Citadel Festival | Travel Diary 2017.

Tis the season of festivals and with each year a new one presents itself. At the start of this year I knew for sure I wanted to attend one having not been to a festival for five years! I have to say as much as I love going to festivals for the music, seeing your favourite musicians, the food and drink and having a laugh what I actually don't like is the people that come with it. There is always a select few to ruin your time and it's usually the people who haven't grasped the concept of a festival is for a good time, and for the music but they simply go to get trollied, high off their faces and ruin it for others (can you tell I'm a little bitter?). They're also usually the people who tend to remain at camp and don't bother seeing any musicians.

Having already been to Reading twice, Nass and Boomtown which are all weekend festivals, Alex and I wanted to find a day festival. That way you get the experience without the night time weirdos and you get to go home, shower and sleep in your bed (granny alert). I took to google and although there aren't that many especially near enough to us Citadel popped up. This is a rather new festival with only two years behind them but once I'd read their bio I knew it was the one. 

"CITADEL IS LONDON’S BRIGHTEST NEW FESTIVAL. COMBINING THE CITY’S CREATIVITY WITH A THRILLING MUSICAL LINEUP, FOR ONE DAY VICTORIA PARK BECOMES A SUN-DRENCHED UTOPIA…THE ULTIMATE SUMMER SUNDAY"

'The ultimate summer Sunday'- hello! Sounded perfect and the line up had me so excited! 

Now, the festival itself was actually amazing! We got there in good time (gates open at 12pm) and once we were in we walked all around the park taking everything in. I was actually amazed at what there was to offer considering the ticket was only £50. I couldn't believe it actually. Firstly, you're paying for the amazing artists to present themselves that day but there was so much to do from laying in hammocks, playing ping pong, volleyball, football, sit 'n' bounce ball races honestly the list goes on. Considering Reading costs about £200 when you're actually there, there isn't anything to do activity wise. It's such a great concept as it's fun and keeps you busy while you wait for your favourite musicians to play. There was also yoga, dance classes, science talks, lovercise, hula hoop classes, Ferris wheels and those high swings(which we obviously went on) the list actually goes on its unreal how much is provided.

The food stalls were all different every single one offering something different and tasty from the other. Being such a food lover I always get so excited to try all the new food. There was also a Fevertree gin and tonic stand where I must admit I drank mostly from because they were so good! Amongst the many stalls there were glitter girls for only £5 so being in the festival spirit, of course, I had my face done as well as a Polaroid stall. The girl was so lovely and made us feel at ease and the image actually turned out amazing. 

Another aspect which blew me away was how economical they were in not handing out programmes which usually end up on the floor or littered throughout London. To see when your favourite bands are playing you have to download the app- how amazing is that! Obviously, everyone is going to have their phones so what a clever concept and if you don't have your phone prior to the event you can write it down. On the app, you can also star all the musicians you want to see so 10 minutes prior to them playing you're notified. Mind blown. We had the absolute pleasure of seeing Jake Isaac, RY X, Oumou Sangare, Dan Croll(second time seeing him!), Sylvan Esso, A Blaze of a Feather, Bonobo, and the Foals!!

We weren't blessed with the most amazing weather but we were blessed with no down pours and to be honest you wouldn't want blazing sun all day- I still managed to get sun burnt through the clouds. We had such a brilliant time that we are definitely considering next year!

RY X

Dan Croll!