So we covered what we thought of the festival itself in part 1, but now we look at the reason we all go there…the music!
While Glastonbury is more of a large-scale “experience”, the smaller festivals like Y Not and Kendal Calling are solely about the music, and you get to see SO much over the 4 days. There were big headliners, smaller favourites in the daytime and new discoveries.
I’ve written a separate review of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds incredible headline set, and what turned out to be his last solo show before reforming Oasis! Here’s what else we saw:
Thursday
On the Thursday at Y Not, the bands generally don’t start until quite a bit later in the day, with only a couple of stages opening. For this year it was the main stage and The Allotment for live music.
Scouting for Girls
We know what we’re getting with Scouting for Girls, fun and nostalgic songs that are perfect in the sun. They’re a great warmup band, and they always get everyone singing and clapping along. Everyone seems to know ‘Heartbeat’ (the opener), ‘This Ain’t a Love Song’, ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’ and ‘She’s So Lovely’. They even threw in a cover of Busted’s ‘Year 3000’ because their guitarist used to play with Busted!
Kaiser Chiefs
I think because certain songs are on all the time and are perhaps a little overplayed, even now almost 20 years later, it’s easy to forget how many great songs Kaiser Chiefs have.
The main singles aren’t played until about an hour into the set, but before then there are plenty of tracks people probably don’t realise they know, along with some new ones, and they keep the crowd engaged.
They kicked off with ‘Never Miss a Beat, ‘Na Na Na Na Naa’, ‘The Factory Gates’ and ‘Everything Is Average Nowadays’. All songs that were pretty well known when they came out, but perhaps don’t get as much radio play these days. The band sounded great, and Ricky Wilson keeps the crowd going with his high energy performance.
Following this my personal favourite ‘Modern Way’ gets the first big singalong, which I’m happy to see because that one is sometimes overlooked:
After a couple more new tracks the hits just keep on going, ‘Coming Home’ is another lesser remembered one, followed by the first mega-hit of the night, ‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’. Then a its onto ‘Ruby’ and another underrated favourite of mine ‘Hole in My Soul’. After another new one it’s time for ‘I Predict a Riot’:
A massive sounding ‘The Angry Mob’ ends the main set, and then they come on stage to play their cover of ‘Pinball Wizard’, ending as always with a long singalong to ‘Oh My God’.
The new stuff sounded good so I will listen to the album. It was a proper headline set with loads of hits, and warmed us all up for the weekend.
The Crooks
As we were walking around we got enticed in by a band in the Allotment stage, with a sound that reminded me of all my favourite types of bands, the likes of Oasis, The Verve, DMA’s and others like that.
I love a discovery at a festival where you just follow your ears. They’re definitely our sort of thing and we’ll be following them closely. Check them out on Instagram.
Friday
Friday is when the music starts properly!
Keyside
And for the second time at the festival we followed our ears and came across a great new band from Liverpool called Keyside. We didn’t even have to wait to hear the singer speak as we could tell immediately where their music influences came from. They’re worth checking out! They’re also supporting Blossoms in Liverpool, which is a great slot for them.
Black Honey
I’ve been waiting to see these since their album ‘A Fistful of Peaches’ came out early 2023. I listened to it a lot when it first came out, and I especially like ‘OK’ and ‘Out of my Mind’, both of which were played here. Early single ‘Corinne’ closed their high energy set
Lauran Hibberd
We’ve seen Lauran a few times at festivals over the years now, the first time being at 110 Above in 2019, and seen her journey from brand new artist to having two albums out! I made the mistake of not really listening to her second album before the show, and with most of the songs being from that I only recognised a couple of tracks, including ‘Charlie’s Car’ which I really like.
As always loads of self deprecating and funny banter in between songs and a solid performance from her and the band.
Dolores Forever
Another set in the Giant Squid, which is a good smaller tent to watch acts in. We saw Dolores Forever last year at Neighbourhood Weekender, and they were already too good for the tiny stage they were playing at, so it was good to see them on a bigger stage with a bigger crowd.
While they didn’t play ‘When I Say So’, which was in my top 10 Spotify listens of 2023, their new song ‘Split Lip’ has taken over as my favourite anyway after that performance, which is even better live than on record.
They have a good mix of higher energy and slower songs, and the shared vocals showcase their two very different voices. They come across really well on stage too, clearly extremely happy to be up there playing music to such a big crowd. They could be pretty big, so I’d recommend checking them out.
Snow Patrol
Then it was onto our headliners. Now I love Snow Patrol and have done for 10 years, so I’m pretty biased, but this was an amazing headline set. I think their music does belong at headline time, and these smaller festivals are the perfect place for it nowadays.
They came on really strong, with a run of songs that were all over the radio when they first came out. Any band would be proud of being able to open with such known tracks as ‘You’re All I Have’, ‘Take Back the City’, ‘Crack the Shutters’ and ‘Called Out in the Dark’. They seem to have a renewed energy as a band since the lineup changes, and the light show really helped.
