When I reviewed Landed in 2021 I came away thinking it was one of the best small festivals in the UK, albeit with a very punk flavour. Having experienced it for the second year in a row, my opinions have not changed.
Set in a beautiful Welsh valley near Llandridod Wells, the festival has near unmatched views in all directions, where you can see whisps of clouds playing across the hills and through the treetops. The River Wye, at this point small and pebble-bottomed, runs through the festival site, which is home to many gigantic ancient and beautiful trees, and surrounded by woodland.
The festival has a very friendly feel, with regular attendees comparing it more to a 1990s free party than a modern event, and many of the people there are from that crowd. The customers, staff, and security are fantastic, with a positive, friendly and non-combative approach to everything and everyone.
The bar is cheaply priced and stocked with beer and cider from local breweries, and there are plenty of toilets and water points available across the site. All of these are kept in good condition throughout the festival, while the entire ground is covered with soft, comfortable grass, perfect for tents and bare feet. In addition, children are welcome, and activities are made available for them throughout the event.
Sonically, Landed is an absolute blast. With a dual main stage setup, switching times between bands are quick and seamless, and since the stages are only a minute apart, catching all the live music you want is trivially easy.
Smaller acts performed on the second Horsebox Stage, creatively named after the vehicles it was constructed from, while acoustic performances were done on the Bardic Basement Stage.
If bands started to bore you, two stages, the Incubator, playing all kinds of techno and techno adjacent music, and the Other Psyde, blasting an assortment of endless psytrance were available from early till late, and featured a rotating cast of dancers enjoying themselves throughout the event.
Highlights from Friday included the Jam Clan, a big blues group who played a slightly chaotic set, featuring top tier saxophone noises and Zara Billionara who let rip with the psychedelic rock.
Monsterometer, a band that played a wild fusion of surf rock, shock rock, and punk were one of my favourite acts of the day too. Their old-fashioned heavy metal vocal style worked brilliantly with their snake charming guitar squeal creating a rolling indulgent atmosphere of subgenrebending rock.
Also rocking the Friday were headliners Ozric Tentacles, the legendary space rock act delivering their usual extremely psychedelic combination of guitar and synth, creating a beautiful soundscape in front of the Main Stage.
On Saturday, the first act to really catch my eye was a DIY punk band called Tits Up. Made up of a cross-generation group of extremely talented albeit sweary female punks, the band made Dolly Parton’s Joelene sound like a death threat, and have written a smashing anthem in Sick in My Hair.
After them, ska band Packet Racket took to the main stage, where they delivered a set absolutely full of energy that sent peoples knees right into the sky.
They were followed by Saturdays headliner, the dubmaster himself, Gaudi. Breaking out a theramin, the legendary producer played a set that made it sound like he knew he was among his own people.
However, my highlight from Saturday was the self described six-way electro-tradgasm that is Yoko Pwno. Featuring soaring flute, dancing strings, and pounding rhythm this celtic folk group led what was probably the most intense dance of the weekend, and have rapidly grown into one of my personal favourites.
Sunday also featured a number of fantastic acts, including ska punk band Smoke Like A Fish, who effortlessly wound the crowd around their fingers with their growling vocals, perfect musicianship and hardcore horn jams.
They followed a live guitar and DJ combination act called Strikkt. This was one of the best performances of the festival, and combined dubstep, trance, metal and pop culture references to create a unique sound. The guitars were fantastic, and meshed with the DJ’s magic perfectly.
The guitarist from this duo also performed in Saturday nights headline act, Spacehopper. Stalwart’s on the scene for decades now, and a reliable choice for a dance, the band played their trademark relaxing mix of trance and dub which accurately reflects their orbital name.
While Landed is a fantastic festival, it still has a few elements that I felt could be improved on. Firstly, the arena still felt like it had quite a lot of open, empty space. Options to improve this could include finding additional sideshows or slightly rearranging the site layout. Secondly, the stage design, while good, makes very heavy use of marquees which don’t look amazing compared to the best small festivals have to offer
Despite these very minor niggles Landed is a perfectly put-together festival, with no logistical issues, an amazing site and a fantastic lineup of interesting and varied acts. While it mostly sticks to the genres it excels at, namely punk, techno, and psy adjacent music, it also offers other musical options, ranging from dub to country. If any of this sounds interesting to you, you should really check it out.
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