THE HISTORY OF WYCHWOOD FESTIVAL
The Wychwood Music Festival was launched in 2005 by a group of festival enthusiasts wanting to create an intimate and thrilling weekend festival experience, delivering not only the best acts of the day, but up and coming music, and some other specialties you might not ordinarily come across!
The Wychwood Music Festival quickly gained a national audience and reputation thanks to its eclectic mix of music and creative programming. Time Out described the Festival as ‘an excellent hybrid of the Big Chill, WOMAD and The Cambridge Folk Festival’
The 2005 Festival saw performances from Steve Earle, Alabama 3, Show of Hands, Allison Moorer, Eliza Carthy in collaboration with Varttina, Mory Kante, The Earlies, Aberfeldy, Jim Moray, Mercan Dede, Radio Tarifa, Omar Sosa, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, The Angel Brothers, Baka Beyond, Damien Dempsey, Gilles Peterson, Jaga Jazzist, Matthew Herbert, Warsaw Village Band and many many more. Radio 4’s Loose Ends and Radio 3’s Late Junction both recorded at the festival, and entertainment included The Groovy Movie Solar Powered Cinema, Club Wychwood with some of the best world beats around, and workshops for all ages
It was a very positive first year, the festival made it into the Sunday Times Top 7 Festivals of the summer and nominated for Best New and Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards and the organisers quickly moved on to planning the second year.
Artists at the 2006 Festival included, Billy Bragg, Seth Lakeman, Dreadzone, Saw Doctors, Martha Wainwright, Mr Scruff, Amadou & Mariam, Handsome Family, Peatbog Faeries, Polar Bear, Eliza Carthy in collaboration with Salsa Celtica, Banco de Gaia, The Bays, Tunng, Broken Family Band, Sophie Solomon, Chris Difford, DJ Shantel, Ed Motta, Field Music, Ralfe Band, Gilles Peterson and many, many more. The festival also featured the first ever festival performances from The Feeling and Guillemots, plus the debut of Tim Van Eyken’s new project starring Nancy Kerr, Pete Flood (Bellowhead), Olly Knight and Colin Fletcher.
Comedy was added to the programme and included a very special intimate performance from Mark Thomas. Late night entertainment was provided by the Silent Disco from The Netherlands, starting their tour of summer festivals that included Guilfest and Reading.
The Festival received three nominations at the 2006 UK Festival Awards including Best Family Festival for the second time and The Oxford Mail said ‘Wychwood has wasted no time in establishing itself as one of the coolest weekends of the summer’
2007 got off to a flying start with Levellers, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 and Ian Hunter on the Friday. A star studded Saturday saw Rodrigo y Gabriela, Badly Drawn Boy and Fun Lovin’ Criminals on the Main Stage with rhythms from Shooglenifty, Go Lem System, Transglobal Underground and sunny vocals from Camera Obscura and Martha Tilston. Sunday went out with a folk and world music bang with Afro Celt Sound System, Ba Cissoko, Zion Train, Eliza Carthy, Country Joe Macdonald and Ralfe Band.
The Independent described it as ‘a bijou Glastonbury’ and it was nominated for Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards for the third time in a row!
2008 was the most successful Wychwood to date, with the festival coming close to sell out. Artists included The Divine Comedy, The Proclaimers, Duffy, The Imagined Village project with Simon Emmerson, Billy Brag, Johnny Kalsi, Eliza and Martin Carthy, Chris Wood and many more. As well as Kate Rusby, Dengue Fever, The Blockheads, Robyn Hitchcock & the Psychedelic Trams, Dreadzone, Kasai Masai, Misty’s Big Adventure, The Epstein, Orchestra Baobab, Spiers and Boden, Palladium, Piney Gir, Stornoway, Mor Karbasi, Transglobal Underground, Emma Pollock, Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls, Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, 3 Daft Monkeys, The Young Republic, Richard Walters and many more.
Comedy offerings included Andy Smart, Steve Steen, Stephen Frost, Jeff Green, Dave Johns, Josie Lawrence, Boothby Graffoe, Mundo Jazz, Terry Saunders, Barry Dodds, Ben Schofield and Damion Larkin.
And the festival was nominated for the 4th year running as the Best Family Festival in the UK Festival Awards.
2009 was the 5th birthday of the festival, and acts included Super Furry Animals, Supergrass, The Wonder Stuff, Little Boots, Bellowhead, Oysterband, Adrian Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds, Dhol Foundation, Dub Colossus, The Beat, Cara Dillon, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Ella Edmondson, Red Light Company, Attila The Stockbroker, Stornoway, Justin Adams & Judleh Camara, Oojami Sound System, Alex Cornish, Danny & The Champions of the World, The Travelling Band. Comedy was provided by the likes of Arthur Smith, Robin Ince and Mundo Jazz. Cinema included classics like Little Shop of Horrors, and presentations from Beatles film-maker Tony Palmer and much more, over 100 workshops for all ages and we launched our first Children’s Literature Festival with the new Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, plus many others including Philp Ardagh, Jeremy Strong and Kristina Stephenson.
Once again we were very pleased to have been nominated “Best Family Festival” in the UK Festival Awards.
Right from the start The Wychwood Music Festival has had strong links with various NGOs, with Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and Greenpeace all having had a presence at the Festival.
The festival’s name comes from the ancient forest that once covered large parts of Oxfordshire, but the festival has found its own home over in Gloucestershire and is steadily becoming that county’s largest music festival.
Wychwood Festival Line Up - 2011
The Charlatans, Cornershop, 3 Daft Monkeys, The Travelling Band, The Waterboys, Robyn Hitchcock, Neville Staple, The Epstein, Elfynn, Jali Fily Cissokho, Ian Anderson Plays Jethro Tull, Justin Fletcher, Transglobal Underground, Roddy Woomble, The Wurzels, Ahab, Delta Maid, The Beetroot Kings, The Christians, Baka Beyond, Baraka, Titi Robin, hapelier Fou