At the risk of thoroughly wearing out a cliché, 2023 is flying by, with festival season already well under way: Download, Parklife, Black Deer and Isle of Wight have drawn to a close, Glastonbury starts in a couple of days, and July and August are of course crammed with events.
But I have to confess that some of the bookings this year have slightly disappointed me. We've had some terribly male-heavy line-up posters coming out, and certain names just keep on appearing in large typefaces, arguably pushing others way too far down the billing.
Squeezed into this crowded market - and for me, standing out more than ever in the 2023 festival landscape, is Barn On The Farm. It takes place in Gloucestershire, it's proudly independent, properly family-friendly, and this year is its 12th edition. BOTF has always been a great one for supporting emerging and new talent and focusing on gender balance - you can see how that fits with the Music Observer mantra - and obviously makes use of some extremely talented and forward-looking bookers. In the past, the farm has hosted Lewis Capaldi (in 2018 and 2019), Sam Fender (2017 and 2018), Wolf Alice (in very small type, back in 2012), Bastille (2012), and even Ed Sheeran in 2011, at the second edition of the fest.
Squeezed into this crowded market - and for me, standing out more than ever in the 2023 festival landscape, is Barn On The Farm. It takes place in Gloucestershire, it's proudly independent, properly family-friendly, and this year is its 12th edition. BOTF has always been a great one for supporting emerging and new talent and focusing on gender balance - you can see how that fits with the Music Observer mantra - and obviously makes use of some extremely talented and forward-looking bookers. In the past, the farm has hosted Lewis Capaldi (in 2018 and 2019), Sam Fender (2017 and 2018), Wolf Alice (in very small type, back in 2012), Bastille (2012), and even Ed Sheeran in 2011, at the second edition of the fest.
This year, there's a really on-point alt-pop focus spread across the weekend: Dylan is heading up the second stage on Friday (obviously very cleverly booked before she really took off this year), and Holly Humberstone headlines on Sunday (having appeared lower down the billing in previous year, and making a great appearance at Glastonbury in 2022), and elsewhere acts like Tommy Lefroy, Nieve Ella and Caity Baser.
Then you've got some more rock-focused artists including Bleachers (Saturday headliners), The Big Moon, Cassia, Rachel Chinouriri, Carpark and Swim School; folk-influenced acts such as The Staves and Kingfishr; and more genre-fluid musicians like Olivia Dean, Dolores Forever and flowerovlove.
There are liberal sprinklings of international acts and strong elements of Americana, too -- and just look at how many of those acts are women. It's almost like the organisers wanted to focus on good music rather than pleasing the industry ...
Check out the full 2023 line-up yourself and also have a listen to the official playlist, which I've embedded below. And - if you get in really quickly - there are still a few tickets left (for the main weekend and some of the single days at the time of writing) ... See you there?
Check out the full 2023 line-up yourself and also have a listen to the official playlist, which I've embedded below. And - if you get in really quickly - there are still a few tickets left (for the main weekend and some of the single days at the time of writing) ... See you there?