Kendal calling returns for another year at the beautiful landscape of ‘the lake district’

★★★★★ (5/5)

PAUL HEATON HEADLINING THURSDAY AT KENDAL CALLING 2024
PHOTOCREDIT: JOHN HAYHURST

Kendal Calling, when it’s on, becomes, on a temporary basis, the third largest town in Cumbria, with 40,000 people paying to be there with an army of security staff, caterers, bar staff, cleaners etc etc keeping the whole thing running and a huge number of bands (look at the line up for 2024 and you’ll see what I mean).

Its also set in a lovely location south of Penrith with a fantastic vibe and a really friendly atmosphere. How many other festivals have buzzards calling to each other of a morning! You wake up, look out to the hills and, on a lovely sunny day as this one was, you conclude that there are not many better places to be.

This was my third year in a row going to review Kendal Calling, something I’d been looking forward to since the last one and a musical highlight of the year. I knew from the past one of the best things about Kendal is the sheer variety of music on offer and the knowledge if you didn’t enjoy whoever was on the main stage find another stage, there would be something excellent somewhere else.

We’d learned from missing the first few acts on the Thursday night last year and all of us had set off much earlier (some a lot earlier than others). It meant to were all in, tents pitched, unpacked and in the arena well in advance of the first act.

The press tent had been moved this year to behind the main stage which turned out to be an act of genius. It meant more interaction with the acts as the weekend went on. Gala PR took over Kendal two years ago and this year they really upped their game, brilliant from start to finish they made the whole thing much more enjoyable, and it was all so well organised.

If you have been before but don’t go for the Thursday night you’re missing out. It’s usually one of the best nights as nearly all of the acts are on the main stage meaning there is no need to get between the various venues and you can just chill out, relax and enjoy the music unless you want to explore and catch some of the other acts.

Thursdays main stage line up was an eclectic but exciting one. Hardwicke Circus, Beth McCarthy, The Hunna, Declan McKenna and Paul Heaton with Rainne Downey.

Before I arrived both the Hunna and Paul Heaton/Rianne were on must see list as I’d missed the Hunna, a band I love, the previous year and I loved the Housemartins. Neither disappointed but more of that later.

Hardwicke Circus, a local band from Carlisle, opened the festival on the main stage, they weren’t a band I’d heard before, but they really didn’t seem overawed by what they were doing. They were confident, had swagger, some decent songs and opened up Kendal Calling in a really enjoyable way.

Beth McCarthy has come a long way since her television start, she has clearly worked out who she wants to be, what she wants to sound like and what she is and isn’t. She put on a really enjoyable, lively set which got people dancing, got them swaying and got them singing along. She has excellent stage presence, some upbeat songs and a very confessional style. She also clearly had a lot of people there who were already fans of hers.

Next up were the Hunna, a truly excellent band who took the whole thing up a notch. They have brilliant songs, are fantastic live and blew the crowd away. Everyone around us was clearly enjoying them. They put on a set which made them an early contender for band of the festival. If you didn’t find yourself singing and moving along then perhaps you should have stayed at home with a cup if Horlicks.

The main support act was Declan Mckenna. An always excellent live act with bags of attitude and songs to match. Personally, I don’t think he quite matched the intensity of the Hunna, but he gave it a really good go. He was clearly a crowd favourite and the interaction livened up the audience even more.

Headliner for the Thursday night was Paul Heaton with Rianne Downey taking on the role of Jacqui About. Rianne played Kendal last year on the Woodlands stage, a much smaller venue. This was a big step up but one she easily took in her stride, she’s going places!

Strolling out to a back projection stating welcome to Heatongrad Paul, Rianne and the band proceeded to put on the performance of the night. As headliners go, they fully lived up to the billing. I’d go so far as to argue that Kendal got this one wrong, he should have been the headliner on the Saturday night he was that good.

With a back catalogue of Housemartins and Beautiful South songs to draw on as well as his own solo material and the songs he’s released with Jacqui he had a huge selection of material to draw on and he delivered from all of it.

Caravan of Love, Old Red Eyes Is Back, Happy Hour, A Little Time, Song for Whoever, Perfect 10, You Keep It All In etc etc this was just a joy of a set to be there for. We all sang along, danced our hearts out and joined in the acapella version of caravan of love. He even threw in Build, a personal Housemartins favourite of mine. New songs were brought into the mix and didn’t sound out of place. Everything about this performance was perfect. There was only one problem, the headliner bar for the weekend had been set incredibly high, could everyone else live up to it? One to wait and see as the weekend went along.

We wandered off into the night to our tents hoping for a decent sleep after what had been an excellent first day. I’m not sure it could have been any better, well done to whoever booked the acts, you nailed it!