UK Tech-Fest is more than a festival – it’s a family and a community. It genuinely feels like returning home when you enter through the box office and get your wristband put on. It’s a festival that genuinely creates a feeling of welcoming, inclusion, passion and dedication. Add to that lashings of technically impressive progressive metal, infectious on-stage performers, enough merch to sink a battleship and plenty of booze, and you’ve got what is now my favourite festival. First seen in 2012 (and at Newark Showground since 2014), the not-for-profit festival has only been possible thanks to the tireless devotion of founder Simon Garrod and his annually returning group of volunteers.
Read MoreAfter my hotel booking for the weekend was randomly cancelled with barely any notice, I decided I would be more than capable of getting the train to Badgerfest each day. Day 2 and I am regretting that thought already, as I whizz through Warrington and Newton Le Willows, unable to get lost in my usual daydreamy train thoughts (todays is “They missed a trick last night not covering the Badger song”) as I am alarmingly close to Dave and his workmates having a staff day out and sipping their pre mixed G and Ts.
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