Welcome to Paradise: Krankenhaus 2023
“Welcome to paradise” proclaimed Sea Power frontman, Jan, during their Saturday night set. It could have seemed an incongruous statement, being made from atop a scaffolding-constructed stage in a cow-barn, and yet Krankenhaus 2023 has a good claim to be festival perfection.
Housed in the grounds of Muncaster Castle (actually a mid-nineteenth century turreted mansion) on the west coast of the Lake District, Krankenhaus’ location speaks both to its founders’ roots (two fifths of Sea Power – the Wilkinson brothers – are Cumbrian) and a love of nature and the outdoors that permeates their music and many of their fans’ secondary recreational activity preferences (a devotion to live music being the strongest common denominator).
This third edition of Krankenhaus was the most expansive yet, offering a wonderfully eclectic menu of live music, talks, walks, and raptor displays that belies the tiny scale of the endeavour – peak crowds of maybe 1,000 die-hard Sea Power fans plus friends. Paradise indeed. Here follows the markontour review of Krankenhaus 2023.
Friday
- Bill Birkett, 10am, Drawing Room
Bill Birkett’s ‘The Complete Lakeland Fells’, which photographed and offered routes up all of the Lake District peaks higher than 1,000 feet, is something of a bible for lovers of the Lakes, so I was dead keen to hear from the local legend who wrote it. Birkett, a self-effacing, no nonsense kind of Cumbrian, did not disappoint. I loved one of many anecdotes about his pioneering mountaineer father: “The lead climber must never fall off”, his Dad once advised him, “Not so much because you’ll kill yourself, Bill, but because you’ll bring dishonour to the family name.” - Pint-Sized Punk, 11am, Drawing Room
Energising chat with Arlo Lippiatt, a thirteen year old prodigy, producing a cracking post-punk fanzine and proving an inventive interviewer of rock-bands (see next item). - Brighton Rock, 11.30am, Drawing Room
Jan and Phil from Sea Power, joined by Roy Wilkinson and Tom White (Electric Soft Parade & now drumming with Sea Power), to see what they could remember about the Brighton music scene of 2003, when Sea Power formed. It could have been one long embarrassing pause, given that Jan kicked off by admitting he couldn’t really remember 2003 at all, and then proceeded to consider each question for so long that his answers generally arrived in response to a following line of enquiry. But Pint Sized Punk, Arlo Lippiatt, proved an inspired choice of interviewer, including lofting up one of the best music questions I’ve heard: “If you could bring back one band that are no longer together, but in order to do so you have to sacrifice another band of a similar stature, who would they be?”. “Push It, by Salt and Pepper” offered Jan, responding to an earlier probe. - Opening Ceremony, 1pm, Barn
It’s rare to include an opening speech in a festival review but after telling us about the recycling, Muncaster Castle co-owner, Peter Frost-Pennington, recited a Lewis Carroll poem largely from memory, while shedding layers from a fluorescent work-site jacket down to purple sparkling dinner jacket and top-hat. Nice to know the host is a genuine music fan. - Baba Ali, 7.30pm, Barn
Really loved this American duo. Synths and scuzzy guitar backed by a New Order-esque drumbeat. Strong stage presence and left me looking forward to listening to their new album, ‘Laugh Like a Bomb’, when I get the vinyl home. - H. Hawkline, 8.30pm, Barn
Bereft of his 7-piece backing band from Green Man, H. Hawline was accompanied only by an old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape machine and still sounded awesome. “It’s got my entire set on it. Exactly half an hour. But it’s a bit temperamental, so there won’t be much chat”, he laconically warned at the start. All was fine, however, and so we were treated to highlights from Hawkline’s career-best latest album, ‘Milk for Flowers’. Sharing the same kind of shy, dry wit as Welsh indie rock forebears like Euros Childs and Gruff Rhys, it was a surprise when Hawkline removed his brogues and told us he was going to dance. Admittedly it was as awkward as he promised, but endearingly so. - Bodega, 9.30pm, Barn
An overly-long soundcheck, during which vocalist/guitarist, Ben Hozie, appeared to be reciting from the Bible, meant this wry, lively Brooklyn post-punk band barreled through their cracking set, switching between male and female lead vocals, but that only added to the smile-inducing, jump-up-and-down intensity. One to see again. Loved that singer, Nikki Belfiglio, was later giving fans albums on the promise that we would pay later online, as her card machine wasn’t working. Entirely within the Krankenhaus ethos.
