If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been super excited for the return of Stockton Calling. After a three year hiatus caused by the pandemic, the festival organisers were absolutely raring to go. And I’m extremely pleased to say that they pulled it out of the bag, smashed it out of the park, and every other positive idiom under the sun. They basically brought Stockton Calling back in exactly the right way – loudly, proudly, and not-following-the-crowd-ly.
In this blog post, I’m going to give you a big overview of our day, all the best bits, and which artists we got to see. But before we dive, let’s have a little re-cap on what Stockton Calling is and it’s ethos.
Missed my other Stockton Calling posts? Catch up here: Everything You Need To Know About Stockton Calling 2022 // 10 Artists I’m Excited To See At Stockton Calling
What is Stockton Calling?
Stockton Calling is a daylong music festival which takes place across an array of venues within Stockton town centre. It’s all about showcasing some of the best original, emerging music – both home grown and from further afield – alongside some established favourites and legends. And for 2022, a line up of over 80 acts across 11 stages was organised and expertly executed, so there truly was something for everyone. The team worked their socks off to make this festival as diverse and exciting as possible for the tons of people who came along.
What do I love about Stockton Calling?
Our little patch in the North East gets a fair amount of stick. If it’s not people saying it’s a bad place to live, it’s the big dogs not giving us equal funding to make it a better place to live. But when everyone comes together, either to make or attend a festival like Stockton Calling, there’s such an unmistakeable sense of local pride in the air. It has the power to bring us together to appreciate the town, our music venues and our local artists, and say “dya know what, Stockton’s actually a bit of alright init?”
I also love that it’s the perfect way to introduce yourself to new artists. Sure, there were lots of names on the line up that I knew, like Dylan Cartlidge and Komparisson, but there were also lots that I wasn’t familiar with. And the beauty of that is you can simply pick a venue, go see who’s on, and fall in love with a new sound. Obviously, it’s a great chance to see your favourite acts too, but I’d bet any money that lots of people come away from the festival with lots of new music to listen to back home.
Who did we see?
Not too long ago, I wrote a blog post all about who I wanted to see at Stockton Calling. We tried to squeeze all of my choices in, but after having a look at the Clash Finder, we knew it would be difficult to see them all. But here’s a little breakdown of everyone we managed to see:
Mt Misery – Stockton ARC
Mt Misery were just as amazing as the first time I saw them, except now they have a whole album of songs to sing from! Beautifully beachy, slightly Belle and Sebastian-esque, and just blissful. They were the perfect start to our day.
Pave The Jungle – The Georgian Theatre
Pave The Jungle weren’t on my list originally, but I’m so glad we stumbled on them. This female-fronted alt rock band was absolutely killing The Georgian when we arrived. They were loud and definitely in charge with the odd bit of screaming that got us in the mood for more rock sounds.
Madeleine Smyth – The Social Room
The gorgeous Madeleine Smyth was another artist that we just stumbled upon by accident, but my gosh, what a find. She was ethereal, otherworldly and played a freaking viola, so was an incredibly unique addition to the day. We absolutely loved her sound and the way she carried herself through the technical difficulties.
Sarah Johnsone – Sticky’s
Standing in for Heidi Curtis, Sarah Johnsone did a fantastic job of getting the room going at Sticky’s. We had popped into the venue for a little sit down and ended up really enjoying the set. With a full band behind her, the show had lots of energy, as well as a little bit of a sombre tone in her lyrics. We also loved her cover of Golden Brown!
Pizza Crunch – The Vault
Pizza Crunch were one of the ones on my list, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t get to see much of their set. They’d packed the place out! We stuck our heads in to get a little taste, but it was crazy busy. And for good reason – their guitar riffs were phenomenal, they had a raucousness about them, and the Scottish accents were infectious.
Joe Ramsey – Stockton ARC
Joe Ramsey is just one of those names that you know if you’re a Stocktoner. He’s known and loved for his sunshiney, indie sound, and that’s exactly what he gave us at Stockton Calling. He and his whole band were on point, cheered on by a loyal audience. It was an upbeat set and one that we truly enjoyed, especially Matthew!
Frankie Beetlestone – ARC 2
What a joy Frankie Beetlestone is! I fell in love with his style and working class community representation, thanks to the Stockton Calling 2022 Spotify playlist. His set was upbeat, fun and really easy to listen to, which is ideal for us first time Frankie fans. He’s definitely someone to look out for in the future.
bigfatbig – The Green Room
One of the artists I was most excited to see was bigfatbig and they really didn’t disappoint. In fact, I think they were my favourite set of the day! They had everyone singing along, they had absolutely oodles of energy, and they just didn’t miss a beat. Honestly, they were on fire and I was just obsessed. I’ve been singing ‘Don’t Wanna Be Sad’ ever since!
Komparrison – The Green Room
Another rapidly upcoming and well-known local name is Komparrison. We stuck around after bigfatbig to catch them, and wow, what a following they have! I don’t think I’ll ever get the ‘ohhh Komparrison’ chant out of my head. And the chant clearly got the five-piece going because they totally filled the room with their feel-good indie sounds. We even had some crowd surfing!
The Pigeon Detectives – Stockton ARC
And of course, last but not least, we went to see headline act, The Pigeon Detectives. And just in time too, as the venue reached capacity pretty quickly! It was no surprise, though, because their tunes really are crowd faves. It was magical to hear everyone chanting along to ‘I Found Out’ and see them dancing to ‘Take Her Back’. They had such a presence and were fantastic to watch. Make sure you catch them on tour at some point to see some expert microphone swinging!
As you can see, we managed to cram a lots of artists into our day (also shout out to Pit Pony who we saw about 10 seconds of after queuing for the whole set, and The Reytons who were at full capacity so we couldn’t get in). And that was thanks to all of the venues being so close together. You could walk straight out of one and into another if you liked, so it was all very easy.
Like I say, I really think the Stockton Calling team pulled it out of the bag for this grand return and you could see that everyone else felt the same. Everyone was having an absolutely mint time, whether they were simply sipping a drink in the sun or dancing to some music. It was an all round brilliant day!
I don’t know about you, but I’m already itching to get my tickets for Stockton Calling 2023. I’m so keen to see the line up and get on the hype all over again! It really is one of the best times of the year in the town and it’s an event that does so much for us as a region. So if you’ve never been before, take this as your sign to get tickets for next year.
Make sure you go listen to some of the artists I’ve mentioned and follow Stockton Calling for updates on 2023!
This blog post was written in exchange for tickets to Stockton Calling 2022. All opinions are my own.