Tony Cummings visited St Ives, Cambridgeshire to attend a radical event, KINGSSTOCK, where small is best. Photos by Clive Simpson, Charlie Rayner and Gareth Nunns.

It's 5.30pm and I'm enjoying ECHO immensely. ECHO are a band from London who grew out of a black gospel choir from London's East End. When the choir folded the three members left standing became the vocal nucleus for a band of musicians led by funky bass player Greg Nash who had a brilliant idea - taking the soul and Motown hits of the '60s and, with slight tweaking, transforming them into gospel songs. He's onto a winner. Let's face it. Jackie Wilson's "Higher & Higher" is a classic song and now directed to Jesus, with the ECHO sisters giving it full soul power, it goes higher still. Paul Crick putts in some tasty piano work and with a rock solid rhythm section of James Bardwell on guitar, Greg Nash on bass and Jamfool on drums the effect is explosive. Even at an event as lazily laid back as this one, people are dancing. I see Dave Griffiths and members of CCC on the other side of the sound tent, shaking a leg. As "Reach Out I'll Be There" and "I'll Take You There" ring out even I respond. Though aching from my dancing exercise with the Darn Funk Orchestra I'm there, beside Dave moving to the Staple Singers' classic. The coda ECHO have added to the end of "I'll Take You There" is brilliantly executed by Marie Da Silva who in a soulful contralto growls "We're on our way to Heaven/Don't be left behind." Soon the repeated refrain is taken up by the whole crowd. By the time we get to Stevie's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" every believer is receiving a soul power reassurance that their salvation is just that and our tickets to Heaven have been paid for.

There's something surreal about watching a middle aged lady in a deck chair listening intently to a full on, shouty punk band. But despite an audience that you can count on two hands at the tiny Garden Stage, Ambassadors Of Shalom aren't the kind of band to pull back on the all out punk attack. I stand with Jason de-Vaux and his delightful wife enjoying the pogo party. The noise and ferocious guitar attack generated from a small PA is quite phenomenal and I'm not entirely surprised that it cuts out completely a couple of times. But even the reality of technology wilting under the aural assault isn't going to stop these guys. "Here's our version of a 200 year old hymn," pronounces singer and chief noisemaker Neil Roddy. They then roar through a version of "Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus" which might have had its composer Robert Lowry (1826-1899) turning in his grave if we didn't know he is dancing and, who knows, pogoing in Heaven. "44 years old and doing this," exclaims Neil from the stage and two other appreciative oldsters, Jason and I, smile to ourselves.

Being the buck-stops-here man at a festival, even one as small as KingsStock, is that you never get to hear a complete set of anybody's music. But for Rivers & Robots James Stevens and his wife have bucked that unwritten rule, turned off their mobiles and sit entranced as Manchester's worshippers weave their particular brand of musical magic. Having once been a solo project of singer/songwriter Jonathan Ogden Rivers & Robots have now morphed into a band. And what a band. Kelani Koyejo's ricocheting drum patterns and Nathan Stirling's masterly bass runs add a new multi-layered dimension to Jonathan's haunting vocals. Helped by some apposite harmonies the songs of divine adoration ebb and flow across the glade, the plaintive, almost melancholic sounds are deftly and precisely sung. "Shepherd Of My Soul" is particularly beautiful. The band have recently played at David's Tent, the prophetic worship event held in West Sussex. The fact that R&R could minister with such depth and maturity at events at opposite ends of the church music spectrum says much for their skill and sensitivity. Their poignant, deeply affecting music is able to, in the words of one of their songs, "hear the voice that stills the raging sea."

Sounds Of Salvation

The timing of the performances at KingsStock seems to have gone to pot but I'm still able to catch the tail end of Sounds Of Salvation's Impact Stage set. Their set is, as ever, enjoyably high energy skanking. "Walking On Sunshine" is enthusiastically received by the throng and their version of "How Great Thou Art" transformed into reggae has plenty of people singing along. They close with The Monkees' "I'm A Believer". Clearly S.O.S. are enjoying themselves and the crowd is too.

