Proclaimed the “best small festival” of 2013 at the national festival awards, Bearded theory 2014 had a fair amount to live up to. I was there last year and I know it was a good festival, but with a new site and an increased capacity it was going to be interesting to see how it would all go this year.
The line up looked excellent, varied and interesting, with a few of my personal favourites amongst them and with the knowledge that any decent festival will provide the punter with music they didn’t know they liked till they saw it.
This type of event generally attracts a lot of families looking for a fun weekend away, plenty to do for the kids, and music to satisfy the parents, they want it safe, enjoyable and as cheap as possible at the turnstile. This makes the small festival crowd a very difficult one to judge, the organisers need to book clever, even a one hit wonder, or a band that hasn’t had a new recording out for 30 years can cost most peoples annual salary for an hours work and that’s a huge chunk from the festival budget and a huge gamble!
The main stage line up this year included appearances by Carter USM, the Stranglers, UB40, the Wonderstuff, Peter Hook, and Dreadzone, but further down the running order, for me, the more interesting stuff could be found.
Duke Special put on a great show, playing a set that mesmerised with superb musicianship and theatrics in equal measure, and of course, the songs that could have been mistaken for the work of Bertolt Brecht if not delivered in that broad, Northern Irish accent, witty, charming, lyrically inspiring and, well, just great, probably my festival highlight from the main stage, they certainly pulled in a good crowd by the end of the set and made a few new fans.
As is always the way at Bearded theory, the line up is lightly peppered with punk inspired, edgy guitar bands, in the past ive seen the Damned, Stiff little fingers and Dr Feelgood here, this year the Membranes hit the stage hard, giving a performance as visual as it was tight, with front man/bassist John Robb gradually stripping away his suit jacket and shirt, before appearing stood on the crowd barrier, bereft of any upper garments (putting most men twenty years his junior to shame), while still playing his bass and singing into a microphone dangling into the pit.
It was a crowd pleasing line up with a surprising number of people still able to sing along with the words of majority of the Blockheads’ funk-punk set, ever the steady rock Norman Watt-Roy popping moves around the stage and pointing with his bass as he appeared to orchestrate things with a combination of nods and winks.
A big disappointment, in a totally selfish way, was the absence of Wilco Johnson, booked to play the main stage after the Blockheads, his well documented illness forced him to pull out at the last minute, there were thoughts and good wishes read out for him, and a lot of the toilet queue banter was about his recent successful operation, hopeful return to good health and fingers crossed, a few public appearances.
As usual the “Something else tea tent”, had it sussed, bringing together spontaneous collaborations between some of the best performers from around the festival site (with the exception of the ones who arrive in a limo, do the gig and get straight back in the limo), here you find open mic slots, booked bands and artists, cake and a warm drinks on a cold wet night. This has become the hub and lynch pin at many of the festivals it attends. So obviously simple in its method, look at what a music festival was back in the day before commerce got a hold of it and do that, simple! Its grass roots and its dirty, but its real and its packed every night. I saw some great acts here including the Barsteward sons of Val Doonican solo, Ned the kids Dylan, the devils advocates, Doozer, slap your mama big band, and Sunday main stagers Tarantism’s acoustic set. The upgraded P.A seems to be the only 21st century addition, and credit to the man on the desk, everyone I saw sounded great.
Not sure if its just me getting old, or if the size of new site made it more difficult to nip between stages to see all the great music on offer here, but I was perpetually cursing the fact that I’d missed one of my favourite bands! But that’s a good thing to have the choice?
As well as a good selection of food vans ranging from pasta to zebra burger and chips, there was no shortage of traders stalls here, from festival clothes, to crafts, wood carvings, crochet and wool, a very well stocked corner shop, you could even have a shave at the on site “cut throat barber”.
But the whole festival was blossoming with great music and on a weekend where the rain fell more than was funny, at times Tornado town, the largest covered stage here, proved to have the edge over the main stage, mind you, they did have an impressive line up of their own, which helps.
With Hayseed Dixie, Babyhead, and king prawn as headliners, the undercard contained some of the most entertaining acts of the weekend. Hobo Jones and the junkyard dogs were a perfect start to the festival on Thursday night, the men they couldn’t hang, Ferocious dog, the excellent Rusty shackle, and one I very regrettably missed, the Barsteward sons of Val Doonican, who by all accounts, had an epic gig with special guests aplenty and an audience that nearly split the big top!
One thing I feel that was a very successful addition to the festival was the Locked in the woods stage, this was away from the hubbub of the main site, and dimly lit by coloured fairy lights. It would be easy for me to regret not spending more time here, as it had an authentic feel of enchanted woods, but with music…and a bar! But I did manage to get to see Irish singer/songwriter Dan Donnelly perform, which was a rare treat. Levellers front man Mark Chadwick and Blair Dunlop also did intimate acoustic sets here on the Sunday night.
Every year at Bearded theory, they hold a competition to try and break the world record for “the most false beards worn in the same place. Last year there was an amazing turn out of beards made from wire wool, corks, flip flops, crochet, in fact anything you could imagine and there were hundreds of them! This year, it was a disorganised flop (without a flip), I went to sign up at the normal place in the merchandise tent, the staff knew nothing about it! Somebody said the times were announced wrongly, but I reckon I could fit more beards in my pocket than turned out on this fateful Sunday! I do hope this was an oversight and they’re not trying to trim the beards and get all serious on us?!
Moving sites can’t have been an easy decision, or transition for a festival in the prime of its life to make, and in places it did feel like someone had bought their child a new pair shoes that just didn’t quite fit, they still look great, but are maybe a bit big for their feet at the moment, a few blisters and generally slightly awkward, but they should grow into them by next year.
To the organisers credit, they made several apologies at the main stage for the things they knew weren’t right, and its pretty obvious they are experienced enough to know how it should be, hopefully next year it will be business as usual in a bigger better way.
Published on 27 May 2014 by insomniac jack
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