Headliner champions Aspiring artist stage at Pub In The Park 2024

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare wrote, “If music be the food of love, play on”. And if there’s one festival that combines the love of music and food, even the “excess of it” that the great bard wrote of, it would have to be Pub In The Park. Firmly established as a mainstay in Verulamium Park (named after the ancient Roman City on which it stands), this year saw even more music to complement the St Albans festival’s food stalls and cooking masterclasses thanks to Headliner debuting its first Aspiring Artist stage at this year’s edition of the feast festival.

Pub In The Park is the brainchild of celebrity and Michelin-star chef Tom Kerridge, who can be seen around the site taking part in cookery classes and recording live podcasts. Over on the main stage, the punters, who are very well provided for with food and drinks (or freebie alcohol-free cans of Gordon's gin and pink lemonade, for those that way inclined), also have such mainstream acts as Tinie Tempah, Paloma Faith, Olly Murs and Scouting For Girls to bop and burn the calories to.

With up-and-coming acts playing on The Headliner Stage all weekend, Saturday is the main day of music for both stages, with the former showcasing independent artists from midday right until nightfall, while not clashing with The X Factor star Olly Murs to close out the day’s festivities.

Opening proceedings on The Headliner Stage on Saturday lunchtime is BoThai, and with a lot of guitar-in-hand singer-songwriters populating the lineup, this spiritual songstress offers a unique prospect. She’s a singer who is also involved in sound bath and yoga events, so needless to say, the early audience finds themselves lulled by her peaceful music from a higher plane, via her wonderful piano playing and vocals.

Next up is Georgina White, a songwriter with a strong background in acting on both the screen and stage. Her love of jazz and soul, plus her naturally theatrical air, ensures a delightful performance that is full of vim despite being relatively early in the day.

Speaking of disregarding an early slot and performing exactly as if it’s the main stage at 9pm, Bertie’s set is characterised by singalong moments, bantering with the huddled crowd, and even a cover of Kanye West’s Gold Digger, which sees two ladies suddenly appearing in the audience and singing it back word for word — Bertie forgets the opening lyrics for the third verse, but thankfully these two prompt him straight back into the song. Bertie shares that he quit a job in finance to pursue music, and the appreciation he gets back is a lovely affirmation.

The penultimate performer in the afternoon slots is Grace McGuigan, entering the stage with her powerful vocal chords and her guitarist. It’s a wonderfully raw and earnest performance as she showcases some of her original songs including Raining In July (thankfully she doesn’t speak any actual raindrops into existence), Time Of Your Life, and Love Sick. There’s a lovely singalong moment as she ends with a cover of Riptide by Vance Joy, and we even get her personal food recommendation for the tacos by local favourites The Boot x Dylan’s, which is conveniently just a few stalls along.

And, before the stage takes a short late-afternoon pause, there’s just the matter of Rolo Vango to address. The London band with a London sound begin their set as a duo, then a keyboardist takes the stage, then next thing you know, there’s a six-piece group bringing big energy on this sunny mid-afternoon. Songs such as Day Drinking, which could hardly be more appropriate at this festival, go down a storm, and the audience needs no invitation to dance along.

There couldn’t be a more ideal artist to kick off the evening slots than Megzz, who brings the evening in with a brilliant blend of R&B, pop, and neo-soul. Each artist has 20 minutes to showcase their abilities, but Megzz ensures her runtime is packed with huge, anthemic sounds, and her powerhouse voice.

To ensure the indie rock genre doesn’t get passed by, Fletchr Fletchr arrive in an ensemble of long hair, ripped jeans, with songs such as Life that you can sing along to even if it’s your first time listening. The four piece have recently graced festivals such as Brighton’s Great Escape and the Isle Of Wight Festival, and with the manner they wear their hearts on their sleeves, it’s very easy to see why they are fostering such strong connections with the audiences they encounter.

Next up is a band who live by their “noughties nostalgia” mantra, which translates to big energy and huge choruses. Apex recently performed an unofficial slot at Glastonbury and Boardmasters festival by setting up in both festival’s car parks, and that rock and roll DIY attitude lives on at their Pub In The Park slot. Huge tunes such as Visa get the raucous reaction they deserve.

