Despite
hurricane Bertha's wildest thrashings and attempts to spoil the
party, Beacons third consecutive festival overcame all that was
thrown at it to provide over 7000 music seekers with its very best
event to date...
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| Photo - Giles Smith |
Three
days of music, arts, cherry-picked cream of local food vendors and
glorious real ales taking place at the foot of the beautiful backdrop
of the Yorkshire Dales. No day was identical thanks to the good old
British elements, yet Beacons triumphed in our 'this is how to do a
festival' award nomination. We dodged biblical downpours on Friday,
basked in the beautiful sunny atmosphere Saturday, and just about
came through on points battling the tail end of a hurricane on
Sunday...
(In
a nutshell...)
We've
been lucky enough to attend the last two Beacon festivals (2011's
last minute cancellation due to the wet conditions) and this year the
event returned bigger and stronger than ever before. From its
fledgling beginnings in 2012 and 2013, it made quite a leap this year
into the big league as a fully bona fide three
day festival event, yet still maintained its unique special feeling
of an intimate gathering. The dance-heads were spoiled with the
pick of current acts and DJ's providing relentless beats in three
main tented stages. Live bands were spread across three stages this
year with the addition of the chilled outdoor 'Argyl' stage. Arts,
film, workshops and discussion provided an alternative to the musical
side if you were in seek of something else entirely inside The
Impossible Lecture Tent and Into The Woods among others. And families
strolled in and out of the much improved kids area 'Diddy Rascals' at
leisure to join/escape the amalgamation of eclectic offerings to be
found here over this August weekend.
(More
than just another music festival...)
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| Photo - Ben Bentley |
One
notable area where Beacons excels in comparison to others is down to
the feeding and of course the 'watering' of its temporary residents.
There's no below par, sub-quality burger van lurking here in the
shadows, waiting to offload a rather large chunk of your wallet and
serve up a tray of lukewarm disappointment. Probably too many
tantalising food traders to give mention to but let's hear it for....
BUNDOBUST - The
new boys in (Leeds) town who have recently opened their craft beer
bar/Indian street food kitchen in LS1. Not the range of dishes we
were hoping for given the excellent choice at their venue in the
city, but serving up a delicious meal of finest curry none the less.
REDS TRUE BARBECUE - Let
there be meat! Barbecued in true Reds style and serving
mouthwatering dishes with that lovely smokey aroma.
DOUGHBOYS
and FISH& - Straight
out of Leeds' Belgrave Music Hall and into the Funkirk estate to
delight Beacons hungry gathering. Doughboys carefully arranged your
specific requirements, popped it into the oven and served it up with
a smile. Fish& had a healthy sized menu with their take on an
alternative twist to fish and chips. Find them in Leeds Trinity
Kitchen soon if you're shopping in the city centre.
And
finally, our jewel in the food trading crown this year...
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| Photo - Tom Joy |
MANJIT'S KITCHEN - From
a little shiny yellow horse box like trailer, tucked way down into
the corner Argyl stage area, came food that was nothing short of five
star. Street food finalists in 2012, Manjit's Kitchen provided us
with the finest quality Indian food we've tasted recently. Helped by
the warm and friendly staff peeking out of the box, we sat in
glorious food heaven here throughout the weekend.
LAYNES ESPRESSO - Handily
situated along from Manjit's, Leeds' finest coffee came to Beacons
Festival courtesy of Laynes Espresso. Firing out the best caffeine
drinks bar none across the whole site, quite frankly it would have
been rude and all kinds of wrong to get our coffee fix anywhere else.
Bravo!
(And
the beer, oh the beer!...)
 |
| Photo - Tom Joy |
Of major importance to us at Plus One Magazine now we are teaming up our music features alongside local ale/brewery news too. Whitelocks ale house provided the backdrop once again, serving a constantly heaving tent of eager beer enthusiasts with dozens of kegged ales from local breweries as well as further afield. Old favourites included Huddersfield's MAGIC ROCK BREWERY, FIVE POINTS from London, and from literally just down the road ILKLEY's BREWERY. Pale ales, IPA's, Stouts and ciders catered for the most inquisitive of taste buds. No warm cooking lager, no 'been sat there already poured half an hour ago' style serving either.
(Thank you for the music...)
(Thank you for the music...)
 |
| Photo - Tom Joy |
Oh
yes, and there was music too of course. They know a thing or two
about music and the current crop of bands on the up do the powers
that be behind this festival. Just cast a swift eye over this and the
last two years line-ups to see this. A diverse mix of local, national
and international artists that in one way or another are making the
right noises to help the tickets for Beacons go flying out of the box
office upon release. Naturally at Plus One Magazine, our agenda
would take in lets say the more noisier side of things at this
festival. And as always with us, it's slightly further down the
line-up that we get excited about most. That said, headliners and
those further up the bill were there to check in with and of course
filled the 'big' and 'bigger' top adequately. DAUGHTER (Friday)
brought in the cold, dark air from outside into the Loud/Quiet big
top with haunting tales from Elena Tonra as her band mates cut
through the dry ice sending out spine shivers of wailing guitar and
measured drum beats. 'Bertha day' didn't prevent any of the day's
bands from displaying their work despite the winds best efforts. THE FALL came closest to er, falling foul of the elements, playing on
even when most of the power had to be cut and we were politely asked
to temporarily vacate the Loud/Quiet big top. A reluctant Mar E Smith
eventually shuffled off more than a little disgruntled but the
band returned as did the crowd and normal service resumed.
A rejuvenated NENEH CHERRY suffered no such problems in the
same tent, while Friday saw hip hop heavyweight ACTION BRONSON leave
his presence felt on the Noisey stage.