I sit in the food tent talking to Ambassadors Of Shalom's Neil Roddy and his 16 year old son Joe. The young man sports an impressive '60s style quiff. He has been playing drums for years in his church and is now a member of Neil Roddy's acoustic side project called, appropriately enough, FatherSon. Maxine manages to catch some of their set on Sunday and reports that Joe, sat astride a kahon, is indeed an excellent percussionist. So maybe his ambition of becoming a session drummer will one day come to pass. We continue to chat but Paul Bell sound-checking for his Woodland Stage gig makes conversation difficult.

The timetable has gone by the board. It's now 10.40pm and I'm COLD. I'm sitting in the Impact backstage tent, deserted apart from Maxine and myself, listening to the torturous belches and thuds of an extended Chip Kendall Band sound-check. Here's hoping the wait will be over soon.

Chip Kendall

For various technical reasons Chip's appearance at the Impact Stage is an hour later than scheduled and waiting in the dark in an increasingly cold field is not a fun experience. Only a conversation with a man whose beard is almost as long as mine, and another with his friend who tells me of his miraculous conversion and his mission trips to India keep the long wait bearable. I've been a friend and admirer of Chip for many a long year and have seen him in concert, both with thebandwithnoname and his new crew, a dozen times. So before Chip and his cohorts burst into "Welcome To The Freak Show" I have decided to stay only long enough to see whether he, his band and his trusty hype man Galactus Jack can overcome the problems. I shouldn't have doubted. Chip's stage presence is, as ever, electrifying. He leaps and raps and sings and dances and though the audience is small and cold many are soon jumping on the spot and running like headless chickens. We are indeed a peculiar people.

It's 10.15 on Sunday morning and the sun is out. In front of the Woodland Stage the gathering is sat on straw bales, camp chairs or picnic blankets. Matt McChlery backed by a tight five-piece band sings songs of worship. The songs pour out - "Happy Day", "Shout To The Lord", "Here I Am (Majesty)". "Isn't the Lord's presence beautiful," comments Matt. I agree. There's no wide screen, no exhortations to worship God. Some of the gathering sing along. Many don't. But we sit there tangibly held in God's presence. I stop taking notes. With each song the feeling of God's presence seems to expand. Then clearly with no preplanning, Matt asks for a radio mic to be brought to the front. He's asking us to come up to the mic and share in a few words something that we're thankful to God for and begins by thanking the Lord for the gift of his daughter, now aged 10 weeks. By now my heart is pounding with thankfulness and I step to the front and thank the Lord for KingsStock which is modelling "new expressions of worship." More testimonies of thankfulness follow: an elderly lady who's been gazing at the beautiful trees all around us; a girl assuring us that the Devil was amazed when she became a believer. We seem caught up in a timeless cocoon of thankfulness. As the band prepare for another song Matt reminds us that "the words we've just heard are worship." He says to me later, "So many in Church need to learn that worship is much, much more than the singing of songs."

Standing around waiting to do an interview with Matt, I bump into Andy Jennings of Dissident Prophet. I loved the band's last album 'Weapons Of Mass Deception', particularly the witty radio hit "Be Serious" and am sorry that I won't be around for Dissident Prophet's 6.30pm gig as Maxine and I hope to be on our way back to Stoke-on-Trent before then. Andy tells me that his band are releasing a new album in November and I ask the rock veteran to write about it for the Cross Rhythms website.

