Locash and The Long Road

Recently I had a weekend of firsts. My first attendance at the Long Road Festival, my first time meeting Locash, and my first time hearing them live! 

David Dawson

As someone who is still relatively new to the tight knit community (especially in the UK) that is country music fandom, I’m ashamed to admit that I really wasn’t that familiar with LOCASH heading into the Leicestershire based Long Road country music festival - but I’m definitely familiar with them now.

In fact, heading to the festival, nothing seemed familiar. Winding through country roads, up and down hills and through woodlands I was pretty sure the navigation was letting me down, until a small yellow sign emerged marked ‘Long Road Festival’. Again, naively, I hadn’t done my homework and being new to the genre had little knowledge of the festival. Expecting to turn up to a field with a gazebo and hot dog stand, you can imagine my delight when I rounded a corner and saw a horizon of tents and campervans, backdropped beautifully by the proudly standing Stanford Hall.

The festival was a joy to behold and was one of the sleekest and most well organised that I’ve had the pleasure to experience. The beautiful setting was utilised to the fullest with multiple stages, all capturing their own unique atmosphere. Rhinestone greeted us upon arrival, a large festival style stage primed for atmospheric anthems to get the crowd bouncing. A walk past this stage took you to the Front Porch Stage. This beautiful stage was styled as a small shack with, you guessed it, a front porch where artists would perform acoustic style sets. The porch was opposed by straw bail seating and fire pits to create a real country feel. Further into the grounds was Interstate, an open sided tent styled as a dancehall and giving a much more enclosed feel. Further performance areas included Buddy’s Good Time Bar and the Showground, each offering something different as the day went on.

Having had the chance to speak briefly with LOCASH in the afternoon I was blown away by their energy. I often feel guilty in this role when we speak to artists, as sometimes you can really tell that interviews aren’t their thing, but the duo were more than happy to take the time to speak with us and did so with as much charisma as we could possibly ask for. After this I was keen to make it for their early evening set to see what all the fuss was about.

And boy, did I.

Now The Cadillac Three are a sensational group and were worthy of headlining this event, but I don’t think I’m exaggerating to suggest that LOCASH stole the show. From the moment they stepped on stage to the moment they left it their energy was at the maximum, and the crowd absolutely fed off of it. In a way it almost didn’t matter what song they were playing because everyone was just having the best time dancing, bouncing and partying.

I think the biggest thing is that I enjoyed it despite not being that familiar with the band. We’ve all been there at gigs of bands, even the ones we know and love, but when they start bringing out the new numbers and we all start to get a bit bored; tapping our fingers and waiting for one of our favourites. With LOCASH I didn’t really know any of their songs, but I felt like I did. The set flew by and I was genuinely gutted when they left the stage, as far as I was concerned they could have stayed there for hours.

Interspersing their own songs with a few cheeky covers of old favourites, some hilarious anecdotes as well as giving their appreciation for the crowd, they engaged everyone throughout. It’s another common one isn’t it when we see people live - ‘(insert random city name here) we love you guys!’ But with LOCASH it felt like they meant it, and I hope they did. They seemed to be genuinely taken aback by the energy of the UK crowd and the response they were getting. Roars of approval went up in the air as they began planning their next trip across the pond live on stage, pointing to Stanford Hall in the background with a grin and shouting, ‘We’ll stay there!’ In our interview with LOCASH before the set, they had stated how much they were looking forward to playing, and that their gigs are really for their fans so they aim to bring as much energy as possible - I don’t think anyone can argue that they did just that. Having walked past the main stage plenty of times during the day we saw loads of artists performing to a crowd, the majority of which were enjoying from the comfort of deck chairs or at a distance, but with LOCASH everyone was jumping around. The crowd seemed to grow and grow and everyone who was walking past realised just how damn entertaining these guys are!

I have to also give credit to the touring band that accompanied the two brothers. They brought with them just as much energy and charisma. Even in the soundcheck the lead guitarist had the fans engaged, turning their mimicking of his signals to the sound engineer into a little game and encouraging big cheers from the crowd whenever he had a chance. It’s a little touch but it just helped to generate that extra energy before the music even started.

​I think LOCASH were the perfect encapsulation of the festival as a whole. The atmosphere around the whole place was electric, and for people who love a genre that is perhaps a little niche in this country, it was their chance to don the boots and the cowboy hats and to fit right in. Whilst LOCASH seemed surprised and delighted by the love they were receiving from the UK crowd, I think it meant just as much to the crowd that LOCASH were loving us. It wasn’t just a charismatic performance that got the crowd pumping and it wasn’t just an exceptionally good live rendition of their music; it was all those things and more. I’ll definitely be watching out for when the boys make it back to the UK and booking my tickets, and I encourage you to do the same. Even if you aren’t familiar with the band or don’t even like country music, I can promise you that you will have a good time.