Wakestock is the perfect way to chill out in the sun

We arrive at the wakestock site early evening as the sun is starting to dip in the red sky, over what can only be described as the most breathtaking venue for a festival I have personally witnessed, nestled on top of a mound overlooking the extremely picturesque cardigan bay with the shoreline merely a stones throw away from the car parks.

Having faced no queues in the car at all (a very welcome surprise) and being used to much larger festivals, we started to unpack expecting a long walk, this however was not to be found here it was merely a 5 minute walk.

As we entered the site through very prompt wristband exchange, they had a good rummage for contraband, it was clear to see that the average age attending this festival was very much on the teenage side. For much of the weekend was very apparent, with the vibe given off from many that this was their first foray into festival land - a first trip away with mates, open to the excess of cider, vodka and many other, tasty concoctions no doubt.

The campsites were in very good condition with extremely helpful camping stewards on hand. They well lit and access was good to the arena with the campsite even having it's own little fun fair to amuse after the bands had finished, as well a limited choice of food stalls to cater for munchies. Toilets and showers were a bit low on the ground, and the showers had a tendency to break down. Anyway, onward to our first Wakestock arena experience.

The Thursday night was a nice little treat, with a Propaganda club night being held for all the early arivals and it wasn’t a disappointment, the Propaganda house resident DJs Micky Slim and Jigsaw got the party off to a flying start. They were followed up by Goldierocks, and the night's main draw of Toddla T & MC Serocee, which was lapped up by the crowd enjoying the deep dubstep influenced style they brought to the table, as it turns out this was to be a very reoccuring theme of the weekend, with a plethora of dubstep acts proving to be the big crowd pullers over the weekend.

We got up bright and early, to head down to Pwllheli this as made very easy by the fleet double decker buses working tirelessly to ferry anyone with a festival wristband free of charge around all the competition sites which were no more than a 10 min bus ride away ( Pwllheli on Friday and Saturday and Abersoch beach for the big air comp on the Sunday) to check out the first day of wakeboarding action, this was the semi finals of the pro comp.

I had never witnessed wakeboarding before, and to say I was impressed would be the understatement of the century, this was the perfect way to chill out in the sun getting over the previous night's hangover, with competitors from as far afield as Thailand and Australia mixed in with the cream of the local talent, it did not fail to amaze, 4 rounds of 6 boarders fighting out for 8 places in Saturdays showpiece final, all in Pwllheli marina with a great promonade for viewing, with some great DJs providing the soundtrack for a great weekends action, DJs Dash & Ben Proudlove, in particular really getting the marina buzzing in the 27 degree Saturday sunshine.

Back on the bus to the main site in Penrhos ( 5 minute from the wakeboarding action) the arena gates opened at 4pm with the first acts on stage at 5, these were relatively small local acts, which gave, these local talents a real chance to taste the big stage festival atmosphere, unfortunately, there seemed to be a bit of a lack of urgency in the mainly teenage crowd until the big hitting names emerged on stage around 7 pm each day.

Many seeming to take the opportunity to get smashed in the campsite before rolling into the arena for their favourite sing along acts, this is a shame as there were some real pearls dug up by the booking team, inside the desolate arena which consisted of twin, mammoth tented stages of east, and west. As well as a small outdoor tent which resembled a pop up tent on steroids. The line up was hardly ever over lapping on the two main stages, giving the opportunity to take in most of the 'big' names on the line up, apart from Sunday night where late licensing was an issue time wise, so if you were content with not being right on the barrier you could easily take in 90% of all main stage performances just missing the odd song.

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