Tunes In The Park @ Port Eliot Estate, 
Cornwall - 25/08 - 27/08
Day 1
When a three-day festival pops up in what is nigh-on your back yard, it would be rude not to go and check it out wouldn’t it? I thought so and so did most of my family so we bought in to the hype around Tunes in the Park, set in the grounds of the Port Elliot estate in St Germans, Cornwall. So, we exchanged a glance at our QR codes for wrist bands and embarked on a family festival experience (albeit one we could drive home from each day and sleep in proper beds).
We were keen to be there for the first band (I’m drilling the ‘support the support acts’ mantra into the kids) and achieved this, arriving in sunny field to the sound of the Busketeers warming everyone up perfectly. The Plymouth quartet are one of those bands that you could drop into any place on the bill, and they would be brilliant but they made that opening slot their own with laid back jams, quality original tracks and some cheeky takes on familiar tunes including their beatboxed version of ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.
Following a tour of the food stands and bars on offer, we returned to the main stage for the Good Old Fashioned Lover Boys and a brilliantly observed set of Queen covers that had the whole site singing along. I used to be snobby about tribute bands but when you’ve seen great acts like this bring joy to fans whilst wearing tight read shorts and a false moustache then you can’t deny them their place in the world. Hotfooting it over to second stage for the first time (passing the silent disco, more on that later) we managed to catch and thoroughly enjoy the excellent trio Pattern Pusher who brought disco, funk and a whole lot of fun to the former quarry and I think the Exeter boys will be back for more in 2024 but surely on the main stage.
The heavens opened for the first time while Bottled Blondie played a great sounding set but I couldn’t see a thing over the sea of umbrellas, so we topped our cider at the Elliot Arms tent and then headed over to the Madhouse stage to catch the triumvirate of John Swale, Luke Wright and the fabulous Hollie McNish. Sure, some of the material wasn’t necessarily child friendly but what better way to introduce kids to the prospect of rock’n’roll than a man wearing a pink wolf’s head as a hat, a harpist backing the poetry and material ranging from fingering to stealing tea bags from hotels.
From a distance we caught a bit of Ellie Sax which I didn’t really ‘get’ (it felt a bit like a kid’s party act minus the magic tricks) and Bad Manners which was popular with a certain demographic at the festival but wasn’t a big pull for me. While this was going on we sampled the culinary delights on offer and a big shout out to the Hot Rocket van providing super tasty Cuban sandwiches and to Woogie’s for the epic doughnuts. The evening was finished with off with a master class of a performance from the Kaiser Chiefs who romped through a series of songs that were more familiar than many were prepared for while orchestrating and revelling in the resultant sing-alongs. Day one done.
Day 2
The crowd was significantly bigger for Day 2 and, judging by the general age, this was fuelled by
Wanting to capture the real festival vibe, we went on an amble to the Courtyard Stage to catch a glimpse of Port Elliot native Tom O’Reilly and then watch the sold-out Music Bingo taking place in the Church (fun fact, Sam Ryder and his band were also watching on from the back with big smiles on their faces). We then returned to the mainstage for the Balkan energy of Molotov Jukebox who had people of all ages dancing in every corner of the site which is exactly what you want from a festival band.
The other thing you want from a festival band is a sense of chaotic fun: enter Elvana. For the uninitiated, this is a band who play Nirvana songs as they would sound with Elvis on vocals with a smattering of Elvis songs for good measure. The crowd went crazy, the backing vocalists waved pom-poms and the vibe kicked up a notch as the sun made a welcome return. We made a break for the second stage, trying but failing to dodge the mosquitos, any caught the end of the Lycra 80s Party (exactly as good/awful as that sounds depending on your persuasion) before the much-anticipated Funk and Soul show with Craig Charles. The set started and I think I had been expecting some more deep cuts of dirty funk instead of the wedding disco fodder that we got so I headed back for the headline act.
Now, there was a palpable hubbub around the Kooks generated by an excited crowd growing at the stage and I had never seen the band before, so I was keen to see what they had to offer. I can only say that I was disappointed as the quartet performed their smattering of hits in among a lot of other songs that merged into each other, and the onstage banter was limited to “Yeah” and “How are you doing?” repeated after each song. The word bland came to mind as their 90-minute set felt twice as long but I though maybe I was missing something so I checked in the kids and their review was “I wanted to dance but that was just swaying music”. Not just me then.
Day 3
The final day of any festival is always hardest as some folks have gone too hard and gone home, others have run out of money/energy/liver function, and some are just there for a chilled-out day but there was still plenty to enjoy. Australian singer-songwriter Jack Botts provided a stomping set that was the perfect way to ease into the day and Dutch-Swedish trio Two Another brought some poppy vibes and a genuine sense that they were happy to be playing to fresh ears. On the second stage, Cornish rock quartet Haunt the Woods had returned from Reading and Leeds festivals to perform a bombastic and impressive set which surely gave the bloody mosquitos a headache at least. Returning to the main stage we paused to witness the spectacle of the silent disco which was split between 90% of people listening (and singing along to) ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and 10% of people dancing erotically to some unknown tune. Weird stuff.
Newton Faulkner seriously impressed on the main stage like a mad, dreadlocked scientist surrounded by instruments available at his finger tips but it was his wit, charm and genuine connection with the crowd that really won him new fans. Due to popular demand, I buckled and returned to the second stage for one last time so that I could witness the mass sing-a-long to Take A Chance On Me – an ABBA tribute if you hadn’t guessed – before returned en-masse and full of anticipation to the main stage.
Ibiza Symphonica Orchestra feat. Mr Switch were tasked with bringing the whole shebang to an end and they did it with style. Superb musicianship, an expert frontwoman and some seriously glittery outfits set the tone for a string of dance classics that had the crowd in raptures as they danced and sang along. There was joy, glee and excitement as the likes of Fat Boy Slim, the Prodigy and Rudimental all got the classical treatment without losing any of the energy of the originals. And with that the festival was done – a success overall with a few niggles but nothing worth writing home about. One
thing I would like to mention, however, is just how good the sound was. It’s never easy doing soundchecks and set ups in front of crowds and in the open air so a big high-five and a slap on the back for all those providing us with crisp vocals, rumbling bass, pounding drums and soaring guitars all weekend. And harp. Never forget the harp.
More information: https://tunesinthepark.com/