Simply Marvellous. Although small in size, Beat Herder is a MASSIVE festival. Massive in atmosphere, Massive in quality, Massive in pure unadulterated VIBE.

It takes a lot for any festival to rise above poor weather, but metaphorically at least, the sun shone on this blessed part of Lancashire last weekend. As a seasoned reviewer, I have to say that Beat Herder is up there with the best.

A throwaway line in most reviews, but this really is one of those special events where the festival is bigger than the acts performing. Don’t get me wrong, all the artists appearing were top notch, but the event itself takes centre stage. No wonder Beat Herder was a sell-out well before the start.

The site is awesome, situated in a glorious spot in rural Lancashire, and bedecked throughout with eye popping art works and installations. Although a large site, clever design results in an intimacy and uniqueness about each ‘scene’ that was simply a joy to explore. Although Beat Herder lists 11 different stages, once you factor in all the other bars and performance areas you could easily double that. The choice of entertainment and experience is vast. In the Toil Trees area you have perhaps one of the most atmospheric arenas on the UK festival scene. Set in a towering forest, there is a magical air afoot, whilst the adjacent open air cinema showing old movies to a pulsating laser light show, and the Glastonbury renowned Wrekon crew’s imaginative installations, simply added to the throbbing vibe. Just down the hill is a fully formed fantasy Victorian high street complete with a cracking pub and even a church where you can dance on the pews to some funky beats and rant from the pulpit. Marvellous stuff.

Let’s not mince words; a month’s of foul weather turned most of the arena into a mud bath from day one, but the festival simply rose above it, floating serenely on a wave of good times. The crowd drove the vibe of course, and without resorting to Northern cliché, yes it was one of the friendliest, loving, and open set of people you could hope to meet. They were fantastic. From hardened survivors of the underground music scene, to the young families with kids, they all had a ball. There was just as much dancing to the filler sets between stage changeovers as to the acts themselves! A rare sight. I’ll remember that Beat Herder Grin for many a year!

This reviewer found his second home in The Beat Herder and District Working Men’s Social Club. A brilliantly boisterous, but alternately brilliantly chilled tent, with live acts and sounds ranging from pure cheese to Goa Trance.  Although Beat Herder is one of those rare festivals these days allowing personal booze into the arena area, the bar in the BH&DWMSC did a roaring trade, as did the host of other bars on-site. Proving perhaps that a relaxed attitude to BYO alongside pay bars can co-exist to the benefit of all. (Discuss.). There were too many different venues to recall, but special mention to Trailer Trash Lounge, where the organisers roots in the Northern underground music scene was given full vent with some excellent DJ’s and bands in attendance.

As for the music; a truly mixed bill of genres but all with one thing in common – we did not see anything less than excellent … no fillers here. So, in a weekend that transpired to be one big rush …. Here are some of the best of best that we can recall:

An early marker of the sheer quality of the smaller stage acts were The Revelator Band who graced Trailer Trash on Friday. 'Goodtime Blues with Gothic Overtones' is my label. A rare find. Check them out. Excellent. Arguably the set of the festival was the masterclass in the beat driven anthemic dance rock of Death In Vegas. They were superb. Friday’s main stage was wrapped up nicely by Parrov Stelar who laid down a backbeat of some great speakeasy brass to prepare the crowd for Utah Saints pulsating midnight set up at Toil Trees. No curfews here Friday & Saturday with the site absolutely buzzing through ‘til at least 4am.

After being pinned down in the tent, (and ok then, the bars) by an electric storm and deluge Saturday afternoon, we caught old stagers The Orb with a chilled session in Toil Trees before watching a great main stage set from The Whip before the mighty Orbital. 10 out of 10 for the main stage lighting which provided an ideal backdrop for Orbital’s head torch nodding antics. All the classics including Belfast, and a splendid Chime lit up the bouncy crowd. Sadly no Perfect Sunrise, but you can’t have everything, even at Beat Herder.

By ‘eck. In what probably constitutes a home town gig for The Lancashire Hotpots, Sunday saw this very, very, funny bunch of pranksters hit the main stage. They really are THE ideal Sunday afternoon act at any festival. No Northern cliché or hackneyed joke is left unturned in this tongue in cheek expose of ‘northern life’ and attitudes. They pulled a big crowd and one of the biggest festival conga’s for Lancashire DJ that I’ve seen for many a while.

Another indication of the sheer quality of performance away from the main stages were Hunting Bears. A young band producing some hauntingly melancholic, almost quintessentially English folk, but with an edge, mostly driven by excellent power drumming. A very distinctive sound. They should go far. A nice little festie moment occurred when the band were joined by some worse for wear punter caked in mud who simply wandered on stage and asked if they could lay down a funky beat in ‘A’. Unfazed, the band kicked up some storming impromptu funk and the interloper let rip with some not half bad vocals. Then ‘Mud Man In A’ was gone. Bemused, the band played on.

Some acts are THE festie bands; old stagers who can be guaranteed to produce whatever the stage, whatever the occasion. The Beat are such a band. Needless to say the boys did not disappoint. Dedicating their set to Lee Scratch Perry, they let rip with all the classics, a particularly spacey version of Mirror In The Bathroom being the highlight.

The revered Lee Scratch Perry produced some brilliant pure reggae driven classics, and some, ahem, interesting banter with the crowd before a blistering set from Kraak and Smaak closed the stage. Highlight for me was a cool take on I Feel Love.

So there you have it. A festival which proved so much; Lancashire IS beautiful. People are beautiful. Music is beautiful…. And that it is possible to create an arty and creative festival 'haven from reality' without any of the pretentious fluff. Just “3 days of beats & barminess” is Beat Herders strapline. I think they got it spot on.

I’ll end where I started; Beat Herder is indeed Marvellous.

Further images and festival information are available HERE.

Article by Barrie Dimond