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| Photo - Giles Smith |
 |
| Photo - Giles Smith |
Elsewhere through the weekend, we caught up with some familiar sounds to Plus One Magazine... BRITISH SEA POWER were billed to open up Friday with a unique performance playing their 'From The Sea To The Land Beyond' album in full. A packed tent sat mesmerised as the band with backs to the crowd sat facing a giant screen projecting film footage of peoples lives in Britain through the ages and their relationships with the coast and conditions. Truly unique in performance and a much debated talking point through the forthcoming days at the festival. Following on from this epic performance, Leeds based POST WAR GLAMOUR GIRLS provided a short sharp set with an incite into their own dark world of intelligent word play and excellent musicianship. Singer/guitarist James Smith looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than on stage but I assure you he's having the time of his life. An approach in wit not unlike another Leeds band frontman in Billy from Blacklisters. Unsurprisingly we've just learned they're about to release a new song with him guesting on the track. A stunning performance.
The
perma-touring Antipodean duo DZ DEATHRAYS take Friday by the scruff
and they've brought along a third member to bolster their already
hefty rock/thrash output as he dips in and out of the set to provide
even more head-crushing guitar action. MENACE BEACH are back again at
Beacons after last years successful Noisey set. This time in the
bigger tent, the band ooze nineties flavoured Indie rock and grunge
out to the crowd in effortless style. An amalgamation of accomplished
musicians from bands across Leeds, this lot are no strangers to
daytime radio airplay and with songs dripping so thick with catchy
hooks and vocalist Ryan's ability to easily pen a nifty tune, expect
to hear more from MB camp very soon. THE WYTCHES (Sunday) are
playing in the calm before the storm slot, though their set is
anything but. Musically it's cold, merky and harrowing which somehow
fires the belly through a psychedelic haze that eventually comes out
the other side to firmly imprint your brain with a new sound
altogether. They call it SurfDoom. Whatever it is, it's bloody good.
Album and tour are imminent so let them cast you a spell this Autumn.
METZ follow The Wytches who are no strangers to touring together.
Although this lot from Canada are a completely different proposition
from their Brighton chums. It's a heavy nod back to some giants in
music from the early nineties. Colossal guitars and drums are
the necessities in my book if you're signed to Sub Pop, although
their artists these days don't all fly this flag. But Metz do, they
play it loud too, and sweat, a lot. Jesus Lizard and Big Black are
names never too far away from lips in their reviews and this is as
near as anyone probably gets to those days of such grand noise.
Finally in this little familiar section of ours we catch a small
glimpse of what has been SLAVES powerful set back on the Noisey stage
(Sunday). Above and beyond our expectations when they played in
support to Blood Red Shoes during Friday night's Live At Leeds
appearance back in May, they seem to have won many more over judging
by the faces enjoying their last song of the set. It's a tried and
tested simple formula; guitar/drums. The punk rock attitude and
the brotherly-like bond akin to Drenge makes them instantly likeable.
Throw in 2 to 3 minute blasts of aggressive fury and voila! Your new
favourite band possibly?
(Talking
of which...)
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| Photot - Ben Bentley |
Is
there anything better than being at a festival watching bands you
adore? Well, almost, in that chancing upon a band that's new to you
and coming away from that experience all the better for it is a
feeling we crave. Last year DRENGE made us fall in love with their
bluesy/guitar-rock noises, and in 2012 NOPE hypnotised us with their
grooves. So in no particular order, this year at Beacons we overcame
first awkward encounters and popped our cherries to the following....
WEIRDS - Weirds
have had MJ from Hookworms nurturing their early days as a band so
there's a hefty insight into what you're getting here. Huge
basslines, danceable beats, heavily echoed vocals and layers of
noises from the keyboard and screeching guitar. It's intense as hell
inside the noisey tent and the singer doesn't hold back as he enters
the pit with his guitar slaying wildly all around him.
BEATY HEART - Curiously
brought to our attention during some chill out time by the Argyl
stage on sunny Saturday, Beaty Heart maybe played on the right stage
at the right time. Sun beating down, onlookers sprawled out across
the grass, it was as festivals should be without a care or cloud to
spoil it. Experimentational with percussion and chanting, hypnotic
and gentle in performance. Beaty Heart were a lovely unexpected
delight.
GOLDEN TEACHER - I'm
still not entirely sure what we stumbled upon with Golden Teacher.
But it was infectious as hell and had the Noisey tent moving nicely
at a relatively early time of day for this. Wild uncompromising moves
on the stage, lashings of old skool house sounds with up to date
electronica and improvised percussion. It's a mish mash of sound yet
captivating to watch.
VESSELS - How
the hell we've never managed to cross paths with Vessels before i'll
never know. This Leeds band have been around for many years now and
the live experience is gripping. Building songs rather than playing
them out, Vessels 2014 are constantly reinventing themselves it
seems. Heavily layered again with electronics, the live drums are
machine-like perfect and they build these ambient songs into
magnificent powerful crescendos.
MELT YOURSELF DOWN - It's
party time inside the Noisey tent when Melt Yourself Down take to its
stage. Jazz and funk instrumentals might not be in attendance at most
festivals, maybe barring Womad, but on this note it should be
mandatory. It's frantic and infectious, carnival like in fact. An
absolute joy to watch.
And
there you have it, our thoughts and insight into this ever-growing
small (ish) festival in Yorkshire. Tickets are already flying out for
next year so get along to Beacons in 2015 and we'll hopefully see you
there.
Beacons Festival 2015 early bird tickets SOLD OUT
weekend tickets available HERE
More photo's coming soon
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