herbsandheart: Hop Farm festival 2012

Hop Farm Festival this year was a beauty.

I arrived on Thursday without any problems as the festival is just a few miles from my home town and my first impression was that it seemed to have grown from last year with bigger stages and bigger names.

Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel & Suede are the headliners this year so hop farm was definitely aiming at a sophisticated crowd this year.

Gomez

My Line-up

Of course you sadly can't see everyone at a festival so I have listed below the acts I saw over the weekend

FRIDAY

Gomez

Jose Gonzalez

Billy Ocean

The Futureheads

The Stranglers

Peter Gabriel & The New Blood Orchestra

SATURDAY

Bellowhead

Sir Bruce Forsyth

Damien Rice

Maximo Park

Primal Scream

SUNDAY

Athlete

The Psychedelic Furs

The Levellers

Kool and the gang

Richard Ashcroft

Suede

Frightened Rabbit

The main stage

HIGHLIGHTS

Billy Ocean did a wonderful crowd pleasing show, everyone LOVED him.

Primal Scream were so energetic, the atmosphere was electric and everyone was dancing.

Toilet cleaners - yes the Hop Farm had people cleaning the toilets. Granted they will never be what we have at home but definitely the best toilets I have ever seen at a festival.

Sir Bruce Forsyth is a great man. At 84 he still entertained a huge crowd for his first festival ever! I hope it wont be the last.

Kool and the gang was a great show. This dancing, singing and music playing bunch made everyone happy and 'get down on it'!

Richard Ashcroft giving us what we all wanted by playing a selection of the Verve songs all afternoon to sing along to. Me being a huge fan loved this and wish he had headlined.

The legend Billy Ocean

Kids area

Damien Rice

Damien's crowd

Primal Scream

Hop Farm Festival had some busking pitches around the site which you could come watch some bands, solo artists or just who wanted to play at anytime of day. Here are a couple of buskers who caught my eye.