The early morning rain didn’t amount much in the end as we headed back to the main stage for the fourth and final day as the curtain came down at Kendal Calling for another year. Due to band clashes we missed M60 at Sound City for the past two years but today was the day we finally got to see them live and what a performance they put on at mid-day in front of a decent crowd too. The only question is why were they only given twenty minutes? M60 were well deserving of that extra ten minutes as every other band seemed to get a minimum of thirty minutes over the weekend, it obviously had something to do with logistics but hopefully next time they come a’calling they will be allowed more time. The set itself is very slick as singer & guitarist Matthew Morton works the crowd really well during Kool-Aid, Darling and Honey, this was a great set from the Greater Manchester indie band to start the day off with a bang and still no sign of Gary Neville! 9/10
Glasgow post-punk political band Soapbox took to the Calling Out stage at 2pm as frontman Tom Rowan unleased his own brand of punk on the small sleepy crowd, it’s not long until everyone is awake though as Rowan provides a full-on show as always, popping in and out of the crowd at his leisure. It’s very muddy in the tent from the previous night when Sports Team let rip and there are a small group of enthusiastic Scots dancing away right in the middle! Pick of the bunch for us was Private Public Transport with the opening lyrics very entertaining as Tom sings “I am waiting on the bus, It says it’s here but never comes/and I can’t feel my hands or feet, coz private public transport sucks”, we also enjoyed Yer Da and Meter Made. 8/10
A quick dash back to the tent to dump the rain jacket meant we missed a place in the tent for The Clause with the Calling Out tent being ram packed with people proving just how popular The Clause have become. Plan B kicked into force and the first visit of the day to Woodlands was in order for Irish band Florence Road, this is our first time seeing the indie rock band and they left a good impression on us. The band hail from County Wicklow and the thing that stood out for us were the vocals of Lily Aron who sings with really raw emotion while guitarist Emma Brandon gives a very eclectic performance on the six string. Florence Road released debut EP Fall Back in June on the Warner Records label, the best of the set are Another Seventeen, Heavy and Goodnight, we really need to see them play a headline show now, they head out on tour with Wallows soon. 10/10
Proving that Kendal Calling has something for everyone there was even some comedy on the bill, originally Jason Manford was due to take to the main stage but a bout of illness prevented him from playing, instead we get the always hilarious Liverpool comedian John Bishop, we caught the last twenty minutes of this one. It was a spectacular sight on arrival as everyone was sitting down in the sun in complete silence taking in everything Bishop was saying, it did feel a little bizarre at a music festival but the moment definitely provided a bit of ambience to the weekend.
Back over at the Calling Out stage Polly Money was a name that seemed familiar but we just couldn’t put a finger on where we had come across her music before. It was only when Polly mentioned that it was nice to see so may The 1975 t-shirts on display that the penny dropped … Polly was the fifth member of Matty Healy’s band when we saw them at the OVO Hydro in February 2024. There was even a special mention in my review at the time as we wrote “special mention has to be given to Polly as her backing vocals and guitar work were and outstanding part of the night and always with a big smile on her face”. The half-hour set was filled with joyful tunes with some of them being influenced by The 1975 and taken from Polly’s debut EP T-Shirt Nothing Else that was released in March, the pick of the tracks for us were Anything, Milk & Honey and Water. 9/10
Now it was time for the highlight of the day, well for us anyway. We have waited over thirty years to see the Inspiral Carpets live and when they took to the stage it was a jaw dropping moment. It’s a mixed crowd but we couldn’t help but notice lots of fifty-somethings hugging and even a few were in tears, to be honest we weren’t far off it either at times! Oasis mania has hit the UK this summer and we would like to remind our younger readers that Noel Gallagher was once a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets long before Oasis were formed. The atmosphere in the tent feels surreal as they play Two Worlds Collide, a personal favourite of ours and from what we could see loads of others around the tent that is themed in Halloween style. The Charlatans main man Tim Burgess joins Stephen Holt on vocals for This Is How It Feels, that one prompts a mass singalong and is a great moment from the set. Clint Boon on organ/keyboards is at his best today in an all-round supercharged performance as they run through forty-five minutes of music that connects so well with the crowd including Saturn 5, She Comes In The Fall, Dragging Me Down and Joe. We are now excited to see the guys again at Saint Luke’s in Glasgow later in the year as part of their UK tour. 10/10
