then headed to the Lake Stage to see local lads The Virginmarys headline and close it down for the night.
Sadly their set got cut short due to overruns earlier in the day, which was a real shame given the crowd they pulled, but they wowed those who were in attendance with their energy and a stellar performance.
Music in the bars played into the early hours of the morning and come Saturday am most people had been ‘broken in’ to the festival vibe and were ready for day two and what was undoubtedly the main day.
Amazing how many bands they managed to line up and tried to find something to appeal to everyone but highlights of day two included Renegade Brass Band who pulled off an incredible set in the tiny bowl stage.
Cherry Ghost on the main stage, The Wedding Present and of course, much anticipated headliners The Cribs – making their first festival appearance since Jonny Marr left. Rain didn’t stop biggest crowd of weekend from enjoying their set.
Surprise pick of the day, or weekend actually, went to incredible new Manchester band Kong who performed in various stages of undress, masks and rubber and managed to get a great crowd inside the Big Top tent, causing a huge amount of noise and raucous atmosphere at an otherwise calm and chilled event – everyone we met who’d been there was buzzing about them.
They had been billed to perform twice, but just before they were due to go on for their second set, they were pulled for being “too rowdy” which didn’t go down too well with the bands or their fans following their incredible performance.
Leaving many to wonder what the organisers were thinking – had no one realised the kind of live act they were before booking them?
The festival wasn’t without its teething problems with the number 1 stage on Friday being shut after the roof collapsed and then 2 stages closed (due to concerns over weather) on the Sunday meaning running orders were messed up and no one knew who was playing where and when – with no communication from organisers about the changes.
But a secret set from Willy Mason on the Lake Stage on the Sunday surely made up for it. And The Charlatans closed with a feel-good sing along set to end the first year’s FOM.
They already have the second year of the festival booked so expect next year any issues will be dim and distant memories. Overall this was a friendly northern festival and a good success.
Photos by Lara Leon Cullen