Krankenhaus Festival A Superb Micro Festival

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a festival, and the only ones that could tempt me now are those that are small with an interesting line-up. Sea Power have always done things their own way, and for the last couple of years, they have run Krankenhaus, their own festival, on the fabulous grounds of Muncaster Castle in Cumbria. This year the stars aligned, so I snaffled my ticket and headed across to the lakes.

The forecasted Storm Lillian meant that my hopes of a dry festival were never going to come to fruition; however, I don’t think any of us were quite prepared for the brutal first night. My tent struts snapped in the wind, meaning the rest of the weekend was going to be a challenge squidged in with my mates.

Krankenhaus is very much a microfestival, and all the better for that, there is one stage (in a cow shed) so you don’t have to worry about band clashes across different stages, two bars (one with a DJ set up), a few food trucks, and then the castle and its grounds are used for various talks and activities to sign up for if you wish. The size means that if you meet someone and get chatting, you’ll be able to meet up again without any problem, and it creates a very relaxed atmosphere.

After the biblical weather, never have I been so glad to see the inside of a cow shed! It meant that throughout the rain across the weekend you could watch the bands in the dry at least, and what a fabulously esoteric line-up it was, curated mostly, I understand, by Noble, Sea Power’s lead guitarist.

Highlights for me included: Callum Easter & The Roulettes, who beguiled with a Suicide-sounding synth pop sound; Mozart Estate, producing darkly humorous tales of urban Britain set to upbeat tempos with enigmatic lead singer Lawrence seemed to be conjuring a mix of Mark E Smith and Javis Cocker; Genn played a storming set of post punk mixed with jazz beats and Eastern tinged vocals; Hey Colossus delivered an intense set of dark, swirling, driving rock; Islet won the competition for outfit of the festival with lead singer Emma Daman resplendent in a canary yellow catsuit.

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• Sea Power
• Genn
• Islet
• Callum Easter & The Roulettes

They started their set in the crowd with bell-type instruments being rung before delivering an anything goes set of prog / synth / noise. Lias Saoudi (lead singer from the Fat White Family Band) delivered a bewildering solo set that defied description, mixing acoustic guitar, storytelling, and laptop-generated beats whilst writhing on the ground and screaming into the mic. Nadine Shah was simply astounding, with a lively, engaging stage presence and a voice unlike anyone currently performing, backed by a seriously robust band. Snapped Ankles, in complete contrast, cranked up swirling post punk dance sounds. They appeared through green lighting and smoke, dressed in a mix of wookies and sand people, and delivered some serious grooves to dance the night away.

Of course Krankenhause is Sea Power’s festival, and they delivered two sets across the weekend. On Friday, they effectively played a crowd-pleasing greatest hits set, and despite us all being in a cow shed, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Seeing a young girl on her parents' shoulders raising her fingers and singing along to Two Fingers made me smile, and in many ways, that image summed up what this festival is all about. On Sunday's set, they take things down a notch, giving them the opportunity to play the more atmospheric tracks from their repertoire, culminating with a fabulous rendition of Great Skua.

Between all the bands, we take in plenty of the DJ sets in the glade, explore the castle grounds, take part in a spot of archery, catch a couple of great talks by Jude Roberts on the sounds of being human and John Robb on his music writing over 40 years, and pop into Ravenglass for a couple of pints whilst attempting to dry off in a pub. We did actually get two hours of glorious sunshine, which magically coincided with an outside sketching workshop that one of my best mates was running.

Despite the weather, we had a brilliant time across the weekend. Krankenhaus is for me a perfect microfestival (please don’t ever get bigger) and is very much in the image of Sea Power, esoteric, surprising, off the beaten track, and very much of the land and the sea.