Saturday
- Bob Stanley talking to Simon Price, 10am, Drawing Room
My notebook is now full of the Saint Etienne co-founder and pop historian’s enthusiastic anecdotes about the roots of pop music, as detailed in his extraordinary books ‘Say Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ and ‘Let’s Do It’. But it was Bob’s new biography of the Bee Gees that really caught my attention and I haven’t been able to put it down since. Working class brothers who became international superstars, writing massive hit songs over 4 decades, yet also habitually mocked from all sides. Bob set himself a mission with latest book, ‘Children of the World’, to install the Bee Gees in the pop genius pantheon alongside The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Starting from Saturday morning I am quickly becoming convinced.. - Lee Schofield and Jon Carter, midday, Old Laundry
For the last decade Lee Schofield has managed a 3,000 hectare RSPB nature reserve at Hawswater in the Lake District. A century of industrial sheep farming had left the land bereft of wildlife diversity and Schofield’s job is to use a mixture of re-wilding and ‘fortress’ practices (essentially erecting a protective barricade around endangered species of plant, insect, bird and animal in the hope that one day other nearby eco-systems will also be restored to be suitable habitats for them to spread) to boost local biodiversity. This is a struggle. The Lake District’s UNESCO World Heritage status, we learned, is based on the preservation of sheep farming practices which create a stunning visual landscape, but to the exclusion of natural abundance. Fascinating. - Simon Armitage, 1pm, Barn
The Poet Laureate and Sea Power fan making his annual pilgramage to Krankenhaus and treating the rest of us to an hour of mostly recent poems, from the poignant COVID inspired ‘Song thrush and the mountain ash’, to minimalist ‘Product Testing’ (“On / Off / Yeah, that seems to work”), and a slacker ode, ‘Under Artificial Lighting’, gifted to Guy Garvey, who naturally hasn’t made the effort to turn it into song yet.. - W.H. Lung, 3.25pm, Barn
Sounding swooningly Nation of Language-esque, as soundwaves from their show found a wormhole from the Barn to my bench in the sun overlooking the Muncaster valley, where I was immersed in Bob Stanley’s ‘Bee Gees: Children of the World’. - Rozi Plain, 4.35pm, Barn
Personifying her sunny folk music, Rozi Plain made everyone smile. I remember buying her first album from the bloke who sells records from a narrowboat on the River Lea and then seeing her perform with her other band, This Is The Kit the very next day. Glad I ran down from the Muncaster gardens to listen. Wish I hadn’t left my glasses behind.. - Sea Power, 8.25pm, Barn
Obviously they were amazing – 1,000 super-fans crushed into a barn weren’t going to allow it to be anything less. ‘Two Fingers’ has become a show-opening anthem within a year of release. There was a middle-aged mosh with a giant black bear. Noble and Jan crowd surfed to close things out. We chanted about loving libraries and wanting more people to protest. Bliss. - The Go Team!, 10.40pm, Barn
Full on energy and fun from another Brighton band of the early twenty first century, this one growing from Ian Parton’s imagination into a crowd pleasing live force, with a lead singer, Ninja, capable of taking control of the crowd from the get-go. “You’ll need to jump for this one, is that OK?”. “I can jump!” I earnestly thought out loud. - John Doran, Steve Davis & Kavus Torabi, evening and midnight, Glade and Barn
The festival DJs were brilliant all weekend and included Marc Riley and Shaun Keaveney. But every time John Doran of the Quietus took to the decks I seemed to both find myself on the dance-floor and opening Shazam. Krankenhaus regulars, former world snooker champion, Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi turned things up a further notch later on.
Sunday
- Chris Watson, midday, Barn
I missed a few things on Sunday morning while retrieving my glasses (see above), but made it for wildlife sound recordist, Chris Watson’s epic sound-piece, ‘Salmo salar And the Scafell Massif’, which took us on a salmon’s ear’s experience of the River Esk out to the Irish Sea. I can’t stop thinking about how much the Humpback whale song which Chris played sounded like violins, cellos and bass, and how their song creates a sonic map of the oceans they navigate. We also learned that Dippers have evolved their song to cut through above the babble of water moving fast over stones. And how the onomatopoeic Curlew’s set their body clocks to the ebb and flow of the tides, rather than the rising and setting of the sun. Deeply moving and thoroughly engrossing. - Brigdhde Chaimbeul, 1.15pm Barn
Playing an instrument that looked like wooden bagpipes, this was strangely entrancing. - Haress, 3.15pm, Barn
Music to read and drink to, which I enjoyed from the bar, nursing an afternoon pint and with Bob Stanley’s ‘Children of the World’ for company (again and by now into the Bee Gees 1970s). - Personal Trainer, 4.15pm, Barn
Amsterdam-based collective with a hyperactive lead singer, providing lively, playful music that got everyone roused up. Kudos that their 2022 album is called ‘Big Love Blanket’. - Hamish Hawk, 7.45pm, Barn
Thanks to our glamping neighbours, we came back in for Hamish Hawk’s baritone-led indie pop. Now looking forward to listening to their album, which apparently references Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Karen Carpenter, Elvis, and Britt Ekland amongst others! - The Waeve, 8.50pm, Barn
Indie royalty in the form of Graham Coxon, teaming up with former Pipette, Rose Elinor-Dougal, and joined on stage by Sea Power’s Thomas White, among others. No idea how to describe their music, but there was definitely an enjoyable tilt towards prog rock and Coxon frequently put aside his guitar to play saxophone. The last song was the stand-out and the whole band seemed to know it, breaking into big grins throughout. - Gwenno, 10pm, Barn
On top form again, singing beautifully in a flowing white dress and teaching us all the Cornish for cheese. The only disappointment was that I was hoping for a two-thirds Pipettes reunion, but despite mentioning that 2008 was the last time her and Rose were on a bill together, a duette of ‘Pull Shapes’ was not forthcoming. - Sea Power, 11.20pm, Barn
Playing ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ in its full glory, the stage bedecked with greenery and with both the polar and black bears coming out to dance, this was the perfect way to end the festival. Thomas White really adds something on drums.
markontour 
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