Krankenhaus Fest - feedback please!

[The Secretary]

Re: BSP's Krankenhaus Festival, Muncaster Castle, September 2019

Hello m8s. Any feedback on Krank Fest welcome. What could have been done better? What was so good it would have to be repeated?

With thanks,
The Secretary

[pomfob]

All told, I think it went well, better than I expected. The expectation will have something to do with being in a tent under sufferance. But in fact I had a pretty darn fantastic time, as did everyone else as far as I can tell. Beautiful setting, out of the way but not so much that it would have been impossible by trains. If & when K_Fest II happens, that bubble needs to be kept. Good how problems with the infrastructure were addressed promptly. The mix of music and other performance was excellent, keep that balance.

Quite simply, it can only be improved on by doing more of what's already there. More beers*, more bands, more talks, more toilets. One thing I would add would be a second stage, not necessarily for bands, more the non-music side of things. I'd have some appropriate cinema on in the theoretical second stage too, like the various BSP soundtracked films, other movies made by the same directors, and stuff chosen by the band. I'm envisioning something like the whisky tent at Beacons, for those of you that went. Spent a very dazed night watching A Field In England in there.




*a warming stout or porter, preferably both, particularly if we're not in the height of summer.

[Heartland]

GET THE DSM IV BACK NEXT YEAR.

The literature bits (and the chance to be indoors) on Saturday morning were tip top. Luke Turner and David Keenan both hugely entertaining. Steve Morris and Simon Armitage also.

And well done to the chaps on the stag do…

"Where we going Daz…Benidorm? Test match? Catterick races?"

"No lads, but I promise you'll love it…"

[pomfob]

"Where we going Daz…Benidorm? Test match? Catterick races?"

"No lads, but I promise you'll love it…"

Most indie stag do ever...bravo.

[flatland juz]

A stag do was the reason I couldn't go, we ended up watching free jazz in Dalston, which was very good, but it wasn't BSP...
Anyhow, I would've loved to have attended the KrankFest and I was wondering if there were any reviews or setlists or owt so I can get a vicarious sniff of what went on. It's a bit quiet on here. How were The Utopia Strong and Celestial North? Any more BSP new'uns?

[TheAlex]

I regretted not going as soon as I saw the photos and setlists. A lower price and another absolute favourite band would've convinced me to drop other commitments and go. I prefer earlier finishes (not later than 11pm). I love camping, but don't like camping at festivals (mostly due to noisy people wandering around at night). I hope there's another at Muncaster Castle I can make. If I can fit it all in, I'm thinking I'd walk the coast to the Lake District from North Wales.

A stag do was the reason I couldn't go, we ended up watching free jazz in Dalston, which was very good, but it wasn't BSP...
Anyhow, I would've loved to have attended the KrankFest and I was wondering if there were any reviews or setlists or owt so I can get a vicarious sniff of what went on. It's a bit quiet on here. How were The Utopia Strong and Celestial North? Any more BSP new'uns?

Good review: https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2019/09/k ... er-castle/

Friday night was epic and bookended by Heavenly Waters and True Adventures if I remember rightly from the setlist I saw.

[flatland juz]

Ooh. Heavenly Waters. Albert's Eyes.
Bugger, I missed Lately.
Cheers for the link.

[markcamb]

It looked a brilliant weekend and I'm sad to read that it made a loss. The photos looked great. Unfortunately we didn't go, but would if it was put on again - but with a bit more notice, a place that is a little easier to get to from the East of England, and maybe few more non camping options. It would also be great to know how dog friendly it was (dog sitting being one of the problems we had) as not sure what we would have done with him during the BSP sets - I'm not sure he would have liked being up the front! Any feedback from dog owners who were there would be useful.

[devonmaid]

We brought our dog with us. We’ve never considered anything like it before.
We were staying in our small caravan though and whilst we had him with us during the day, in the
Evening we would leave him in the caravan and go back between each set. It was around a 5 minute walk each way
and so this was doable. I was worried at first but he settled really well.
The barn isn’t suitable for dogs as it’s too loud but there were lots of places to sit in the courtyard outside.
We really enjoyed getting out and about with him during the day and he was welcome in the castle grounds.
I would probably bring him again if the camper van fiend was close but it would also have been nice to relax a little more.

[flatland juz]

I probably won't go next year if the camper van fiend goes. Or a load of dogs. Maybe there should be a separate festival for dogs?

[redc]

The barn isn’t suitable for dogs..

Mutt muffs?

[Bob Fossil]

I went and enjoyed it. It wasn't perfect but you're never gonna get perfection. Sad to hear they made a loss, how did that happen? Not selling out? Must say security was pretty lax, not sure you really needed to have paid, no-one checked my wristband apart from when I walked through the visitors centre on Sunday. We were lucky the weather was good, if it had rained I think that courtyard would have been a bit of a miserable place to be! Loved BSP's sets, DSM IV were bonkers, but ai agree that there could just have been something else going on either side of the music and dare I say Sunday was a bit.... slow? Would deffo go again though.

[woosiep]

I thought the things that made it difficult made it better – yes it was a long way away but somehow made this feel very different and special…

The location was incredible. We stayed in the Pennington hotel in Ravenglass and this was perfect. It was great to do all the things we would not normally do – the steam train, the falcons, the heron feeding, the castle, walking across deserted beaches on Saturday morning. It MADE the festival and created a very unique atmosphere.

