Alex James: My Big Feastival boasts entire 'telephone directory' of big-name stars

The Blur bassist said: "I ran away from London 10 years ago for some peace and quiet in the country and now I’ve built a Groucho Club"
Success story: James' festival has grown and grown since it began six years ago
Max Nash/AFP/Getty
Jennifer Ruby24 August 2017

Alex James is hoping that this year’s Big Feastival will be “bigger and better” than ever before as Olly Murs, Madness and Prue Leith descend on his Cotswolds farm.

Now in its sixth year, the food and music line-up has gone from “one sheet of A4 paper” to an entire “telephone directory” of big-name stars, said the former Blur bassist.

“There’s so many festivals on in the UK every summer that you’ve just got to keep getting better and being better than everyone else,” said James. “This is the sixth year now, it’s flown by actually, I remember the first year ever everything fitted on one side of A4 paper and now it’s like a telephone directory.”

Faithless, Ella Eyre, Louisa Johnson and Frances will perform over the course of the weekend while chefs including Mark Hix, Rick Stein, Gizzi Erksine and Bake Off’s Candice Brown will be on hand for talks and classes. While the BritPop pioneer may have swapped London for the Cotswolds a decade ago, he’s included elements of city life in the festival line-up.

“The Groucho Club are running a bar again, which I’m really pleased about. You know I ran away from London 10 years ago for some peace and quiet in the country and now I’ve built a Groucho Club,” he said.

James insisted that the festival is perfect for anyone who “came to watch Blur at Reading back in the day” and now have families but “still want to jump up and down but probably want to eat nice Lobster and chips and have a glass of bubbly and have nice toilets.

“It’s really easy to get to from London, the train station is literally at the bottom of the field,” he added.

The Big Feastival, August 25-27, Alex James’ Farm, Kingham, The Cotswolds.

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