GuilFest 2011
Friday 15th to Sunday 17th July 2011Stoke Park, Guildford, Surrey., England MAP
£110 adult weekend, or £120 with camping
last updated: Thu 14th Jul 2011
Sunday was the day which offered the most acts I wanted to see (that I'd seen before and liked), and thus through some unnamed law of festival line-ups, the most clashes. The morning started brightly, and warm, and busy for the stewards and police who are busting miscreants in the campsite, more entertaining than EastEanders.
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It was much less busy for the start of other foodie Loyd Grossman's band The New Forbidden, who I had seen perform well at Glastonbury, however at GuilFest their backing singer turned up late, the lead singer seemed distracted and even Grossman seemed less focused, his guitar work was still passable, shame the rest of the band barring the keyboardist weren't.
Next up was one of the highlights of Sunday another of my old favourite bands - The Saw Doctors. They deliver a great set of their well known tunes like 'N17', 'Tommy K', 'Clare Island', 'Red Cortina', 'That's What She Said Last Night', 'Hay Wrap', and a surprising cover of Sugababes' 'Know How I Feel About You Now'.
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Erasure it seems also had a lot of hits, of which I appeared to have known far too many, not surprising considering my school common room had them on repeat for at least six months every lunchtime. I'm surprised to find myself grooving along to tunes like 'Always', 'Ship of Fools', 'Victim of Love', 'Sometimes', 'Love To Hate You', 'Blue Savannah', 'Oh L'Amour', 'Respect', and 'Stop'. A terrific trip back to the days of school discos.
We decide to decamp to the car park before the end, and get out before the queues. Once again the line-up has kept the crowds at all the stages, although there seems to be a shift to the younger audiences on the main stage, and I guess that's as it should be, us parents have to make way for the next generation, but that's okay we've got our own punk and ska tent to hang out in now. A big thanks to festival organiser Tony Scott and his team who put together an entertaining weekend of music. And, deciding to add the Vive Le Rock Stage was a great idea, can we have a bit more reggae too? I hope it returns for the 21st birthday celebrations.

review by: Scott Williams
photos by: Karen Williams / Sarah Thomas
GuilFest 2011
Friday 15th to Sunday 17th July 2011Stoke Park, Guildford, Surrey., England MAP
£110 adult weekend, or £120 with camping
last updated: Thu 14th Jul 2011
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