The Beat-Herder Festival 2024 - Tickets Warning

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!

The Beat-Herder Festival 2024 - Phase 1 Line Up Announced

The Beat-Herder Festival Phase 1 of the line up for 2024 is here!

The initial line up features internationally acclaimed bands, legendary festival acts, world-renowned DJs, Breakthrough artists & absolute party starters from just a handful of the usual 20+ stages.

17 years in, the festival now runs from Thursday to Sunday in the beautiful North West based setting that we call Beat-Herdershire.

Herd Em Up!

The Beat-Herder Festival 2023 - The Factory Line Up Announced

The Beat-Herder Festival have announced the line up for The Factory - "where you clock in and never clock out. The monotony of the machines may have gone but the beats and energy still remain."

Of the 21 stages on offer, this is the one where classic house and the early days of rave meets the current sound of nu disco and indie dance.

You can catch me playing 2 sets on the Saturday night. Expect Chicago style House and Disco heat all the way, giving a nod to the DJs and producers that laid the foundations of House music as we know it.

Set times: 21:45 – 22:30 then 23:15 – 00:00

Herd Em Up!

The Beat-Herder Festival 2023 - Trash Manor Line Up Announced

The Beat-Herder Festival have announced the line up for Trash Manor - "Home of rebels, punks and pioneers, in our very own courtyard of Chaos. So come all you Ravers and Rockers, you Misfits and Wierdos."

With Flamin' horses, pole dancing robots, and an eclectic music policy of live Jazz meets Techno via Punk, Dub, Disco, Funk, Soul, Reggae, House, Boogie, Breaks, Basslines, Dubstep, UK Garage - the list goes on...

Trash Manor is pulled together by the most stylish of crews you'll find in yonder fields.  Grab your flat cap and bike chain necklace and get ready to storm the manor!

The Beat-Herder Festival 2023 - Thursday Line Up Announced

The Beat-Herder Festival have announced the full line-up for the Thursday.

The opening night is always a super special time with excitement and energy levels at max as people bounce into the fields for their first evening of love.

Taking us back to the early days of the petite and unique festival, just 7 of the 21 stages will be open and capacity is limited to keep things nice and intimate.

TOIL TREES

LF SYSTEM, Eats Everything, Hannah Laing, K-Klass [djset] & Aroop Roy

TRASH MANOR

BCUC LIVE, Paul Dig Deep, Chris Holt, Pilani, Kenneth Kaos, The Trash Manor Family

SMOKY TENTACLES

Dr Syntax LIVE, James Lyons, Four to One - 421 Collective, Head Tentacle

PLUS all the venues on The Street in the woods - 

The Church

The Garage

Hotel California

The Barn

There are a limited number of the 4 Day Tier 3 Tickets remaining so get yourself sorted sharpish if you want to party for the full weekend and save some money.

Herd Em Up!

Vintage By The Sea Festival 2023

In September this year the Vintage By The Sea Festival celebrates the 10 year anniversary of creating outstanding programmes of art and culture in Morecambe. 

Founded in 2013 by Deco Publique and Wayne & Gerardine Hemingway MBE, the 2 day long festival provides Morecambe seafront with a stunning backdrop inspired by the decades from the 20s to the 90s.

For their 10th anniversary the organisers have promised to deliver an exceptional line up of  performance, music, dance, classic cars, vintage and design marketplaces, DJ sets, Best in Show fashion parades, workshops and street food, and no doubt much much more.

"We'll be bringing back some of the best and most loved programme from the last 10 years as well as welcoming some new editions as this anniversary edition sets out to be one of our finest!"

Described by The Guardian as one of the ‘Top Five Retro Events in the World’ - last year the award winning event attracted 45,000 visitors over the weekend, generating an economic impact of over £1.5 million for the local economy.

With the tagline of 'Celebrating 20th Century Culture', the free family festival brings together music, fashion, film, art, design and dance from the 1920s to the 1990s, with the emphasis throughout on glamour and head-turning style.

It's a great day out for people of all ages with so much to see and do. There is also an After Party on the Saturday Night in The Little Big Top marquee featuring local DJs playing alongside a yet to announced headline DJ.

