Sarah heads to Anglesey in search of psychedelic happenings.
Despite living on the Isle of Anglesey until the age of nine, the sheer beauty of the North-Welsh isle never ceases to amaze me. As we cross Britannia Bridge to embark on the final leg of our journey the excitement really beings to settle in – I’m back to my homeland, once again, for my first festival of the season.
One lonely, colourful, hand-painted sign lets us know that The Trip Festival lies down a dusty road. After the usual car parking, wristband grabbing, booze and bag lugging, we arrive at the campsite to find a home for our tent for the weekend. It’s a clear day and the views really are sensational, with ruined stone houses on cliff tops, and landscapes of lighthouses and bright blue sea.
As is customary, I head into the main arena (perhaps in this case I should drop the ‘n’ due to the site’s compact nature) and my first image is that cliché festival sight – poi, poi with yet more poi. A sea of children look slightly confused whilst minding their heads as they learn all sorts of twirling, spinning and throwing, and the fact that the children’s area is as busy as the main stage backs up Trip’s reputation as a very family-orientated festival.
After a bite to eat at a BBQ, we head into the main festival area to catch the last energetic numbers from Scottish band Django Django. We stick around for Auckland band The Ruby Suns and with their Maori-influenced indie-pop which even my hip hop and reggae loving friends like – the band’s Paul-Simon-'Graceland'-era-with-balls sound attracts all sorts of people from families to semi-naked ladies swinging their hips.
The Ruby Suns finish after only a handful of songs and the main stage festivities end. At a loss for something to do, we follow the crowd down a dark forest path lit only by fairy lights. Our curiosity is rewarded when finally we reach a glade where we see a huge canvas gramophone with multi coloured psychedelic lights projected alongside and music blasting out. We dance around the maypole under the stars until dawn comes.
I wake up to the sound of rain and a soggy sleeping bag – my tent might look all pretty with its tipi-style shape and Celia Birtwell patterns, but I can tell you, it sure ain’t practical. Never mind. Pulling myself together, I venture over to the clearing where the farmhouse and gramophone is to watch the graffiti artists do their thing. The area that we’d discovered the night before proves to be the festival’s saving grace on a dreary Saturday, if only as it provides somewhere dry to dance.
After another night of dancing, I awake to glorious sunshine and decide to head to the beach which after being told on the festival's website is only 200m away, should be a doddle. It turns out the walk is a doodle, but not quite as short a doddle as we expected; taking us around 20 minutes to get down there. A few of us initially saying we are ‘definitely’ going swimming, but I decide against the idea and have a little nap on the beach instead – it’s bloody windy. 
I’m disappointed to see a few people packing up early on the Sunday and, worryingly, the main stage is also being dismantled and the only area left is the forest clearing. Heading back through the bluebell forest with memories of childhood optimism in mind, I reach the end of the path to find around 50 people dancing to house, soul and funk. One of the main problems that small festivals have is they often lack the anonymity of bigger sites, creating a field full of wallflowers afraid to dance like idiots. However the Trip manages to avoid this with people all dancing in the wide open without a care in the world.
As I pack up on Monday morning a steward asks if I would return the following year to which I reply “maybe, if it was a bit bigger” and really mean it. It seems that the key to a good small festival is to slowly grow and not be over-ambitious. Trip is certainly not over-ambitious and with its nice atmosphere and excellent location has heaps of potential. I really hope the organisers take advantage of the beautiful site (not that I'm biased) and The Trip continues for years to come.
Check out our Festival Guide here.
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Photo's courtesy of Eventful
Graffiti by N4T4 and Begs.
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