With the green light being given recently by Master Boris, it was all systems go in order to make things happen at festivals all over the country. 

Chagstock festival has been going since 2007 and has played host to some of the finest bands available including Fun Lovin’ Criminals, The Selecter, Squeeze, The Blockheads, The Stranglers, New Model Army and The Boomtown Rats.

With the event being pulled in 2020, everyone was really looking forward to letting their hair down in 2021 and I for one was so grateful that it happened, just the thought of sitting with friends, chatting, drinking, laughing and dancing along to some amazing music was high up on my agenda as it was on many others and to see people enjoying themselves after being cooped up like battery hens without any live entertainment on offer was incredible.

For the 2021 event, the theme was ‘Mardi Gras’ and looking back on previous themes (I can only remember ‘gangsters and molls’), it was sure to be a colourful affair on the Saturday as Simon took to the stage to dish out the prizes for best costume as he has done for previous years. 

Owing to prior engagements, I was only able to attend on the Friday but this didn’t deter me in any way at all, one can get the general vibe from being at the festival for about 30 minutes so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that once everyone has entered into ‘festival mode’, it was going to be pretty plain sailing from here on in.

With a great range of food on offer, there was something to tempt every tastebud, this ranged from fish n’ chips to pizza, noodles and burgers, by the looks of everyone’s faces as they tucked in, it certainly hit the spot!

The music was once again a great variety spanning the entire spectrum, from dance themed acts guaranteed to get you up and moving to some blisteringly hot indie rock, blues, classic pop and so much more. 

We arrived onsite around 5pm and managed to catch the last few tracks of Five Finger Discount’s set, ‘Green Light’ was the track that I heard and with its smooth riff and rolling baseline, it really made for a great opening to the festival. I understand that Adam the drummer had only joined the band and played his first gig with them i early July so well played for that!

Quorum are an Okehampton based guitar based indie rock outfit that did a tremendous job of filling the marquee stage with some amazing music which appealed to all ages and come the end of the set, it was clear that the audience wanted more, much more. ‘Boyfriend’ was a firm favourite with the room and from my spot in the photo pit, I could hear many people singing along behind me. I’ve seen these play a couple of times in Exeter over the past couple of years and from what I recall, their set has really tightened up and are an act worth keeping a very close eye on from now on.

Cable St Collective were the first of the big bands on offer on Friday, hailing from the London area, these guys literally burst onto the stage and filled it with colour, music and good vibes. Advertised as ‘Music that makes you want to dance your arse off’, they did this with every track they performed, come the end of the set, the whole of the field was bobbing along to their reggae fuelled, Caribbean sound that echoed around the arena. 

Bailey Tomkinson took the marquee stage from Chagford to a beach in Cornwall, her effortlessly cool blend of Americana and pop really made her a stand out act which many people including BBC Radio 2 have taken note of. Her recent track ‘Bright Red’ hit the #1 spot on both the iTunes singer songwriter and video chart and so it should have, it is INCREDIBLE. Her band were super tight and despite only being 21 years old, the way she managed the audience and took charge was a dight to behold. With shows booked at the Rock Oyster and Boardmasters festivals in late July and August respectively, Bailey is fast becoming a household name on the local scene and after seeing her in the flesh, she deserves every bit of the success that is being directed her way.

Town of Cats were the second big band to take to the main stage and after watching half of their set, I can only describe them as a mish-mash of theatrical festival vibes, colour, comedy with a good measure of addictive music thrown in that had everyone up and dancing. I lost count of the amount of costume changes, what started out as a leopard print clad frontman saw him stripped to his boxers in not time at all as the show moved around the cast on stage. I caught the last 10 minutes which seemed to be some form of rock opera taking place as the cast stood side of stage, crawling back on to join the keyboard player and bring the house down with their final energetic offering.

I bumped into Martin Harley earlier in the day but without his hat, I failed to recognise him until his agent introduced us. As he took to the marquee stage alongside his band, it all came flooding back to me, the cool music, slide guitar, solid backline and of course, Martin’s amazing ability to make his guitar sing like a choirboy was the piece de la resistance. Renowned as one of the finest blues/roots guitarists on the circuit, Martin breezed through his set, entertaining the lucky punters that were fortunate enough to be at Chagstock. If you missed him, you can catch him again in Exeter where he’ll be appearing with his band at The Phoenix on October 1st

I chatted to Roy Stride from Scouting for Girls ahead of their set, he was walking his two dogs behind the main stage and as I crouched down to make a fuss of the, his pug launched himself onto me, luckily, I am a dog person so this didn’t phase me at all! As the band took to the stage at 10:30pm sharp, it was clear that this was the band that was going to leave a lasting memory on everyone in attendance.

Their set was FULL of classic hits that everyone was singing along to and bouncing up and down and with no shortage of willing participants, the competitions came thick and fast, I think that it was the left side of Chagstock that out sang the right side so were crowned the overall winners. Roy joked midway through the set by saying that he had a lousy lockdown and spent a lot of it recording and releasing an album of classic 80’s covers which transitioned nicely into Whitney Houston’s ’I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’.

As the set wore on, the rain started to fall, not a downpour, but enough to be noticed but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of the festival goers who were too busy partying to even realise that the weather had turned.

An encore of ‘She’s So Lovely’ drew their set to a close and left the revellers to head back to their tents for a good night’s sleep ahead of another day, packed full of music and entertainment.

As I said earlier in the piece, I was unable to attend on Saturday but here are some photographs that were taken on the day of Elles Bailey, Xander & the Peace Pirates and everyone’s fave duo Sound of the Sirens.

And finally, here are the photos we took of the headline act, Seasick Steve….

Yes folks, Seasick Steve’s ‘people’ deemed him far too important for us mere mortals to take photos of him whilst he was on stage doing his thing, I guess that’s what happens to you after spending so many years living out of the back of a car (or not as the case may be)…..

After a good 18 months of no live entertainment at all, it was an amazing feeling to let our hair down, chat to bands and punters about the festival and sharing their views on the bands that had played, we’ll see you all in 2022!

To view the entire image gallery from Chagstock 2021, please click HERE