Arts & Culture

Riverside Festival, Charlbury, Oxfordshire

25-26 July 2015

www. riversidefestival.charlbury.com

This free family-friendly music festival is found in an idyllic riverside setting in the Cotswolds, with more than 40 acts playing across three stages, rock, indie, jazz, and folk on the main two stages and all sorts on the Riverside Fringe stage.

Riverside is one of the most popular events in the Oxfordshire music calendar. What began life 20 years ago as a jazz picnic for friends, now boasts more than 40 acts playing everything from folk music to blues, rock, ska and hip hop, attracting thousands of music lovers of all ages, and yet Riverside is still the friendliest, most relaxed music festival in Oxfordshire and, astonishingly, is still completely free to enter.

Riverside is very much a family event, children can join in free music workshops with Salt Box Music, go on nature adventures with Little Wild Things, and try their hand at a range of creative crafts and activities. This year’s Riverside Festival will be welcoming mystical woodland folk, so if you have ever wanted to dress as an elf or fairy, a dryad, nymph, a goblin, troll or gnome, a wicked witch or kindly wizard, now’s your chance!

Riverside is always an enticing blend of old friends and new acquaintances. On Saturday get your ska skanking with the 2Tone All Ska’s performing on the main stage then turn it up with the fantastic Zurich. Topping off the evening is the sparkly-spangly pop of Alphabet Backwards, with alt-country band The DreamingSpires taking the headlining slot.

Sunday opens with Cornwall’s Tailor Made Truth. Oxford favourite, blues rock artist, Mad Larry Band is also on the bill, along with fabulous swamp rockers, the Mighty Redox, then the ascending Balloon Ascents before the main stage closes with some up-tempo indie rock from Leader.

Riverside is famed for showcasing Oxfordshire’s music talent and has again invited thriving independent record shops Rapture (in Witney) and Truck Store (in Oxford) to run the second stage. They’ve pulled together a great line-up this year from Oxfordshire and beyond.

There’s a strong roots and Americana flavour running through the bill with Loud Mountains, Great Western Tears (featuring members of Swindlestock) and The August List, joined by acclaimed Nashville-based song-writer Don Gallardo, and rousing folk troubadour Franc Cinelli and his band all topped off with a headline set on Sunday from the ever-popular Knights Of Mentis.  The organisers are particularly excited to have Oxford’s swashbuckling party-starters Peerless Pirates and country-psych rockers Kid Calico & The Astral Ponies and they say not to miss local musician collective Bear On A Bicycle who open the show on Sunday.

Riverside gets so many requests from performers who want to appear at the festival that four years ago it set up a Fringe stage where anyone can apply to take a turn.  This intimate stage with its sit-down audience is ideal for solo singers, small groups and acoustic acts. Saturday afternoon opens with octogenarian Gwyn Osborne singing popular tunes from his youth and sees the return of harpist Mark Harmer. Don’t miss the performing poets collective The Four Wordsmen of the Apostrophe on Sunday afternoon and if you fancy a good bop there’s a double session from DJ Jude to round-off Saturday evening.