Y Not Festival - Saturday

Saturday begins similarly to the way Friday did; the storm from the night before has passed and Y Not is waking up in warm tents in a damp field trying to piece together the night before and THAT storm.

Anyone hoping to have a steady road to recovery bundled into BBC Introducing’s allocation at the Quarry to catch These Mortal Cities. Their twinkling teenage indie came fresh out of the mid-noughties with the kind of enjoyable naivety festivals should be about, especially considering the crowd was barely over age in most parts of the tent.
From one indie band to another, much more professional and enjoyable one; Sky Larkin took to the main stage to play tracks from their forthcoming record as well as a few fan-favourites. Judging by a few of the tracks, Motto could be a strong return to form for the Leeds band.

From here, one of the possible standouts of the festival come in the form of Drenge.  A big crowd has assembled for the duo in anticipation to hear the MP plugged grunge that will surely heat up the charts next week; and the boys don’t disappoint.  It’s loud, energetic and even features a song about a bus.

I Am In Love follow. What everyone was expecting to be a simple 30minute set however, quickly became a party that featured people playing rugby, a marriage proposal (of the lead singer) and drumming from the middle of the crowd. When you bare in mind that this is all in the smallest tent of the festival, its certainly a feat. Whitemore following this do not satisfy to the same extent and its up to 65DaysofStatic to battle a painfully short set and bring the tempo back up. They do not disappoint with a set that features material taken from their upcoming record as well as the singles from their last and of course, the epic Radio Protector. If only they had over half an hour in the sun!

The 1975 then cram a tent full to the brim for their performance. It’s energetic and a hugely uplifting set full of material that’s bound to set the remainder of the summer alight once their debut LP is out next month and it leads us perfectly back across the Y Not site for a set of Ash’s greatest hits. Their time at the top is most definitely behind them, but Ash still know how to put on a great show and the masses assembled at the main stage agree.

After this it’s only the Cribs left and they headline in style. Whilst the setlist doesn’t favour those who prefer their older material, almost every single from their last decade gets an outing as the band’s Payola record is rifled through in what feels like no time at all. The festival’s biggest crowd so far also proves to be the most raucous and as the Y Not party continues through the night, you’re left wanting more Cribs and less of their last two LPs.

Braden Fletcher