information / A Festival History

2001

The inaugral year, and a one dayer held on 1st Setember. Great weather, but it's chilly at night that time of year! One hand made stage, lots of fairy lights, the sound system collected from the hirers that morning and a festival was born! No fences, no tickets, no stalls, just friends having a great party in a field.Tractor rides and bonfires of course. The moon that night, huge, just floating behind the crowd. Perfect.

Lineup: Rob Loneragan (Guest Mel Bliss) - Peter Baynes - Sarah Curtis - Geraint Thomas - Andy Comley & Mel - Strange Mutant Virus - 0898 - Falk

2002

Once again held at the end of the summer and for one day on Saturday 31st August. Also graced by good weather and the usually amazing Blissfields sunset. The lineup was more band orientated this year but the first inkling of Friday night acoustic performances started with a great campfire singalong for those who arrived early. Once again no fences or tickets but the first year we had a website. The stage had improved, with a donated marquee for the cover and staging that was borrowed from Top of the Pops! Wonderful volunteers from friends at the BBC put a professional touch to the lighting and provided great sound to the crowd of about 200.

Lineup: Geraint Thomas - West Quartet - Legabio - 30000 Days - Coldshot - Andy Comley - The Automatics - Strange Mutant Virus -John Stanford and Melanie Bliss - Blazing Homesteads - Skuba

2003

With the Friday night campfire already an established part of the party we found that people were arriving early to take part, not just the crew having a few songs anymore.This was the first Blissfields to use our green stage, formed from sleepers and earth it meant the bands could play with grass between their toes! Held on Saturday 30th Aug and once more great weather!
Still no tickets issued and unbelievably run without a licence or council getting involved, how times have changed! The tractor rides dominate many people's decision to return, a great feature of the festival whilst at Bradley. One unplanned for event this year was an over run seeing the last band coming off stage at 1.30am, rather than the planned for 12 midnight. Once again number had swelled to about 400.

Lineup: Tandem - Peter and Richard - Darkstar Safari - Rob Loneragan ( Guests Olly Maw and Melanie Bliss) - West Quartet - Geraint Thomas - Strange Mutant Virus - Andy Comley - Coldshot - Stevie - Legabio - Emearld Ocean - Coldshot - Andy Comley - Giles Hirst - John Stanford and Melanie Bliss - The Semi-Automatics - Subgiant - Skuba - Smoke House Blues Band

2004

A move to June 19th for this year, maybe due to this and a poor weather reports the numbers were not particularly up on 2003, however the weather held off and we had a great time with a brilliant lineup.This was the first year that we had a few stalls and a rudimentary ticketing system, it was also the last totally free festival, with even campers being only asked for a donation. It was good to see the fire being put to good use late into the night with general jamming and socialsing, the last year that we had this as well, from now on the festival would be licensed and legal. This was memorable as the first ever festival played by the full lineup of Subgiant (who we like to think of as our house band) although since then they have gone on to play most festivals you can think of.

Lineup: Dan, Alex &Orlando - Peter & Richard - Lucy & Jacob - Skyline Drive - Geraint Thomas - Emerald Ocean - Andy Comley - Comic Life - Kate Stables - Skuba - John & Mel - The Automatics - Stevie - The Cheesedoctors - Subgiant - Chris T-T - Great Bear

2005

A calender move again to the now traditional first full wekend in July and a big change in the attendance with 700 turning up, due mainly to our booking the highly regarded Mystery Jets who increased our national profile considerably. We also booked and even released an EP for the great Red Eye Banquet, it was a weekend when the campsite had a great vibe with the different sets of fans mixing easily with the traditionally more local regulars. The campsite has always been a special place at Blissfields with the most laid back and friendly vibe you can find at a festival. Regular friends were now returning year after year, Skuba and Chris T-T to name two. Friday evening even had some organisation with a great open mic session, a sign of things to come. Weather: warm and dry and another great sunset! We also managed to raise £2,500 our highest amount yet, all by just charging for camping, the music was still free. Licensed and legal also meant we had stewards for the first time! Things were changing!

Lineup: The Tucans - Geraint Thomas - The True Deceivers - Bugalow B - Freshman - Andy Comley - Idesyne - Skuba - Trademark - Mystery Jets - Chris T-T - Subgiant - Red Eye Banquet

2006

News had definitely got out about the festival, the campsite was bulging and we had reached our capacity. This is the year we look back on as the first "proper" festival! Tickets were issued and unfortunately it was the first time we charged all attendees camping or not. The great Mystery Jets arrived back again with a growing band of followers. All the bands were still playing for us for free which meant once agian we made £2000 for the local school and our new found adopted charity Practical Action. This was also the first year that we billed an acoustic Friday night and started a tradition of booking an older established act to headline that day, in 2006 it was Jim Bob from Carter USM who closed the night. Although the open mic went on a lot longer into the night. Paul was nearly lynched on stage when he had to pull the plug on Subgiant rounding off the festival, due to an over run and council officials being present. Apart from that hugely frustrating moment the festival was our best yet, vibrant, packed and a brilliant line up.

Line up: Stevie - Michael Shearer - ChrisT-T - Piney Gir - Susy Thomas - Andy Comley - Jim Bob - The Tucans - Menin Shortz - Monty and The Butchers - The Schla La Las - Skuba - Toupe - Blisskrieg - Airhammer - Enjoy Destroy - Dead! Dead! Dead! - Ludes - Mystery Jets - Red Eye Banquet - Subgiant

2007

Not wanting to sit back and give the same experience as 2006 we organised a second stage hosted by The Stage Bus, a wonderful edition for the open mic on the Friday night and with full bands throughout the Saturday. Talk about luck with the weather, when most other festivals were washed out in 2007 we had unbroken sunshine for the whole weekend, although it was a close call with some campervans having difficulty on the soggy ground! Set up and de-rig were a wet exprience though, made bearble by the great vibe the weekend produced, our "best one yet" was the comment from almost everyone! A great lineup culminating in a brilliant set by Subgiant, making up for the 2006 disappointment of not playing. Who would have known that Scouting for Girls would go on to dominate the airwaves as they have since playing B7, surely the biggest current act we have had appear at Blissfields.........so far! However as always the crowd were the biggest event of the weekend fun, exciting, friendly and helpful, it is the crowd who ultimately make it wortwhile. Who can forget the mad improvised dance tent in The Lounge, 150 people going long into the night, music supplied by ipod & tiny tinny speakers hardly audible over the noise, thats Blissfields for you!

Lineup: The Material Archive - Andy Comley - Dan Arborise - Ruth Theodore - Silent Rush (Hush the Many) - Nigel Clark - Menin Shortz - Jonny Dare - Duck Feet - Wallbirds - Pistola - Skuba - Toupe - Captain Phoenix - Monty and The Butchers - New Town Centres - Vijay Kishore - Susie Thomas - Sean Taylor - The True Deceivers - Enjoy Destroy - Imperial Leisure - Dead! Dead! Dead! - Rival Joustas - Blisskrieg - Six Nation State - The Hot Puppies - Plastic Toys - Red Eye Banquet - Scouting for Girls - Subgiant

2008

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