After the Matt McChlery interview I go back to the food tent and sit round a table with KingsStock's founder, James Stevens, plus Nick Hall and Oliver Needham. The Community Interest Company which is KingsStock seems to resist hierarchical designations, or indeed much business structure. I finally get Oliver to admit to being Head of Media and Marketing and Nick Hall Head of Production. I ask James to tell me how much he is likely to lose financially through KingsStock 2014. Very reluctantly he tells me, "Maybe two, two and a half thousand pounds. To be honest I've got friends who are telling me I'd be crazy to go on with this but I believe God inspired me to start it in my garden and he's continuing to guide me. To be honest, I personally have no means to pay that loss and hope to gain support and patrons/private investors as soon as possible." We talk a bit about what KingsStock is trying to do. He says ruefully, "It's easier to say what we aren't rather than what we are. We're not simply a standard music festival - we would expect all the musicians who play here to adhere to the Evangelical Alliance statement of faith - but neither are we a Bible week or a worship celebration. Let's just say that we're trying to offer a great party atmosphere which is friendly for non-church goers as well as believers. It's also an event which will attract people who are a bit on the margins of society." Clearly though, they could do with a few more punters paying the bargain price of £30.00 for the weekend. Oliver responds quite succinctly, "Well, if everyone who came this year brings a friend with them to next year's KingsStock festival, a lot of the financial problems would be solved." Overall, Oliver, Nick and James are very positive about the way Britain's first Christian micro-fest is heading. As Nick added, "My wife, who runs the cake tent (and who cooked most of their delicious offerings), says that lots of people have said to her that it's a unique event."

As I go off to the car I'm singing the song "Radio". I've just heard it sung by a shouty acoustic pop punk duo called Peter118 and it's as catchy a piece of effervescent ear candy I've heard for years. It sounds like a hit. In fact, it is a hit. . . in Japan! There are now three in the band but only two could make it to KingsStock. It's the bass player with Ambassadors Of Shalom, Peter Field, who started Peter118 with guitarist Andrew. They now find themselves with the unexpected success of a Japanese radio hit and a much-watched video and they are happy to sing "Radio" together with a batch songs of joyful faith to the slightly bemused gathering who stand in front of the Garden Stage. The Stoke-on-Trent-based band are shortly to have an EP released by California's renowned Thumper Punk Records. I can hardly wait.

I'm looking for Maxine, who, with her superior knowledge of the hard disc recorder, is my recording engineer at the fest as I have another interview lined up. In a crowd of a few hundred she shouldn't be hard to find but the "crowd" are scattered over a few acres of ground and the old legs are beginning to ache. I call in at the tea and cake tent where a mum and her two children are enjoying a drink and a cookie. The little girl gives me that kind of fascinated stare that I've got used to, particularly in department stores at Christmas time. I decide to give the kids the whole Santa schtick. Turning to the little boy I ask in my best Dickensian voice, "Have you been a GOOD boy?" The boy, a picture of impish mischievousness, answers immediately. "No!" he shouts. His sister, clearly appalled, seeks to ensure her house receives a yuletide visit. "I've been a good boy," she states. After she laughingly corrects herself, she promises that a mince pie and a carrot for the reindeer will be waiting for me at their house on the big day, I depart to continue my Maxine search.

Jelz Music

I'm not sure whether he's now called Jelz or Jelz Music but no matter. Jelz punches out his music with the confidence and passion of an emcee knowing that his flows are the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. With a rock guitarist and a drummer to bring some on-stage presence to the rapper-with-backing-tracks thing the London-based emcee intersperses his songs like "Positive Barz It's A Standard Ting" with a telling testimony of how it was God's ability to change our lives and then speaks about his dad's partying lifestyle leading to divorce and leaving the young teenager with a deepening anger towards the father who betrayed him and his mother. Dragged rather unwillingly to church, it was God's ability to put forgiveness in Jelz' heart for his father that led to Jelz' conversion. He speaks about his pre-conversion days, "copying gangstas talking about rubbish," but now loves going into schools and youth clubs with the Gospel. He introduces a new song, "In My Head", from his forthcoming EP 'Barz Speaks Volumez' and is a killer cut with a haunting hook sung by a girl. This rejection of superstar lies is followed by "Human Being" and is a powerful tirade against payday loans and trying to live a superstar lifestyle. Jelz' set bristles with conviction.

It appears Chelsea Alice Scott is ill and has had to pull out of the fest. Impressively a replacement to cover Chelsea's Garden Stage spot has been found, a girl from Pete Mear's church called Shannon. She has an above average soul-tinged voice and, backed by Pete and some other members of Chickens Can't, makes a pretty good fist of Ben E King's "Stand By Me".

It's time to go. After a couple of goodbyes Maxine and I are away. As we hit the A14 it suddenly strikes me. Maybe I've found my ideal festival. One thing's for certain. I'll be back next year.