Kendal Calling Festival 2026, Lowther Deer Park - Day One - Thursday 30th July

From hauling tents up the hills to singing under the stars, Kendal Calling's opening day proves the festival magic starts long before the headliners.

Words and Photography - John Hayhurst

There is always a moment during the journey into Kendal Calling when you begin to question every packing decision you have ever made. The car boot that looked reasonably organised at home somehow disgorges enough equipment for a Himalayan expedition: tent, chairs, sleeping bags, rucksacks, crates of beer and one cool box whose tiny wheels were clearly never designed for a Cumbrian field.

Then comes the trek. Gear is hauled from car to campsite, over uneven ground and up the sort of hills that become steeper with every trip. Arms burn, tent pegs vanish and The Shire still appears to be several counties away. Yet once the final guy rope is secured, the camping chair unfolds and that first cold beer cracks open, the struggle immediately becomes part of the story. The bags are down, the wristbands are on and Kendal Calling can finally begin.

Thursday is traditionally the festival’s warm-up lap. Only a selection of stages are open, allowing the early arrivals to explore Lowther Deer Park before the weekend accelerates into full-scale madness. It may be billed as the opening night, but with a Main Stage headliner, cult indie royalty and unexpected brass-band mayhem ahead, Kendal is hardly easing itself in quietly.

Vacant Weekend are first onto the Main Stage and bring the perfect soundtrack for those still shaking off the journey. The Manchester-based trio’s funk-flecked indie grooves give the growing crowd an immediate lift, with the infectious bounce of ‘Cool New Friends’ and ‘Sammy Down’ turn an early-afternoon gathering into the first proper dance of the weekend. Bright, loose and effortlessly summery, they make the vast field feel considerably less vacant.

The Covasettes keep the momentum climbing with the kind of sun-soaked indie pop built for open-air stages. Frontman Chris Buxton leads from the centre while Matt Hewlett’s guitar lines, Jamie McIntyre’s bass and Matt Buckley’s driving drums add muscle to songs such as ‘Be Mine’, ‘Wave’ and ‘Love in Polaroid’. Their melodies arrive polished enough for radio, but live they possess the scruffier, more excitable edge needed to win over a festival crowd.

Then comes one of Thursday’s most intriguing bookings. Vanessa Carlton takes her place at the piano and, for a while, the Main Stage field feels unexpectedly intimate. ‘Ordinary Day’ and ‘White Houses’ bring a rush of early-2000s nostalgia, while newer material from Veils shows an artist determined not to remain frozen inside her biggest hit.

Of course, the opening notes of ‘A Thousand Miles’ create one of the day’s loudest reactions. Carlton may be seated at the keys, but thousands of voices rise around her, turning a familiar piano refrain into a huge communal moment. It is sentimental, slightly surreal and exactly the sort of left-field booking Kendal Calling does so well.

From piano-led reflection, it is time for something considerably louder—and involving considerably more brass. Inside the Oktoberfest Tent (yes I know it's still July), Brasswürst a fake Bavarian band from Manchester transform the evening into a gloriously unrestrained beer-hall party. Traditional German drinking tunes collide with modern pop and rock songs given the full oompah treatment, as long tables become dance floors and steins are raised with increasing enthusiasm.

It is silly in all the right ways: brass pumping, crowds bouncing and any remaining Thursday-night reserve disappearing beneath an avalanche of singalongs. Outside, Kendal Calling is an indie festival; inside this tent, Cumbria has briefly relocated to Bavaria.

Back at the Main Stage, The Cribs deliver the first genuinely ragged guitar assault of the weekend. Brothers Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman remain one of British indie rock’s most instinctive live bands, ripping into their songs with the sense that everything could either collapse or become transcendent at any second.

‘Hey Scenesters!’, ‘Mirror Kissers’ and ‘I’m a Realist’ land with characteristic abrasion, but it is the arrival of ‘Men’s Needs’ that sends the field into full indie-discotheque mode. Guitars scrape, bodies collide and the Jarmans remind Kendal that beneath all the nostalgia, these songs still possess sharp elbows.

The evening then offers another change of pace as Lloyd Cole appears in the wonderfully intimate surroundings of Tim Peaks Diner. Away from the scale of the Main Stage, Cole’s literate songwriting and dry delivery reward those who squeeze inside—or gather closely around—the venue. It feels less like a festival performance and more like stumbling across a master songwriter playing in the world’s coolest café.

Selections from his solo catalogue sit naturally beside Lloyd Cole and the Commotions favourites, with ‘Rattlesnakes’, ‘Perfect Skin’ and among the treasures to surface. ‘Lost Weekend’ would have been particularly appropriate tonight: sophisticated, melodic and accompanied by the knowledge that this particular weekend has only just begun.

By the time The Kooks take control of the Main Stage, darkness is settling over Lowther Deer Park and Thursday’s gentle opening has become a full-scale headline celebration. Luke Pritchard remains an effortlessly recognisable frontman, his clipped vocals sailing across a crowd now fully committed to the weekend.

Newer material from Never/Know brings a fresh shimmer, but the biggest reactions are inevitably reserved for the songs that helped define an entire indie generation. ‘She Moves in Her Own Way’ sparks embraces between friends, ‘Ooh La’ rolls across the field and ‘Seaside’ briefly brings a little Brighton wistfulness to the Cumbrian hills.

There is only one way the night can truly end. As the opening guitar of ‘Naïve’ rings out, thousands of tired travellers find another reserve of energy. Voices crack, arms rise and strangers sing into one another’s faces beneath the lights of the Main Stage. It is nostalgic without feeling stale—a song old enough to carry memories, but immediate enough to create a whole new set tonight.

Thursday may be Kendal Calling’s shortened opening day, but nothing about it feels incomplete. It hasn't rained yet, the tent is still standing, the first beer has long since disappeared and the aches from that punishing journey into The Shire have been temporarily forgotten. Kendal Calling is officially awake.

Friday promises to raise the temperature again. Rianne Downey’s beautifully poised country-folk songwriting should provide an early highlight, before The Vaccines bring their arsenal of sharp, instant indie anthems. Later, Scissor Sisters will add flamboyance, disco and glorious excess, while Two Door Cinema Club look ready to send the Main Stage crowd dancing into the Cumbrian night.

If Thursday was supposed to be the warm-up, the next three days could be enormous.