It was with great anticipation that we headed up to Skipton for the inaugural Beacons Festival; the mixture of the great lineup, stunning location and small size seemed to have all the ingredients for a fantastic weekend. Did it live up to its billing? Well, it certainly wasn’t without its problems but for the most part the Festival was a great success.
Annoyingly, it was the little things that frustrated from the off, arriving by taxi we went to the main entrance dragging our stuff across the field only to find that the press entrance was about a mile down the road in the opposite direction. Even more frustrating was that no one seemed to know what was going on or who was meant to be where. Eventually taking another short taxi trip to the right entrance we were faced with a long, slow moving queue at the press cabin before finally going all the way through the backstage area, through part of the arena before arriving at the campsite. Odd and tiring to say the very least, the press entrance should really have been at the main gate.
Luckily the rain held off (just about) until our tents were up and we could finally rest and ponder the weekend ahead. I can’t possibly write this review without mentioning the toilets, not exactly plentiful they were a source of frustration for many from the off. Whilst the organisers displayed signs saying more were on their way, it was saturday afternoon/evening before any more arrived, which was a bit too late and overall the situation was short sighted and avoidable. I’m sure it’ll be fixed for next year.
Friday
So the first day kicked off with a first trip over to the Greendales stage for Disclosure, but it was unfortunately a complete disaster. Utilising their live set up things began fairly quietly, then after a request from both the crowd and the band to turn it up, it sounded as though something had blown in the PA or live setup such was the deafening bang. After this the set continued but it just didn’t sound right and it was unfortunate but understandable that Disclosure declined to continue in the difficult circumstances. So a terrible start but big respect to the sound crew on site as the tent was back sounding great within a few hours.
We regrouped and headed to the main stage next for the double whammy of Jessie Ware and Factory Floor, and what a difference – two premier acts given the space to shine and it really felt like the festival had kicked off! Jessie is going to be a superstar when the world wakes up to her heartfelt brand of melodic danceable pop-done-properly. Tracks like ‘110%’ and ‘Running’ already sound like classics and are performed superbly by backing band and Jessie alike, her voice sounding utterly transcendent at times. She had the crowd in the palm of her hand and loving every second.
As if that wasn’t good enough Factory Floor turned up straight after and performed what was to be the set of the festival for this writer. Pummelling, relentless drums and synthesisers combined with cold, echoed vocals resulted in the ultimate sensory experience with super loud and clear sound making all the difference. Our group were left with no choice but to free our minds and dance non stop with reckless abandon. It is hard to overstate just how utterly joyous the experience was and how much you absolutely must beg, borrow or steal to see this group live. Stunning.
What was a bit of a downer after that ultimate high was when we found out Julio Bashmore wouldn’t be performing due to a nasty ear infection. Disappointing although it was, the remainder of the line up did well to keep us moving throughout the evening into the early hours with Mount Kimbie opening with a superb live version of ‘Carbonated’. Dan Avery (formerly Stopmakingme) and Tim Filthy Dukes both performed entertaining and intelligent DJ sets, however by their conclusion we were weary from the earlier travel and thus had to sadly miss L-Vis 1990’s performance (replacing Bashmore) however I was informed by friends that he more than delivered the goods. A quick attempt to Catch Savages on the way out was thwarted by being able to see virtually nothing due to the pretty low stage in the Noisey/Vice Tent.
Saturday
Kwes provided some head clearing beats and vocals early on Saturday, but proved a little too pedestrian ultimately. Au Palais were tasked with finalising our recovery from the night before and performed fairly well with a varied array of glitch-pop and melodic electronica married well with the contrasting female vocals. Our friend’s campervan provided a great place to chill during some down time before 2:54, who failed to impress me with some pretty bog standard, dull indie. It was time for a change and over to the dance tent for Jam City I went. Upon arrival things were a little behind however we were treated to some sweet garage-tinged vibes from Lakosa who gave a great account of himself before Jam took control. What a set we were treated to with house, bass and disco giving a variety of sounds throughout. Tracks of note were the irrepressible ‘New 4 U’ by Andrés before a workout that ended on a 20 minute disco section featuring Chic’s ‘I Want Your Love’ amongst others – supreme afternoon dancing which led to a conga line of happy people on the way out!
