Surprise yourself: go to Pubstock
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 24/05/2008
Comic Danny Robins explains why you should put on some ironic invisible wellies and head for the great indoors for a rock/comedy festival with a difference
A couple of years ago, I had a festival in my flat for my Radio 1 show – it was great, we had bands in my living room (we had to move the TV), a comedy tent in my bedroom, jugglers in the kitchen and somebody giving massages in the 'healing field', otherwise known as the bathroom.
Pretty much everyone there said it was the best festival they'd ever been to.
It was this experience that inspired me to set up Pubstock. Pubstock is 'a Glastonbury style festival in a pub'. I've been running it once a month at The Albany on Great Portland Street since January.
There's something about it that seems to catch people's imagination. We love festivals at the moment in this country; new ones are springing up faster than Facebook pages. Just as Finland has two mobile phones per member of the population, we Brits are in danger of being outnumbered by outdoor summer music events.
They involve all the things we traditionally look for in a weekend break – bad weather, dodgy food, discomfort and being trapped in close proximity to people we find quite annoying. Glastonbury is really just Butlins with better entertainment and worse toilets.
advertisementAt Pubstock, we have a mixture of music, comedy, cabaret and circus performers and I even bring in some mud from my back garden for the occasion. At the last gig, I toasted marshmallows for the audience using a catering blowtorch.
It's got that kind of relaxed 'anything goes vibe' that a festival should have and, unlike the real Glastonbury, you don't have to register online, provide 5 types of photo ID or prove your direct lineage to Michael Eavis to get in.
We've had some fantastic acts – Stephen Merchant, Robin Ince, and my favourite band, Circulus, who describe themselves as 'the UK's premier neo-medieval psychedelic folk rock band.'
This summer, we're going to be doing a couple of one offs (a two off?) at 93 Feet East on Brick Lane. It's exciting – a much bigger venue, but it's perfectly suited to our show.
We'll have acts all afternoon into evening, including Richard Herring and last year's If.Comedy Best Newcomer Tom Basden plus some really great bands and singers including Evi Vine, who I think is really going places.
My girlfriend's making cakes for our food tent and I will be wearing my wellies, running the barbecue and compering the acts. It's going to be so much fun – and without the hassle of putting up a tent or trying to find a flushing toilet.
I'm also taking Pubstock up to Edinburgh in August. Who knows, we might even find we end up playing at Glastonbury next year. That would be ironic. At least then I wouldn't need to bring my own mud.
Pubstock is at 93 Feet East, 150 Brick Lane, London E1 on Sunday 8 June - and Sunday 13 July. Tickets are £5 on the door or £4 in advance from wegottickets.com
