Larmer Tree Festival 2011

Sandie Shaw and Jools Holland

Ozomati

The 21st Larmer Tree Festival kicked off with a lively performance by Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Band.

Special guests included Louise Marshall, ska legend Rico Rodriguez , Ruby Turner and 60′s pop star Sandie Shaw who sang her 1967 Eurovision Song Contest winning song Puppet on a String.

Still looking and sounding fantastic, Sandie put in an energetic performance and clearly loved being back on stage after a long break.

Larmer Tree is one of Jool’s favourite venues and the crowds clearly appreciate him. They were dancing to the infectious jazz, pop, blues, rock and ska tunes as night decended as Larmer livened up.

Two encores were demanded and the band came back out to play ‘enjoy yourself’, which everyone most certainly was. After two hours the crowd still hadn’t had enough but the set sadly had to come to close.

Plenty more was to come though…

Bellowhead

The weather took a turn for the worse on Friday night but that didn’t seem to trouble anyone.

10 piece band Bellowhead had the main lawn crowds jumping around with their contemporary folk and German rock ‘n’ roll band Boppin’B got some serious dancing going on at the Garden Stage.

Ozomatli were the headline act on Friday night with upbeat songs and lively dance steps. Their set ended in style with the band coming off the stage and into the crowd.

Seth Lakeman

Folk fans were in for a treat on Sunday with acoustic duo Show of Hands, followed by Seth Lakeman who played a fantastic set. His solo performance of Kitty Jay was amazing to watch live.

Top of the bill was the legendary Seasick Steve (otherwise known as Steven Gene World). With his personalised instruments he entertained with his blues rock to close the main stage music. for 2011.

Throughout the festival were plenty of crazy street performances – from food fights with a man wearing a real cress jacket to Granny Turismo – a funky pair of grannies with a shopping trolley dance routine.

You could even find out how to survive a Zombie Apocalypse – in case you should ever need to know….

James Shepard, Co-Director of Larmer Tree Festival said: “Having just celebrated our 21st year, it really feels like we’ve come of age. The past two decades have seen the festival evolve and blossom beyond our wildest dreams. 2011 has been the best yet and we thank our wonderful audience who help make Larmer Tree the unique festival that it has become today!”

If you missed Larmer this year, be sure to get a ticket for next year…

Granny Turismo