There are a variety of live DJ sets from previous Vintage By The Sea events covering everything from Rock N Roll and Rockabilly, to Soul, Funk, Jazz, Disco, Latin, Boogie, Rhythm N Blues, and Classic House on the festivals Mixcloud.

Vintage By The Sea takes place in Morecambe on 2nd & 3rd September 2023

The Vintage Festival // About The Festival // Deco Publique // Gallery

The Beat-Herder Festival 2023 - Phase 1 Line Up Announced

The Beat-Herder Festival have announced Phase 1 of the line up.

This initial line up features world-renowned DJs and internationally acclaimed live artists alongside up and coming acts from the underground, all spread over the 21 stages.

16 years in, the festival now runs from Thursday to Sunday and word from the camp is that the 4-day tickets are already running low.

Herd Em Up!

Escape To Freight Island 2nd October 2022

This coming Sunday afternoon I'll be playing some of my favourite music down at Escape To Freight Island in The Platform.

The Dig Deep Records Pop-Up shop will also be on site so people can peruse our vinyl picks and have a listen to the records we have for sale on the day.

We kick off proceedings at 12 noon and run through till 4pm before the esteemed Abigail Ward takes over on the decks till 8pm. (Live recordings now up on Mixcloud)

 

 

The event is part of the Better Days Festival which features great DJs providing the soundtrack to everything from Sunday roasts and good food from the many restaurants, lots of things for the family to do, pop up record shops, rare finds flea market, weekend papers, a roller skating rink, and live music. Read on to see what is happening between now and the closing party on 27th November...

The Vintage Festival: Vintage By The Sea 2022

Not long to go before we're off to the seaside for The Vintage Festival: Vintage by the Sea 2022 in Morecambe. 

Described by The Guardian as one of the ‘Top Five Retro Events in the World’ the award winning weekend event attracts 40,000+ visitors per year.

Every September Morecambe seafront provides a stunning backdrop for a programme of cultural content inspired by the 1920s to the 1990s ‑ including a Vintage Marketplace, Routemaster Bus Bar with DJs, Family Workshops, Street Theatre, Best in Show Catwalk, Torch Club Ball, Pop Up Dance, Art Exhibitions, Street Food, Melodrome Music Stage, The Midland Rotunda Bar with DJs, Classic Car Show, Afternoon Teas, Vintage Mobile Cinema, Vintage by the Sea After Party, plus much much more. 

The Beat-Herder Festival 2022 - Phase 1 Line Up Announced

The Beat-Herder Festival have announced Phase 1 of the line up for their 15th birthday and it has some mint acts to look forward to. 

In their usual style we have world-renowned DJs and internationally acclaimed bands rubbing shoulders with up and coming names and people that are well established on the underground side of things.

Herd Em Up!

Beat-Herder 2022

I'll be honest, after 2 long years of hunkering down, physically separated from the music scene that I have loved since I was in my teens, I was starting to wonder if we would ever be allowed to play out again.

But thankfully things seem to be going in the right direction (kind of) and if there was ever something that was going to tempt me out of my rabbit hole, it was going to be The Beat-Herder Festival.

After all how could I miss what is certain to be an epic post apocalyptic party of joyous communal togetherness. 

In fact just a few minutes looking on the website at The Gallery of spectacular scenes is enough to bring back a wealth of warm fuzzy memories. Of all the festivals I have been too, Beat-Herder is the one that truly feels like coming home.

To me The Beat-Herder Festival has always felt like a society where we can live how we should live every day. Where we can shut out the nonsense that plagues the world and congregate with like minded people. 

It's a place where mates and music bring about happiness, smiles, fun, love, and unity. Where fields of colourful tents and amazing art instillations keep your eyes wide open, whilst headliners rub shoulders with local acts to create an explosive atmosphere of liberty, dancing and escapism.

It's a family thing pulled together by a small bunch of people that do it for the love, and you can tell.

So the dates have been set for a 4 day long orgy of everything that is right to celebrate the festival's belated 15th birthday. And to be honest I can't wait. 

Mr Scruff - Keep It Unreal - Preston - 6th July 2017

Thursday 6th July sees Ninja Tune's finest Mr Scruff bringing his Keep It Unreal night to Preston's LiVe Venue.

