Into the Wild: Cosmic Sussex – and Welsh – Wonder Weekend

Not all who wander are lost’, stated workshop leader Toby Chown’s T-shirt. For sure Tolkien had a point, but I can now reliably add: ‘Not all who are lost wander’. My intention had been to attend the Improvised Acting workshop but, somehow, I found myself in the wrong yurt heading ‘Into the Dreaming Dark’. I was lost and I was found – it turned out to be my favourite workshop of the weekend (a mix of voicework and storytelling). Perhaps it was cosmic intervention? At Into the Wild all things are possible...

This year’s festival was a humdinger. The weather was perfect, the vibe was full-blown peace and love, and all was well with the world – if sadly only for a weekend. As ever the opening ceremony was a ragtag delight of sincerity, spirituality, unintended pomposity, and inaudibility. And I mean a delight, as it is this homespun imperfection that makes Into the Wild such a warm-hearted and fun festival.

Peak excellence this year was found in the form of Bethan Lloyd, an incredible Welsh Bjork-esque vocalist who sings mainly in her native language. A bloke I chatted to afterwards said it was the best gig he’d been to in 30 years. The natural tree-lined amphitheatre stage setting added to Bethan’s wild and stirring set. By the time she finished I was more than ready to up arms and take on those fiendish English villains…until I remembered that they were me.

Other notable bands – it was a particularly good lineup this year – were led by Daara Tribe, (excellent as much for their fabulous Moroccan/Saharan outfits as for their sound), followed by Ustad Noor Bakhsh, Folkadelix, Natty and the Rebel Ship and The Gulls.

For me though the beating heart of Into the Wild is found in its workshops, its commitment to nature, its idiosyncratic organisation and, above all, in the people who pitch up. There’s nothing better than wandering aimlessly around the bucolic site and bumping into friends old and new, ignoring my workshop FOMO and chewing the fat over an overpriced chai or hot chocolate. There’s no pressure to be cool and groovy at Into the Wild. Unlike some festivals it’s not all about what you’re wearing; just come as you are. And should you find being yourself hard to get a handle on, go to a few of the numerous workshops and they’ll sort you out.

This year I gave myself permission to dip in and out of workshops like an irresponsible and impish spirit. In this vein I attended – embarrassingly briefly – Family Constellations, Singing Ourselves Home, Full Power Cacao Ceremony, Nature Writing, and Sing Free. I did though manage the whole of Into the Dreaming Dark, a Sacred Sound Bath (a bit too much noise from elsewhere for this to have much impact but I was enjoying the lie down), and a wonderful Icaros Sound Bath Ceremony with Shipibo shamans. The latter left me feeling gorgeously out of it and loved up.

As with all good festivals, Into the Wild puts on far too much over its long weekend for any one person to cover anything like everything. There’s a great Wild Craft Area, for example, which I hardly scratched the surface of – although I did manage a good natter with the animal-skin-clad crew at the decidedly eccentric Will Lord of the Stone Age venue. Yabba Dabba Doo! There’s also an excellent Wilderlands discussion tent, a Green Man earth mysteries area, an evening cabaret, a popular sauna, and a fabulous children’s section (this festival is great for kids) which I didn’t explore for fear of my professional interest being misconstrued. New this year was a dance tent, which seemed to go down well, and a very welcome and well-positioned café and open mic area near the central fire.

Nothing is perfect and I do have a couple of gripes. Namely the Ryanair-ish additional £5 for a hot shower (£10 for three), and the £20 cost of parking for the weekend. I understand festivals are struggling a bit with economics but I’m not sure this type of charging is the way to go. The festival also, inevitably given its many music and workshop venues, has some sound leeching going on. It was only really an issue for me during the gong bath, but I wonder if it might be possible to organise the programme that much more precisely to minimise this issue?

Let’s not dwell on a few small clouds though when the sun is shining so brightly. Into the Wild is a wonderful mid-sized festival and I urge you to give it a go. It’s pretty much completely alcohol and drug free so the vibe is guaranteed very peaceful, the camping area is comfortable, leafy and green, the selection of festival knick-knack stalls is good if a little pricey, the food and drink choices are excellent and mainly – or are they all – vegetarian and, well, Into the Wild is just a lovely life-affirming way to spend a weekend in beautiful company and countryside. Inshallah, I’ll be back again next year.

Neildelstrother.co.uk