Sound of Music

The Galtres Festival is York's very own Leeds festival, only without the 40,000+ gig goers. It's the pocket version of festivals if you will, family focussed, art-project based, local band infused, all round good fun two dayer. Having never been to a festival, Galtres was the start (and end) of camping, swapping money for tokens and facing down the nightmare of port-a-loos. In short, it was two days of bloody good fun. In its favour, Galtres has never taken itself too seriously. The line up alone spanned heady heights of Dodgy, Wonder Stuff, Lightning Seeds and somewhat surprisingly, the Beat. Mixing one part hope with three parts eclectic, the line up was enough to hook us. The draw, namely the 100+ real ales... York itself has a decent local circuit of bands and Galtres seems to be the annual showcase, with a few good yester-year bands for good measure. Featuring resident hero Chris Helme (forever ex-Seahorse), singer songwriter Holly Taymer, singer songwriter blues ...