The Sprout

Review: Under Construction Festival 2011

Posted by Tansi from Cardiff - Published on 25/08/2011 at 10:46
1 comments » - Tagged as Festivals, People, Volunteering

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On Saturday 20th August 2011 the Under Construction Festival gave young people the chance to perform their own music/covers at Maindy Stadium throughout the day.

Unfortunately it wasn't as busy as last year due to rain in the morning and light showers throughout the day. However, the sun did break through at around halfway through making the day a lot brighter.

Helping out at the festival was an enjoyable job to do. I got to meet a few of the acts performing whilst having the privilege to see other wonderful acts on stage. It was great to see that the Under Construction Festival focused on ability to play, sing and overall do a great performance as there was a band that went on stage that were disabled.

I think this band did extremely well and the crowd seemed to love them. Another act that I thought was brilliant was Bettie J. She was a solo act who sang with her acoustic guitar. Her voice was powerful and showed a lot of potential when she was on stage.

The last act on stage I also think were fabulous - Alternative Expression. I think it was a shame that by the end of the day a lot of people had gone home because by the time they came to the stage an average of seven people in the audience were left to cheer. They certainly wowed the crowd though with their unique performance.

Deadlights were also another act to perform on the main stage. Again they did a brilliant show that entertained the crowd. Showing a lot of enthusiasm they managed to get a few more people to the main stage to see what was going on.

All the acts that performed on the main stage: Bloodcandy, My Forgotten Desire, The Monico, Deadlights, Teenscheme Rockers, Four Words Later, Raphaelites, Bettie J, The Dead Beats, Sharks Don’t Sleep and Alternative Expression all did really well. They showed a huge amount of courage and put in 100% effort considering the circumstances of the day. It was a great shame that not as many people turned up as last year, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves none the less.

Whilst there were booked acts on the main stage there were a few other tents with other activities to involve yourself in. There was an arts and crafts tent, where you could make your own jewellery, face painting and even buy some goodies with all the proceeds going to Oxfam. In another tent there was food being sold. A wide variety that ranged from sandwiches to baguettes and other delicious foods. Not only that but in another tent they had Open Mic which meant that even you could perform in front of an audience if you wanted to.

The Open Mic seemed especially popular when the rain got a little too heavy but there were still a few people who braced it out in the open to hear the other acts perform out on stage.

Being able to steward and take photographs/film on this day truly made me appreciate all the effort that young people go through just to put on Under Construction Festival once a year.