A muddy and somewhat hungover Saturday afternoon followed – but it would take more than this to dampen the spirits in which Y Not always seems to rouse. An opening performance by Rams’ Pocket Radio created a surprisingly lively atmosphere through a set of piano-led indie, especially within tracks such as ‘1+2’ – a sound we may even like to hear more of in the future. Later we headed back over to what was rapidly becoming our second home, The Quarry, to get a taste of chart-hitters-to-be Bastille – a band we know we’d like to hear more of in the future. Combinations of popular covers such as ‘Of the Night’ and ‘What Would You Do?’ alongside their brilliant self-written material meant that any members of the crowd who may not have considered themselves fans before, most certainly do now. We thought such a performance might even have been impossible to top, but thankfully a follow-up provided by Summer Camp meant we were most definitely in safe hands. A set of disappointingly poor technical quality in the aesthetics of the show did however come as a pitiful surprise, but that loveable, summery sound of American nostalgia (which is always so difficult to fault) was, of course, still a highlight. Another glorious day at Y Not began to face its close (despite the not-so-glorious weather conditions) and so we headed over to see Leeds’ very own unique post rock four-piece, iLiKETRAiNS – a performance we were not prepared to miss. A dark sense of forboding was soon conjured through the haunting lyrics and lead vocals from frontman David Martin, whose style and aurora brilliantly suited the headlining slot achie
ved at Y Not’s Giant Squid stage – just as successfully as it has previously in the supporting slots of similarly bleak (yet captivating) bands such as British Sea Power and Editors.Burton-upon-Trent’s home grown legends Max Raptor then opened our final day of Y Not festivities with the explosive kind of performance they have begun to (understandably) pride themselves on. As hordes of loving fans swarmed to get that dirty yet familiar sense of rock-fused involvement, frontman and vocalist Wil Ray was always with them (literally, with them) to lead a form of adrenaline-fuelled chaos that The Quarry didn’t seem to recognise. Later however we found ourselves charmed, charged with hedonism and romance and then somehow charmed again by Sunderland’s Frankie & the Heartstrings. Forget your dancing shoes? Don’t worry, Frankie’s got a spare pair.

An unforgettable day and weekend was later (regrettably) brought to an end by a fantastically superior set provided by We Are Scientists. Our 15-year- old-selves were beaming ear to ear after an entirely danceable, singable and generally enjoyable performance you simply would not get anywhere else – especially thanks to the inter-song banter. Cheers boys.

With all of this in mind, the concluding moments of Y Not Festival 2013 somehow led to us asking ourselves a series of peculiar questions on reflection of a superb weekend – “Did I really spend that much on a bacon roll?”, “Was this ‘Superbitch’ spray-on tattoo on my chest really necessary?” One question we will not be asking ourselves however is whether we’ll be returning for Y Not Festival 2013. It’s simply a question of how long we can stand the wait.