Designer wellies. They’re everywhere at Wilderness, which over its 13-year history has developed a reputation as one of the poshest music festivals in Britain. David Cameron is, famously, a regular.
Veuve Clicquot hosts an on-site Champagne Garden. There’s a spa. Hot tubs.
Nice toilets with a seemingly never-ending supply of loo roll. Josh Angus and Meera Sodha are two of many award-winning chefs charged with cooking punters dinner. You’ll find no humble burger van here – unless it’s made of ostrich.
But Wilderness isn’t exclusively for those in a high tax bracket. I’m 27 with basically no assets – liquid or otherwise – and it is glorious. The leafy grounds of the Cornbury Park Estate in Oxfordshire lend themselves to lounging in the sun.
Huge green hills backdrop the winding lake, frequented by wild swimmers and couples rowing boats as bankside pilates sessions, sound baths, and meditation classes ease revellers into each of the festival’s four days. And then, of course, there’s the music. Faithless, the electro band responsible for the Nineties club classics “Insomnia” and “God Is a DJ”, are Friday’s headliners.
In the middle of their first round of shows since the passing of their lead vocalist Maxi Jazz in 2022, guitarist David Randall stands front and centre as Sister Bliss pounds the keys. Their biggest hits have people on shoulders, but the set is bolstered by other artists’ tracks: Joy Division, Fred Again and, surprisingly, “Crazy�.