Rock and roll lived on right into the evening with one of the day’s youngest acts in The Evening. Despite their youthful visage, there was zero shortage of confidence, with the band’s frontman channelling Matty Healy by lighting a cigarette mid-song and leaving it in the neck of his guitar for future drags. The band’s set is a fantastic warm-up for their upcoming Camden Assembly show, and it sees Grace McGuigan return to the stage as she is invited up to join them for a cover of Valerie (although a note for fellow music pedants, the song is originally written by Liverpool’s The Zutons, not by the great Amy Winehouse as the singer suggests).

The unenviable task of following three full bands as a solo act while being the Saturday night headliner on The Headliner Stage falls to Matt McClafferty. Yet, there’s no sense that he’s even remotely daunted by the prospect, perhaps because he’d already opened the main stage earlier that day. With colourful sunglasses carefully resting on the top of his head, McClafferty launches into his songs, and the crowd magnetically draws as close to the front of the stage as possible, belting out almost every word of each song, despite the fact he only has one officially released song on Spotify. It’s a brilliant and inspiring sight to see.

In The Mix

In line with the Aspiring Headliner podcast and article series, the stage within the 150-capacity marquee was powered by QSC, quite literally, with a pair of QSC K12.2 active loudspeakers and a QSC KS212C subwoofer belting out each performance. Each artist’s set was also recorded from FOH using a QSC TouchMix 30 Pro console.

Mixing all four sets across the weekend was experienced FOH engineer, Rick Dickerson, who commented on the quality of the QSC rig:

“It’s a really nice, smooth-sounding system, and I didn't have to EQ it at all - it was great right out of the box,” Dickerson explained. “It packed more than enough punch - which isn’t always easy with a small PA at an outdoor festival, particularly when you’re dealing with sunshine one minute and torrential rain the next! - but the rig provided a full and tight sound throughout, and vocals cut through without any difficulty at all; the QSC system was a real pleasure to use, and many people commented on how nice our stage sounded… some actually suggested that it was better than the main stage audio, but I couldn’t possibly comment… [smiles]”

What was particularly nice about using the TouchMix, Dickerson said, was its super small footprint and overall functionality; a perfect fit for the fast-paced set changeovers in between acts, and to handle all the multitrack recording.

“Within an hour, I’d set up snapshots in this little desk; it's the easiest-to-use user interface out there in my opinion,” Dickerson stated. “It's a 32-channel interface as well, with very good pres - so you can record straight off it at high quality. We tracked at 48kHz, and I used around 12 channels for the bands. I could quickly swap them using the custom fader bank, and was able to bring all the channels that were used on that particular act together on one bank, including the effects return, so the minute I checked anything, I could save it as a snapshot, recall it, and get all the fader treatments that I'd line-checked earlier. It saved a huge amount of time, and nothing ever ran behind. Given that we had 10-minute changeovers, that was pretty amazing. We were done in a couple of minutes. It just made everything so much easier.”

All artists who performed on The Headliner Stage used Earthworks SR117 condenser mics, which went down very well with the performers as well as Dickerson himself, who was using them for the first time. He positioned three SR117s out front for the vocalists, and was able to mix them right out of the box without any corrective work:

“There was basically no EQ on the Earthworks mics other than a high pass filter; and in terms of proximity effect, we had no audible pops or problems whatsoever,” Dickerson said. “What’s also so striking about the SR117 is its quite exceptional pattern control across all frequencies, which offered maximum feedback rejection across the whole weekend. Great for the recording element too, of course. It’s an incredibly good vocal condenser microphone, and many of the artists were asking more about it after their performances.”

It’s fair to say that this year's Pub in the Park has upped the ante not only in terms of attendance and community spirit, but also in its role as a champion for aspiring artists. By providing a platform for new talent alongside established stars, the festival is opening up vital pathways for a new generation of musicians.

"The Headliner Stage played host to 23 super-talented independent artists across three days - a first for Pub in the Park, and something we are keen to build upon next year," summarised Headliner CEO, Paul Watson. 

With the momentum gained from this year's success, 2025 is shaping up to raise the bar further still. Anticipation is high for new talent discoveries, innovative culinary experiences, and unforgettable musical performances. Pub in the Park has firmly solidified its place as not just a festival, but a cultural platform for celebrating community, creativity, and the limitless power of music.