Japandroids were up next and performed a fantastic set of uptempo punk rock, with a throng of giddy fans creating a superb atmosphere after Future of the Left had apparently won over a good number of new fans replacing Clock Opera at the last minute. I’m informed the ex McLusky and Million Dead group provided a moment of sheer madness and elation after performing the former’s hit ‘To Hell With Good Intentions’.
A break was required before Wild Beasts and it was a good time to sample some excellent ale and cider from the Whitelocks real ale bar and some gorgeous Paella and Curry from the range of food stands. Overpriced as you’d expect at a festival but great nonetheless, at least there was some decent fare on offer as opposed to the standard mass produced apology for beer/cider you get at most festivals. On to the headliners and it was exactly as you’d expect really from the boys from Kendal – Wild Beasts were absolutely enthralling, moving and uplifting. Performing a large range of the tracks from their 2nd and 3rd albums they were the perfect act to unite the crowd, not to mention being local boys done good! Showing a nod to pussy riot clad in balaclavas for their encore, the band provided a moment of reflection that brought us back to earth before reaching new heights with the sublime ‘All The King’s Men’ and ‘Hooting & Howling’. Wonderful.
Our main late night dj set came from the marvellous Pearson Sound who went in hard with bass, dubstep, techno, grime and house all sharing airtime. This is the beauty of the man though, a wonderful display of peaktime DJ’ing Pearson kept things interesting, at times obscure yet absolutely danceable with some truly stupendous breakdowns. As things got a little too grime-y we headed over to catch the closing stages of Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s four hour set which was a pleasure to witness, the legends playing on past their allotted time to 2.20am and featuring tracks like Kolsch’s epic ‘Der Alte’.
Sunday
The Wave Pictures began a wonderful day’s programming in the Noisey/Vice tent with the kind of set you wish you could take in every Sunday afternoon. Warm and upbeat their brand of indie pop was the perfect way to kick things off and shake off the cobwebs from the previous night. Later on Hawk Eyes provided a very different take on proceedings, but with no less success courtesy of their cacophony of noise captivating those with a penchant for heavy rock.
I briefly popped over to witness XXXY laying waste to the dance tent before That Fucking Tank provided an education in DIY rock back in the Noisey Tent. It’s rare to witness a rock band be so captivating and energetic without a single vocal and only two members to their name. These guys are stalwarts of the scene and showed exactly why they are held in such high regard amongst those in the know. A change of pace was again provided by Mazes with their slacker pop adding further diversity, however I must say their newer material doesn’t stand up to the old stuff for me.
A quick peek at what Patrick Wolf was up to led to a lovely surprise when he launched into a wonderful version of the classic ‘Tristan’. Most of our group had loved his older stuff but hadn’t thought he would visit much of it during his acoustic set – good job we were wrong! It would have been nice to stay but there was no chance we could miss the utterly brilliant Blacklisters. Rattling through their amusingly titled hits like ‘Club Foot by Kasabian’ and ‘Trickfuck’ the band were at their absolute best with lead singer Billy crowd surfing and providing the usual between song humour he is renowned for. Far from just an amusing watch though the band are a powerful, tight unit that play their brand of hard rock superbly well and with huge amounts of infectious energy. They certainly got Big Jeff moving! Unfortunately this was the end for us with work looming on Monday, but what a way to go out.
Overall beacons was definitely a success on the artistic front and is not too far behind on an organisational level. Lessons should be learned for next year and i’d expect a better experience throughout. I question in part the suitability of the festival for families despite the billing, similarly it wasn’t really a ‘music and arts’ festival as such with the latter not really getting much of a look in. With a bit more investment and thought put into the family and arts aspect these elements could easily flourish though. A solid first attempt!
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