I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the organisation was – stage set up was superb with good sound and visibility and the barn whilst appearing small worked really well with loads of room.
Bar was fine and there were hardly any queues due to the proactive barstaff and prices were reasonable. If I was camping it might have been a different story- was quite a drive to the nearest shop but assume seasoned campers prepare for this stuff. Food options were fine and I have been to much bigger events where food/drink ran out. It was chilly in the evening and the Pennington family were great at keeping the fires going and generally looking after everyone. Even the blocked up toilets were replaced within a couple of hours on Saturday night. Agree that security was very low key. The 2 security guards probably had their easiest days of the year. Yes, you could have walked straight in without a ticket but given the location, I doubt anyone did..

The choice of bands was excellent in the main- seeing a band as “big” now as Penelope Isles at 4pm on Friday was great and probably a bit early for most people. The Friday night line-up was proper eclectic brilliance. Might have been better to move some of these to Saturday and keep the talks in the Castle as it felt Saturday afternoon dragged a little.

Really sorry it made a loss- did hear that 400 of the 500 tickets had been sold? Don’t know how true that was - maybe releasing day tickets earlier might have helped, also the Merch stall was hidden away in the castle- Im sure would have sold much more if it was in the Barn area. Also Sunday felt a little underwhelming- maybe either don’t do Sunday or make it a whole evening of it as well as anyone driving couldn’t have a drink etc.

In short. Would attend again but don’t know if doing it again is viable. Judging by the audience demographic, I’m sure most people would have to take a day off on Friday to attend and hence it was very quiet until later on Friday evening, by which time some of the best bands had already been on.- A school holiday week might have been easier too. Might need to gamble on a couple of bigger name bands to attract a wider audience than just the BSP hardcore?

PS Who was the dreadful man in the red jacket making off colour jokes who introduced the first couple of bands? I am a pretty seasoned BSP watcher and have never seen him before but he seemed to be very familiar with them.

[T Adventurer]

What a weekend!

From the moment this was announced this was a ‘must do’ for me especially since Golden Forces were at work and I was able to nab a room at a nearby hotel.

I managed to avoid the problems on the M6 by getting to Ravenglass for lunch time on the Friday, a quick check-in at the hotel and then a 20 minute walk up to the festival site. Yan and Martin sorting out bales of hay as I swapped my ticket for the Krankenhaus wristband. I knew this was going to be my kind of festival.

I have nothing, but good to say about the three days, how often do we get to see 3 different BSP sets over 3 days? 40-ish songs spread over the entire back catalogue, Heavenly Waters, Atom, Spring Has Sprung, Oh Larsen B, Lights out for Darker Skies, The Land Beyond…what a brilliant 3 sets, thank you, although no place in the starting line-up for Canvey Island, Mongk II, Cleaning out the Rooms or Apologies to Insect Life, have these been retired for good I wonder? As far as I remember and contrary to Friday’s setlist, Wooden Horse and True Adventures were not played.

The blackboard at the barn door entrance announced the set times and any changes to the schedule, the only confusion I can remember was for the T-shirt team photo, but other than that I thought the schedule was spot on.

I couldn’t believe my luck a couple of months ago when Rozi Plain was added to the line-up with ‘What a Boost’ being one of my favourite LP’s of the year so far. Excellent stuff. Other non BSP highlights, Squid (of course) and I thought Mr Ben and the Bens were great, very upbeat. Loved the Allison Cotton set (where have I seen her before? Bush Hall perhaps?) and Slow Tree did not disappoint, I must pick-up that Lost Maps record, tut, tut.
With readings by Simon Armitage, Stephen Morris and Luke Turner this was a very special event. Alas, I wasn’t able to catch either the Simon Armitage or Steve Davis DJ sets as the comfy hotel bed was calling me…what a lightweight.
The food options were good, both for vegans and carnivores and everything I had was tasty so no complaints there. There was also the café at Muncaster Castle which served more standard food, so there shouldn’t be too many grumbles hopefully.
I missed both the RSPB walk and the fell walking with Martin Noble, but this was my fault and nothing to do with the festival organisation.

With heron feeding, wild owls, steam train journeys and British Sea Power Krankenhaus beer on draught..what more does a festival need? I, for one loved every single moment of it, it was a sad moment immediately after ‘The Land Beyond’ finished, knowing that was it for the weekend. Driving home that night, I realised how luck I’d been to have been part of the weekend and hoped that there would be another one next year to look forward to
The one major disappointment of course was reading that the festival had made a loss and I’ll be dropping a few pennies into the Krankenhaus coffers, hoping that there will indeed be another Krankenhaus in 2020.

Excellent weekend and a huge thank you to all involved in setting this up.

Oh and finally, I'm sure the Pennington family were a little wary beforehand of what may be in store over the weekend, but Mr Pennington seemed to love every minute of it.

[The Secretary]

Dear all.

Just to say thank you very much indeed for all the above interesting and very useful feedback. I know the band really appreciate these views and info. I had such a good time at Muncaster – really one of the most memorable weekends ever for me. Thanks again.

Yours,
The Secretary,
For BSP etc