3: Beans on Toast – The Cave (Thursday)
On the first day of the festival, which happened to fall on the Thursday, there was a restricted schedule of bands performing, due in part to the vast number of people who don’t have the luxury of being able to take off enough time to rock up early. That didn’t stop Xtra Mile Records from taking over The Axiom stage. Right before the special guest headliner (Frank Turner, in all his glory) was Beans on Toast to give everyone a dose of realism and a chance to vent their frustrations, especially in light of recent UK events. Kicking off proceedings with a song we will call ‘2016‘, which recapped all the shit that has happened so far this year, was a bold choice in hindsight, as it wasn’t something that anybody knew, but there was an immediate sense of togetherness as everybody packed into the tent came together in ruing the losses of David Bowie, Muhammad Ali and all the rest.
From there, the self-proclaimed English drunk folk artist led a party that was nicely balanced between taking care of the Earth but also not giving a fuck. Riding around on one guy’s shoulders out to the middle of the tent to perform a couple of tracks, including the spellbinding ‘MDMAmazing‘ was the most unexpectedly perfect way to start the festival and left everyone feeling warm and fuzzy for the evening.