There were a few secret sets at Kendal Calling this year and next up were Red Rum Club, we decided to hang around for this one. The upcoming album Buck should take the album charts by storm when it is released in September, they would go on to play four from that album. The young crowd are right up for this one as Kids Addicted feels like one big party singalong, as is Eleanor where we chant the chorus back to the stage. Vocalist Fran Doran is his usual charismatic self working the crowd into a frenzy, it’s been around eighteen months since we saw them live at The Garage in Glasgow and the band have an air of confidence about them that will help take them to the next level. The end of the set is class as the fans respond with passion to Angeline, Would You Rather Be Lonely? and Vanilla. We had to miss Chloe Slater for this performance but it was well worth it. 10/10
Falkirk Bairns Brògeal brought a few dozen Scots down to Penrith for a blistering forty-five minute performance up at the Woodlands stage. We have lost count the amount of time we have seen them live now and they keep getting better whilst building a bigger fanbase every time. Debut album Tuesday Paper Club will be released on 16th October and we got to hear a couple from that release; title track and Vicar Street Days. We really enjoyed Roving Falkirk Bairn, You’ll Be Mine and the last one of the set Girl From NYC. There is a real party atmosphere about the set with the mix of folk and indie music getting the crowd moving. We are looking forward to hearing the album now. 9/10
A friend had recommended seeing Maximo Park after they raved about their performance many years ago at Scottish festival T In The Park and we are glad we did, it was an electrifying performance in the packed Parklands tent. Lead singer Paul Smith led them through a fifteen track set filled with emotionally charged lyrics backed up so well by keyboard player Jemma Freese. Smith is well known for his energy on stage and tonight is no different, he is mesmerising to watch at times. Opener Girls Who Play Guitar has the crowd chanting back the words to the stage and this set a theme for the rest of the hour long performance, they played three tracks from the 2024 album Stream Of Life – Your Own Worst Enemy, The End Can Be As Good As The Start and Favourite Songs – but it was the older tracks most people were here for. Our Earthly Pleasure can be considered the most popular album from Maximo Park and it contains two of the bands biggest songs in Our Velocity and Books From Boxes, all the bases were covered though as we got to hear four from A Certain Trigger including the closing track Apply Some Pressure. This was one of the most entertaining performances of the weekend and we came away wanting to see them play a headline show soon. Thanks for the recommendation Maggie! 10/10
The Prodigy have been on our bucket list for years now and what a way to finish the final day of Kendal Calling than with the band that would ‘take our brains to another dimension’, the other choice was STONE up at Woodlands but we had seen them at Sound City only a few months ago. There are well over twenty thousand taking in this set and is the highlight of the weekend for most, the set had everything: amazing light show, screen visuals and most important of all a crowd that let go from the first second of the always brilliant Voodoo People to the last second of Outer Space. Vocalist Maxim gets the crowd onside straight away when he asks “where are all my Kendal Calling warriors?” as they run through a fourteen track set including all the ones that stick in the memory such as Firestarter that gets the best reaction of the night while the laser beams ignite the night sky all around us, folk in the village of Kendal would have been forgiven for thinking the aliens had landed! Other highlights for us were Breathe and Smack My Bitch Up, the performance on a whole seemed very surreal and there was a touching moment where they paid tribute to the late Keith Flint. Every single person that witnessed this performance left with a big smile on their faces, we couldn’t have asked for a better band to end the weekend at Kendal Calling. Until next year! 10/10
Check out our review of Thursday and Friday HERE and Saturday HERE.
Written by: Alan Brown