Then it was onto the first mega-hit, ‘Run’, which sparked a huge sing along. This is one of my favourite ever songs and it was great to hear it again live:
This was pretty closely followed by ‘Chocolate’ and another favourite of mine, ‘Open Your Eyes’, which again got the crowd involved:
After this it did tail off a bit in terms of crowd interest, with it noticeably emptying out a little, probably because most hits had been played, apart from ‘Chasing Cars’ of course, which predictably got the biggest response of the night:
New songs ‘The Beginning’ and ‘All’ also got played, both sounding excellent. Having heard the album since, I’d say they’re probably the best two on it so were the right choices to play before release.
Saturday
On first glance the Saturday didn’t have all that much going for it, but in the end turned into a really good day, as often happens at festivals like this.
The Clause
We started the Saturday watching The Clause, a band we’d seen at 110 Above previously, but years ago. They seem to have come on a lot in their performances since then, commanding the stage and a pretty big early afternoon crowd expertly. ‘In My Element’ still sounds huge, and is so far still my favourite of their songs.
Pale Waves
I’ve been a big fan of Pale Waves since they first came out, and this was a really good performance, well balanced set, including a couple of new songs. I’ll watch them every time I get the chance at a festival.
The Snuts
Now these guys are really on the up this year, with their newer songs getting some serious radio play. They’ve already got a bit of a cult following which can lead to some high energy crowds, and this was no exception. Opening with ‘Glasgow’, the crowd was involved right from the start and it continued that way. They’ve quietly built up a set of festival anthems like ‘The Rodeo’, ‘Burn the Empire’, ‘Fatboy Slim’, ‘Seasons’, ‘Millionaires’ and ‘Gloria’, and all got played.
I think these guys are going to go even further if they carry on producing music of this quality.
Declan Mckenna
While I knew he was getting big, I didn’t realise how much devotion he has from his fans, especially as his set at Kendal Calling a couple of years back was pretty flat in terms of crowd reaction.
Maybe its down to Y Not having a bit of a younger crowd, but this was one of the best atmospheres of the weekend.
I like his political lyrics, especially in ‘British Bombs’ which is incredible live, also ‘Key to Life On Earth sounded perfect in that environment, and ‘Brazil’ actually did have the best reaction I saw all weekend, apart from when Noel Gallagher did Oasis hits. So many people on shoulders and bouncing, with the sunset behind the stage, it was the one of those perfect summer festival moments. This was a very unexpected highlight for me
Frank Turner
Now this was not unexpected at all. I’m a huge Frank Turner fan, whether with his band or solo. It was a solo show tonight, and he played to a roughly half-full tent at the same time as Jamie T. There was no question for me who I was going to watch!
He didn’t disappoint either, playing a mix of songs from his excellent latest album ‘Undefeated’, alongside hits from across his whole career, right back to the start.
He’s a master at getting the crowd involved, either clapping or singing, and has a way of making these solo shows feel really personal and intimate. His lyrics are also inspiring to me, especially ‘Photosynthesis’ and ‘Polaroid Picture’, though there are plenty of other examples across his catalogue.
A brilliant way to end the Saturday night, and no regrets at all about missing Jamie T!
Sunday
Sunday was actually the day I was most excited about.The run of artists before Noel Gallagher was perfect for a festival day, and made it into one of my favourites this year:
The View
I’m always amazed that this band didn’t get bigger than they are, but its great to see them back together and still on festival bills. This was a short and sweet set, mainly focused on older songs, but its always a pleasure to watch them.
Holly Humberstone
We’ve been following Holly since the beginning, and watched her go from playing on her own at Leeds Festival 2021, with just her drummer at Glastonbury 2022, solo acoustic at the album launch shows in 2023, and now with a full band in 2024.
She honestly just keeps getting better and better. Her voice is incredible live anyway, and adding the full band made it the best show we’ve seen her do by far. The older stuff like ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’ and ‘Scarlett’ sound bigger than before, and the new album and EP songs are sounding so good live.
Everyone we were with was a fan by the end of it too, which is always a positive sign!
The Vaccines
We’ve seen the Vaccines a LOT, and only once by actually buying a ticket to one of their shows. They’ve been at so many festivals over the years, and I’ve personally actually seen them on every album tour! So sometimes you can get a bit bored of a band in this situation, and that was how we felt after the Kendal Calling slot the other year.
But this time, with an excellent new album out which they played a lot from, it felt exciting and fresh to see them again. The crowd helped too, as everyone was really into it, for both the new and old songs. It was such a good performance, and reminded me why I’ve liked them so much over the years!
‘I Always Knew’ is my favourite, and was mega as always:
And ‘All My Friends Are Falling In Love’ never used to be one I liked that much, but this performance has changed my mind on it:
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
We covered this amazing show in a separate review here, as it was the highlight of a packed weekend.
For value for money, sound quality and the experience while watching the music in terms of being able to get really close to the stage and get around the site to different acts so easily, Y Not is up there with one of the best places to go if you’re into indie music. While we’re heading back to our traditional choice of Kendal Calling for next year (see our recommendations for smaller artists to listen to from the Kendal Calling 2025 lineup), we won’t rule out Y Not for a future year if the lineup is as good as 2024!