As a DJ, Mr. Scruff plays across the board, flitting between soul, funk, hip hop, jazz, reggae, latin, african, ska, disco, house, funk, breaks, soundtracks and loads more. As a producer he makes music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek and good humour. His cartoon drawings illustrate gig flyers, record sleeves and CD covers, and usually accompany him at gigs as live animated visuals.

When we look back at clubbing history in years to come, it's safe to say now that Mr Scruff will be heralded as one the most inspirational DJs of our generation. In terms of standards he's up there with the likes of Ron Hardy, Larry Levan, David Mancuso, Francis Grasso, Frankie Knuckles etc.

Listen to recording of the night on Mixcloud...

Mesmeric Launch Party

House and techno never went away for me, but over the last few years it seems there has been an abundance of decent, deep, soul laced, funk dowsed, jazz tinged, bass ridden electronic music from new and upcoming producers.

At the same time classic labels such as Trax, KMS, DJ International, Pheerce City and Harmless are reissuing many of the original Chicago and Detroit based releases that made such an impact in the UK the first time around.

Meanwhile 2nd gen producers like Omar S, Ob Ignitt, Theo Parrish, Jay Daniel, Kyle Hall, Kai Alce, Mike Huckaby, Rahaan, Jamie 3:26 etc continue to lay down some of the finest and filthy grooves ever to grace a dance floor. And let's not forget the talent from across Europe.

Add that to the amount of disco and boogie records that have been unearthed, given the re-edit treatment, then tagged Nu and we have what has to be one of the strongest and most fertile underground scenes in the world right now.

So with all that in mind, this Saturday sees the launch of a new club night for Preston.  It's called Mesmeric and it has been born to give the DJs that are booked the chance to play all the new music they are feeling right now, on a loud PA, to the decent sized core of music heads that live in and around the city. Here is the lowdown:

Upstairs, sound in, lights off, decks on.

COTTAM (Ruff Draft)
JOHN TREE (The Perfumed Garden)
PAUL THORNTON (Dig Deep)

HOUSE // TECHNO // ACID // DISCO

Free in before 11pm // £3 after

The Adelphi,
Fylde Road, Preston

The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club returns to Preston

In around 5 week's time The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club returns to Preston's 53 Degrees. This will be the 4th time Craig has brought his legendary Trunk Of Funk to the city, and if the previous events are anything to go by, this will be another sell out night.

The atmosphere that Craig generates is 2nd to none; the crowd are always on the dance floor from the moment the doors open till the end of the night. His ever charismatic sets are a culmination of years of work as a presenter and stand up comedian fused with a life long obsession with funk and soul music.

With an explosive party feel, the place literally 'erupts' as soon as Craig gets behind the decks. A natural entertainer, anyone that can smoothly take a crowd from a peak time jump up and down anthem into a chilled out version of Bob Marley, with just a mic, and then have the whole room singing along will always get my respect. Craig loves the music that he plays and that comes across in bucket loads.

Beat-Herder Festival 2014

The festival of festivals returns for 2014 and I can't wait to get back to Beatherdershire...

Now in my 8th year, I have been DJing at The Beat-Herder Festival in the Trailer Trash tent since the crew first asked me in 2007.  I'd done a few local festivals at that point as well as popping my Glastonbury cherry a few years earlier, but nothing could have prepared me for the warm glow I felt as soon as I arrived on site.  "you need to get down here", "it's a proper little festival", "no they don't do day tickets, just come down on Saturday and you'll love it" were some of the text messages I was bashing out on my mobile.

Beat-Herder Festival 2012

The Beat-Herder Festival

29th June - 1st July 2012

It's almost time for 3 more days of beats and barminess in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire!!

As always the line up is a fine mixture of headline acts and local talent.  Here are just a few of the highlights that PT is looking forward too...

• Pilooski (Saturday night - Trailer Trash)
• Sean P (Saturday night - Trailer Trash)
• Trailer Trash Lounge (All weekend - don't miss Martin Deane, James Deane, Annie, Fraser, Peach, Linsey, Underground Roots ft Danman & Bongo Chilli & City Culture, Red J, Karl Roscoe, Chris Holt & Paul Thornton plus plenty more wonderful guests.)
• Mr Scruff & MC Kwasi (Sunday afternoon - Toil Trees)
• Best Joined Up - NY Subway Train (All weekend with Family & Fiends including Bodie, Fraser, Kenny, Vinyl Miners, Lil Miz, DJ Woody, Peach, Linz, Red J, Chris Holt and Paul Thornton.)
• DJ Woody (Friday night - Toil Trees)
• Mr Breen & Jude (Stumblefunk Soundsystem)
• Lee Scratch Perry (Sunday - The Beat-Herder Stage)
• John Tree (Saturday - Perfumed Garden)
• Sarah Brown (Perfumed Garden)
• Hotel California (Various)

For specific set times make sure you grab a guide on the Friday.

