Credit: Found On Internet

Barry Stilwell is the man audacious enough to found a rock festival in a Wild West theme park in Cornwall, complete with shoot-outs. Last year, Tapestry Goes West kicked off its spurs and took on a medieval guise in the Camelot country of South Wales. It’s now part-rock festival part-jousting tournament.

Hail a man of vision! Stilwell is an ex-musician plasterer who moonlights as a promoter responsible for Tapestry, one of London’s best underground club nights. For over five years, the inclusive unpretentious club has inhabited a church social hall near Euston Station. Could Mr Stilwell have been divinely chosen to inject some fun back into Britain’s burgeoning but increasingly conventional festival circuit?

The unassuming Barry meets Music Towers on his patch in Camden Town. He recalls how it all started, “I’ve got a friend, Andy Hollings, another plasterer. We used to talk about how shit everything waas - like you do at work- including festivals.” He grimaces, “At festivals, you get bungee jumping, glow-in-the-dark-necklaces and silly cowboy hats but once you’ve got one - what then? Fuck that! How about a shoot out with cowboys or jousting?

“Andy went down to Cornwall with his girlfriend and found the place. He rang up desperately saying, ‘This is it! This is all that stuff you’ve been saying about anyone could do a better festival!’ I went down to see it, thinking I don’t know whether I can put on a festival, but it was perfect! This bloke, Sheriff JB, built these two cowboy towns and he and his family live there. But Tapestry got too big for the Wild West site so last year was our first in Wales. I‘d seen Disney’s ‘A Knight’s Tale’ and I thought, ‘rock and jousting! Yes!’ We’ve got Thee Knights of Arkley - Europe’s premiere jousting team. It’s pretty exciting!”

On 10th- 11th August, two thousand people will pitch tent on Margam Park. “It’s beautiful there!” says Barry with his eyes lit up. “It’s got ancient ruins, deer, the foothills of the Rhonda valley behind it, the sea in front of it, and weirdly enough it’s got Port Talbot steel works on one side. I think there’s copper ionised in the atmosphere so you get these golden sunsets - it’s a really odd place.”