Beat-Herder (The Review!)
It honestly felt like it was my 10th birthday party that weekend. I had my friends, good food, good drink and my favourite music all around me, what better way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Beat-Herder festival? It was a sold out event that headlined with Basement Jaxx, Mistajam and Leftfield.
In the middle of the field I saw a herd of elephants. Over by one of the bars, Elvis is chatting away to Eddie Murphy and I look down and I’m dressed like an eskimo. No I haven’t taken any drugs, I’m not pissed and I’m not dreaming. This years fancy dress theme at the festival is ‘E’. The effort put into his or her costumes was top notch, I was seriously impressed. The whole weekend was impressive. There were more than a dozen stages all with great acts, old and new and different foods to try and plenty of options for drinks and a huge crowd of people who were as up for going the weekend as we were.
It was great to hear Catz ‘N Dogz sweet, sweet melodies before heading over to the best burger van I’ve ever smelt and tasted (for £4 at a festival, I cannot complain). Walking into Pratty’s Ring, an impressive amphitheatre, which is actually made from mounds of earth, holds dance music acts until the early hours of each morning and the sound travelled around this venue like nothing I’ve heard before. As you’re allowed to carry your own beer around onsite, it meant we could save a little bit of cash and then we had enough to try different drinks. I was much happier spending my money in the arena, as I’m sure others were too. Who wouldn’t want to spend their cash on delicious ale and cinder that was tasty at £3 and £3.50?
I wanted to be in two places at once at all times. I had to choose between some amazing acts. Parov Stelar Band or Greg Wilson? Andrew Weatherall or Mistajam? I chatted to a few people who exclaimed the ones I missed out on were amazing but I didn’t mind because each act I saw was on point. I guess that’s the only downside to a festival if you’re ok with the camping
The main stage was my favourite place to go. We would pitch our rug so we had our own space so we could go to and from the bar and not loose our space. We didn’t want to venture to far otherwise our rug may have been taken over as the line up was so brilliant and I wouldn’t blame them! Mr Benn and Crazy P finished us off on the Sunday as we then decided to head back to our tents as we were so shattered and even though I was wearing wellies, my feet hurt like I’d been wearing 9 inch heels all day. On our way back to the tent, we caught an amazing firework display as we sang happy birthday to Beat-Herder.
When Monday morning came, I not only had the hangover from hell, but I had the long drive back to Wales from just north of Blackburn. But I didn’t care. My ears were still buzzing and I spend the whole journey dreaming of next years Beat-Herder festival.
By Hannah Williams
http://licklist.co.uk/the-beat -herder-festival/galleries