Dig Deep / Four Corners action...

• Paul Thornton & Chris Holt back to back in Trailer Trash - Sunday 8:45 - 10:45pm
• Paul Thornton in Best Joined Up - Saturday 9:00 - 10:30pm
• Chris Holt in Best Joined Up - Saturday midnight - ?

facebook.com/BeatHerder | www.beatherder.co.uk | Trailer Trash | Best Joined Up

PaulThornton · Paul Thornton - Live at The Beat-Herder Festival 2011 - Saturday Afternoon

Smoove & Turrell full live band plus guests - Saturday 16th June 2012

This Saturday 16th June Smoove & Turrell bring their full live band to Preston for a night of fun, funk and frolics.

Heavily playlisted by the likes of Craig Charles and part of his Fantasy Funk Band plus regular faces on the festival circuit, this event is a must for all that enjoyed the Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club back in March...

+ Templebys live
+ Voodoo Cartel live
+ support from Preston FM DJs & The Funkin Limits residents:
Paul Thornton (Itch / Dig Deep)
Chris Holt (Two Mellow / Four Corners)

53 Degrees, Preston
7.30pm - 11pm

Boogizm vs Itch - Bank Holiday Sunday 3rd June 2012

As the Bank Holiday and festival season approaches, itch is back at The Adelphi to rub shoulders with the Boogizm crew for 8 hours of the best party music... for FREE!

Boogizm vs Itch
Bank Holiday Sunday 3rd June 2012

itch returns from a period of hibernation to celebrate 9 years since our first party – and what better way than to join forces with the guys behind Preston’s best party at present - Boogizm - in one of our previous venues...

All the itch extended family will be in attendance along with Boogizm residents. Get involved!

Cottam | Paul Watson | Paul Thornton | Chris HoltTom Boogizm | Tom Ireland | Reggy Booth 
Upstairs at The Adelphi | Preston | Free Entry | 8pm-4am

facebook.com/itchpreston | facebook.com/boogizmsounds | Event on Facebook Check our Events page for many more listings

Itch vs Phreak presents NYC Legend - John Morales

After eight years of doing sporadic, nomadic and sometimes secret underground parties in the city, we continue to lead the way with something fresh for Preston...

ITCH vs PHREAK presents NYC Legend JOHN MORALES...

EXIT, PRESTON
SATURDAY 15th October
10-3AM

Expect a Bronx style DJ battle with some very special guests.

View the event on Facebook here







JOHN MORALES
(NYC Legend // M&M Mixes // Paradise Garage Tour // Southport Weekender)

"In music, and especially in underground music, the word 'legend' is thrown around to the point where it loses all meaning. What is a legend? It's someone who broke the mold - someone whose sounds, techniques - even his style - changed things forever. It's a pioneer that everyone who followed after emulated, whether consciously or not. In dance music, the person you're talking about is John Morales". 5chicago.com

CityLove Festival: Preston FM stage 060811

So we are really looking forward to the first CityLove Festival that is taking place on Saturday August 6th in Preston on the 53 Degress Campus.

Ark Magazine are running stage by stage previews - the Preston FM stage is featured here

Preston FM Stage line up:
10-11pm Neil Scott (El Diablos Social Club / Funkademia)
9-10pm   Paul Thornton (itch / Dig Deep - Preston FM)
8-9pm     Kev McCormick & Jimmy Movement (Who Said Boogie?)
7-8pm     Joint Custody (137)
6-7pm     Neil Smallridge (M.U.M / On a Plate)
5-6pm     The_Wolf (2pin Records / Astro Boogie)
4-5pm     Chris Holt (itch / Four Corners - Preston FM)

For the full festival low down and to buy tickets, go to: facebook.com/citylovefest

Full show listing - here