Barn On The Farm 2023 - Sunday
Besides dying from hay fever (I had taken 6 different tablets at this point), it was a beautiful English summer day on Sunday at Barn on the farm. You know, the kind of day where you need a hoodie in the morning, but by 4 pm you’re sunburnt!
BOTF is the definition of a grass root festival - they foster and allow talent to grow into the next superstars of our generation—something that isn’t always at the forefront of festivals nowadays (god, I sound old). BOTF is very much a family fun festival with a capacity of just 2500 people per day and the option to camp overnight.
Swim School opened Sunday for us and they brought the vibes. It was the first festival they’ve done this season, and the sound of hating everything and the heavy guitar cut through the day 3 slumber and hangover. Over on the main stage, Beaux was the opening act. They did a great cover of Miley Cyrus, Flowers. This was also their first festival of the year and they had sounded a full round sound with just 3 of them. Then I caught Nosey - I didn’t know what to expect but it was an experience to say the least. They were mental but they had so much energy, which I loved, and they had really good crowd engagement and were just so much fun. They covered Chemical Brothers: Rude Boy, and I’ve added “so what” to my Spotify playlist.
The Farm Band was all set up very last minute and had almost a writers circle vibe going on. This year the Farm Band was made up of Ber, Billie Marten, Will Taylor and Nicolas Hill from Flyte and there was a lovely little add-on for the last song, Sigrid. Ber took charge of the whole situation, which we love and Billie had been picked up from the airport a mere few hours before the set which felt like a lot.
Followed after that was everyone's new favourite band, Fizz. I’m so glad that I got to catch them as they really had ‘the fizz’ - they gave you the level of excitement that the fizzy candy on your tongue brings you! They played “High in Brighton” as soon as they came out which really set the tone of the whole set. I also loved how they stayed in their outfits for the whole of the festival and took pictures with everyone. They were so lovely and really cared about their fans.
The Secret Guest is a classic BOTF tradition where they have one secret guest each year. It was the worst kept secret in the world as everyone managed to find out who it was but it was also the best Secret Guest…the amazing Sigrid! It was so busy at the stage, pretty much everyone tried to get into the small little barn to watch the set.
Flyte were also playing - I saw some of their earlier set in the Farm's band and they were so good. I definitely got chill Sunday evening vibes from them. I did feel like they drew the short straw as they clashed with the Secret Guest (who we know is Sigrid), but the sing-along from their dedicated fans was great. They also brought Billy out too, which was a great idea!
Now on to the main event…Holly Humberstone; this was so special! I believe she played an acoustic set at the start of the festival. It’s amazing to see her grow into this brilliant main stage headliner, closing the entire weekend. I’ve personally never seen her play live with a full band so that was a completely different experience and so great.
This festival is truly so special, I wish I’d gone to it when I was younger… like a baby's first festival. Everyone is kind, even down to the sound engineers (yes, even the sound engineers during festival season…I was shocked). It’s a credit to the team that they've created this space for music to grow. Also everyone, even the artists, were walking around as they were there to enjoy the other acts just as much as we were.
