The 43rd Leamington Peace Festival

Photo: Andy Holdcroft

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Well thank goodness for that: Leamington Peace Festival was back for its 43^rd manifestation and how delighted am I  to be reporting on it after so long a hiatus?

I'll be frank: I feared it was consigned to history. After struggling for people to help out & then  lockdown, the longer the period it didn't run, I assumed that a revival became less & less possible. Then came the fiasco of an attempt in 2025 to put something on which was a travesty of the original & caused far more offence than it spread the values of the Festival. Possibly that was a catalyst for 2026, but very good people have come on board (including one original founder, Gian) and I'm going to say it: this is not just a revision to the values & quality of yesteryear but amongst the best I've been to.

In an era I hardly need to cover in depth with international peace threatened in so many places & the ideologies of peace, diversity & inclusion under direct assault around the world and even here in Warwickshire where the County Council stands against the Peace Festival values, it seems all the more needed. Huge kudos to the team: I can't name them all if I want to write an article which gets read but the Directors are Jennie, Leila, Tom and Jatinder.

The event was heaving (I met so many people whom I knew and missed as many whom I later discovered had been in the crowds somewhere) and if the weather helped, then I got the impression that it was mainly joy at the return of the Festival. Everyone was more or less saying the same things to me & I to them. In the absence of the Peace Festival, the local authorities have promoted a range of commercial and lifestyle events, possibly to draw on the perceived community, but I think from what I saw & heard, the people who came were motivated far more by higher values: compassion, community etc than materialism and self-indulgence. It was wonderful to see so many stalls promoting philosophies & communities under threat and talks which stimulated discussions: the message definitely was one of "we must all stand together"

I think the music lineup is one of the strongest I can remember and it's great to see so many artists we've supported in the magazine playing: Shanghai Hostage, Man Made Moon, las vedas, The Session, Ben Clempson (of Clemency), The Mudlands String Band, Rosetta Fire (the one act I was sorry not to able to see) TwoManTing, Firedaze and The New Obsession. All of them were clearly inspired by the atmosphere & the audiences & played blinders.

It was actually quite a stimulating start to be met with a few curve balls straight away. Thank you to Shanghai Hostage who are good at that sort of thing. Knowing that guitarist Ben was in Australia and that bassist Rich had relocated to South Yorkshire, I was expecting Justin of Duck Thieves and Deathsex Bloodbath to be depping on guitar & intrigued to see who played bass. In the event, I found the return of Rich: but not to play bass but guitar and Rhys on bass showing the same level of funk we've come to expect after only a few rehearsals. That prepared me nicely to process Mole/Butterfly dancing . Yes.

Later on another delight worth sharing was las vedas bringing on many auxiliary members (some really young) for a spirited cover of "Rock Lobster" (with "lots of bubbles"). Will they be repeating this when they play the ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraiser for The Tin on July 3^rd? Pop down & find out.

Returning to a favourite theme of mine (please bear with me: I have a valid point to make here), it was very rewarding to see one of the ‘Live On Stage' bands The New Obsession, close the festival on the bandstand (though sadly without the studying bassplayer Lilyana). Not only is this another step forward for this excellent band who made such progress in 2025, but a vindication of the input on this project run by The Tin and Coventry Music. All the musicians watching to whom I spoke told me that they would never have imagined having the confidence to play such events at 15/16 & frankly organisers would not have booked such young artists in their day. If this is another way the Peace Festival is going (and to be honest I don't recollect their having such young musicians before), then I'm very impressed and looking forwards to more.

Credit too to the sound team, led by Bungle and including Paul, John, Chris & Martin. Support for musicians has always been a key part of the Peace Festival and it really only gets appreciated when enduring the lack of respect shown by lesser events which regard "music" as merely a generic attraction & skimp on hiring professional sound engineers.

There was so much love around & people were so glad the Peace Festival was back: even taken just for its musical component, it was a wonderful event. But it is way more than that and having lost it once, the issues of sustainability must now be much more appreciated. The team worked wonders by reviving the event: in my opinion against the odds. There are dynamics around both indifferent & hostile to its values quite apart from the demands on the organising team. I urge everyone who enjoyed the Peace Festival in 2026 to do everything within their capability to support it, not just on the two days it actually happens, but in helping it come together: incidentally please do put June 12^th to 13^th 2027 in your diaries!