Each venue was a designated stage for the day. Vintage RockBar – Rock Stage, The Hallcross – Acoustic Stage, Cask Corner – Blues Stage, White Swan – Folk Stage, Leopard and Social – Indie Stages, Masons – R ‘n’ B Stage etc. The day was a massive success with people from all over the region flocking to Doncaster town centre. Not only was the best in local talent on display, and every musician in Doncaster worth mentioning played somewhere, some more than once – I’m looking at you Rita Payne and James Taplin – but bands travelled from all over to play Donny. It put Doncaster on the map, pun intended. As already mentioned Charlotte Church braved the unique decorative style of the Leopard dressing room as well as Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets), Miles Hunt (The Wonderstuff), Chris Helme (The Seahorses), Paper Aeroplanes, Sunshine Underground all taking to stages across Doncaster.
The first MapFest was even nominated in 6 categories at the annual festival awards. 2013 seemed on reflection a much quieter year for MapFest due to issues with a PR firm reneging on their deal only two weeks before the festival but all venues still reported record turnouts. It seemed the people of Doncaster were keen on the idea. Plenty of venues still have quality music to offer every week but MapFest is when it all comes together. The pubs and venues of Donny all pulling in the same direction to put on something that Doncaster can be justifiably proud of. There’s something for everyone, punk, blues, folk, rock, r ‘n’ b, indie, acoustic sessions, DJ sessions, a family stage, covers bands. Meetings have already started to make this year’s MapFest the biggest yet. Doncaster has a thriving music scene. MapFest is the icing on the cake. Support it.
End
Beast performing at Cask Corner Dive Bar during Mapfest 2013. Photography ©Mark Loraine, 2014
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