The Beat-Herder Festival have today announced that this year's festival will be more "bijou" than recent years and "on a scale reminiscent of the early days". Even though the capacity is being reduced, the organisers have said "the advertised line up will remain, and so will most of the venues". In fact they say they won't be cutting corners, they'll be adding new ones and "bringing an intimate event with a thicker later of Beat-Herder love spread right to the edges".
The smaller event means that tickets will be more limited, and considering that the festival has sold out more often than not in previous years, Beat-Herder HQ have warned that this year's tickets will sell out in advance!
And that's just the highlights I picked out from the first wave of acts that have been announced for the bigger areas: Beat-Herder Stage, Trash Manor, Toil Trees, The Ring, and The Fortress.
Even if there is a slightly pared back amount of venues compared to the 20 or so of recent years, I expect there will still be much much more to come and I have no doubt this year will be another great festival to remember and cherish for years to come.
The smaller event means that tickets will be more limited, and considering that the festival has sold out more often than not in previous years, Beat-Herder HQ have warned that this year's tickets will sell out in advance!
For me The Beat-Herder Festival has always been about the coming together of the clans. With the northern rave spirit at it's heart, it's the time of the year where I catch up with friends from all over the North West as we share some moments in the fields, lost in the music, hearing some great local DJs, see some ace live acts, and genuinely spending some time with a community of like minded people as we escape from the wrongness of the world that we live in.
It's the ethos that the rave scene was built on, capturing that feeling of love, peace and unity, that Beat-Herder have always done so well.
I have seen the festival grow year on year since the first time I went in 2007. I still remember that initial feeling of excitement as the realisation sunk in that I'd been invited along to this amazing free spirited party just up the road from my house and that it was a proper festival organised and run by lovely people. I'd been asked to come along by the Deane twins and their friends (the crew) made me feel so welcome. Over the course of weekend I was messaging my friends to tell them about it and encouraging them to come and see for themselves what a great place Beatherdershire was (naturally this was in between all the dancing I was doing).
The following year as soon as I set foot back on site that euphoric feeling returned. "This is what society should be like" I thought. Even now, 17 years later, I still get that feeling when I think about Beat-Herder.
What they do is all about the quintessential DIY vibe and personal touches. Everything is done at grass roots level and it's the amount of love that gets put into the festival year on year that makes Beat-Herder what it is. It comes as no surprise that they have just won Festival Of The Year in the Northern Music Awards.
Today's news that they are going back to their roots with a reduced capacity reminiscent of the early days is not a bad thing to hear. Last year's Thursday opening night where only a few stages were open and capacity was limited captured that intimate early days vibe and I personally thought it was ace.
This year's line up already has more than enough well known DJs and acts to keep most people happy - Leftfield, Orbital, Robert Hood // Floorplan, Crazy P, Mr. Scruff, Aroop Roy, MC Kwasi, Unabombers, Ruf Dug, Greg Wilson, Dave Angel, James Holroyd, PBR Streetgang, DJ Woody, Zed Bias, The Wailers, Shy FX, Sean Johnston, Denis Sulta, East End Dubs, High Contrast, Adelphi Music Factory, Erol Alkan, Eris Drew, Fabio and Grooverider, Paul Woolford (Special Request), Darius Syrossian, Dub Pistols, K-Klass, Prince Fatty to name a few, plus Paige Tomlinson, Grace Garcia, DJ Emma, Lovefoxy, Shaka Loves You, Gina Breeze, and Disco Tits are well worth checking on the breakthrough side of things.
And that's just the highlights I picked out from the first wave of acts that have been announced for the bigger areas: Beat-Herder Stage, Trash Manor, Toil Trees, The Ring, and The Fortress.
Even if there is a slightly pared back amount of venues compared to the 20 or so of recent years, I expect there will still be much much more to come and I have no doubt this year will be another great festival to remember and cherish for years to come.
So if you have not already got your tickets and we're thinking about going to Beat-Herder this year, now is the time to act! Head to beatherder.ticketline.co.uk to make like Spike Lee and do the right thing.
Herd Em Up!
