Festival No.6 at Portmeirion is a world-class boutique music and arts festival. It’s odd, bizarre, unique, merry, spiritual and most definitely EPIC – but the one thing that really stands out at No.6 is the love and the unity. Something the world is in need of right now.
Apart from the menagerie of elements that make this festival so special, the starting point is the magical location. For those of you who’ve never heard of Portmeirion in North Wales, you’re in for a treat. Portmeirion is the masterpiece of Welsh architect Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, who purchased the Portmeirion site in 1925 for £20k. From 1925 until 1975, he built and created this magical town. Set on a peninsula on the western coastline of Snowdonia, the land was nothing until Sir Clough Williams-Ellis turned fantasy into reality with his vision of a picturesque Italianate coastal village. This, in turn, was the original inspiration behind the festival organisers desire to create a new festival, taking the code name of Patrick McGoohan’s character from 1960’s tv series The Prisoner – No.6. Their inaugural event in 2012 was a huge success and has been every year since.
For the 2017 festival, the organisers commissioned award-winning photographers Fanatic with assistance from Cinestill Film and Bayeux to capture the magic on analogue film. As you can see from these images, No.6 is nothing short of a festival fairytale and without hesitation, this is one of my all-time favourite photo-essays documenting an event.
“The process at Festival No.6 was a different beast to shooting digital. Having been to every No.6 from its’ inception, it was a pleasure to look at it with fresh eyes again. The cliche of film slowing you down is so very true. It forces you into a different perspective, every single shot matters…” said Danny North from Fanatic
Apart from the magic and mystery of the land, the nooks and crannies found in the 70-acre woods, the artists, artisans, poets and the food (oh the food!!), the awesome lineup of music artists included Mogwai, The Flaming Lips, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Bloc Party, Laura Mvula, Jarvis Cocker, Kate Tempest, Charlotte Church, Paul Weller, Noel Gallager, Years & Years to name a few. Highlights included the Beatles Parade, marking 50 years of Sgt Pepper, with huge effigies and a brass band that marched through town and on stage to the vibrations of the Liverpool Philharmonic & Bootleg Beatles plus the 70-strong Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir who serenaded onlookers from the climatic amphitheatre of the piazza.
Enjoy these timeless and memorable images and make sure you visit Festival No.6 at Portmeirion in 2018. Be inspired, be overwhelmed, get lost, be found, go crazy or just kick up your feet and enjoy the sights.
Analogue photography by Fanatic
with assistance from Cinestill Film and Bayeux
To see more images from this years’ event and to find out more about tickets, visit:
www.festivalnumber6.com
Written by Ian Cole for Client Voyage
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