Where else but Cawthorne’s Underneath The Stars festival could you learn about the Hubble Space telescope, dance the Charleston and hear an eclectic collection of live bands all on the same day?
The second of the Rusby family’s ambitious three-day music festivals launched on Friday and ran until Sunday with an impressive line-up of artists that spanned the Atlantic, alongside a host of arts and crafts activities, workshops and even a planetarium.
Thousands attended and enjoyed mainly good weather.
Joe Rusby, brother of Barnsley folk singer Kate Rusby and a key festival organiser! said US star Mary Chapin Carpenter had asked if she could perform at UTS.
“She collaborated with Kate on her last record. She knew that this festival was happening and that she would be in this country at the time so her agent approached us and it all went from there really.”
One of the main advantages of UTS, in addition to being able to camp by your tent, is that all the acts perform inside marquees. so if the weather did change, festival-goers could still enjoy the music without being battered by the elements.
The main venue, the Planets stage, is in a cavernous tent which can accommodate thousands of people . Packed with high-tech gear it’s easy to forget you’re actually in a tent as the sound quality is so good.
“I wanted to create a concert hall experience with high quality production,” said Joe, a former Shelley High School pupil.
Philip Selway, the drummer in Radiohead, made his festival debut at UTS on Saturday, “This is the first one I have had the chance to play at and I think I have been very spoilt as it has been so well put together,” he said, “I think with all their experience of playing at other festivals they know what works and what doesn’t, for the artists and the audience.”
Queues for Mary Chapin Carpenter’s set stretched for hundreds of yards outside the Planets stage on Saturday as enthusiasts lined up for a good seat to hear her bare her soul.
Earlier in the day, Scottish songbird Eddie Reader, impressed with the powerful beauty of her voice, while also displaying her talent for comedy with the hilarious anecdotes she told about her family in the Glasgow council estate where she grew up.
A major feature at the festival was Radio 2 presenter Mark Radcliffe. He compered on the Planets stage and demonstrated his skills on the drums in a grog-infused set with his band of nautical reprobates Galleon Blast.
While peppering the show with examples of his trademark wit, he marred an otherwise rollicking performance with just a bit too much salty language considering the tender years of some of his audience members.
Indeed children are a key element of UTS which brands itself as a family friendly festival.
“It ‘s something that’s very important to us,” revealed singer Kate Rusby, who is mother of Daisy, five, and Phoebe, three.
Fairy Frances, aka Frances Dutton, came from Ramsbottom, to volunteer as co-ordinator of the children’s craft activities. She devised separate workshops for the under eights, over eights and even a a babies section.
Nicola Purdy, travelled from West Sussex to volunteer as a steward in the children ‘s section. “I heard about it on Facebook and have been a Kate Rusby fan for years so figured anything involving her was going to be nice, “ she said.
“It’s fantastic. I love it.”
Work on next year’s festival is already underway and the four directors are all keen to grow the event and improve it.
