The Bits You Missed At [@SandCFestival] 2018

It’s always fun travelling outside of London for work, (or just in general) as you feel an adrenaline rush when see you see your fellow peers. Festivals are one of the few places where you can do this. Strawberries and Creem is a festival that takes place in Cambridge since 2015 at Haggis Farm. Booking multi genre acts from across the world, Strawberries and Creem is slowly becoming the must see festival of the summer. With headline acts such as T – Pain, Shaggy, Heidi & Wiley and variety acts like SecondCity, Gospel Choir, & Mike Skinner – there is no wonder people from around the UK are travelling from all over to attend.

After a long train journey into Cambridge from London, I finally arrive at Haggis farm for 11 o’clock to collect press passes and find somewhere to grab a bite to eat. Sitting at a table across the field, I began my day watching the crew set up the festival ahead of everyone’s arrival. As acts started to arrive in the famous buggy, the ‘Big Top Tent’ was already full of people waiting for the likes of Octavian and House of Pharaohs to descend onto the stage. Sam Wise from HOP and Octavian rolled through with ‘100 Degrees‘ which created an unbelievable atmosphere.

After this I had to scatter through the crowd to see Kojo Funds on the Main stage. ‘Dun Talkin, My 9ine & Stallin‘ were the main hits that Kojo performed and received the most reception from which increased once Abra Cadabra jumped on stage. Later on Not3s then joined and brought out two groups that have shaken up the UK Rap scene such as NSG for ‘Pushing Up‘ and D-Block Europe for ‘Trophy‘.

Ghetts was the performance of the night for me. When I tell you he was an animal, he mashed up his set and was receiving constant reloads form the crowds as Rude Kid was on the decks. The Grime treasure took us way back with tracks like ‘Sing 4 Me‘ which is a childhood memory and it brought us all straight back to school days when he spat ‘She will never be more than a link to me’. Ghetts’ delivery in ever bar was correct and connected with the crowd differently.

As the night came to an end, it is a known fact that when you go to a gig or a festival they like to save the best till last. Strawberries and Creem finally met T-Pain and he left a good impression. Everyone showed up and out for the legend, no one was missing this for the world as you could hear a sea of voices singing, ‘Buy U A Drank, I’m Sprung & Bartender‘. Let’s just say the Americans like to put on a show, which was very entertaining for the front rowers.

Leaving 10 minutes early so I wasn’t stuck in traffic and having to push and shove people out the exit. Strawberries and Creem is a festival I will be attending next year and make sure you look out for 2019 tickets as it only can only go up from here.

https://www.strawberriesandcreem.com