Bearded Theory (May 23)
So here we are again at Bearded Theory festival in Derbyshire, along with the group from Sheffield we met here last year.
The pirate ship corner has been taken over by a green man with a mushroom head – but with infectious sounds, it still has a tendency to draw you for longer than expected, helping to screw up any plans you may have had!
We stumbled across this amazing festival last year completely by accident but it has quickly became one of my favourites. This year the music was arguably even more diverse and better than last, with some amazing stage acts and dance sets, with the latter taking up more time this year as a result of the Sheffield influence!
Our best laid plans went to pot on most days as we ended up ignoring the playlist we’d downloaded & listened to and simply wandered the festival site exploring the small stages and checking out artists we’d never heard of nor seen.
Of the bigger named artists, Gary Numan took us completely by surprise on Saturday night with an amazing set which was heavier than I expected. I wasn’t a fan before;
…and that was before we headed off to “Magical Sounds” tent to experience Greg Zogg for the first time. He was a must see/hear and good friend of a few of the Sheffield guys.
Primal Scream are a little hit and miss these days, but were on great form for their headline finale on Sunday.
Henge were a complete surprise, first time I’ve seen them totally off the wall and barking mad, complete with dancing mushrooms!
As usual we turned up with the bell tent and all its paraphernalia, including a log burner – which we used every night except one!
The crowd here are so unbelievably friendly. More people from the North than South, and an older demographic, many with an appreciation for music and simply having fun. Lots of people here also go to Shambala, so I may have to give that a look in if my eldest daughter lets me muscle in on “her” festival at some point. But I may just take the Sheffield crew’s advice and rock up in a costume unannounced, and tell her I’ve been!
The partying was pretty intense at times, so we needed to head back to the tent for some rest before hitting the stages again! Luckily for us the site isn’t too big, so trips back weren’t too exhausting.
Perfect weather for a perfect weekend.
On the way back home on bank holiday Monday we realised (during a phone call) that two of Emma’s kids were going to be staying over at the house with three of their mates ahead of flying out to a week-long music festival called “Primavera Sound” in Barcelona. One glance between us and we knew we needed to stay out another night and avoid the chaos back home… so given the beautiful weather, we headed off to a campsite just south of Warwick, reached for the gin, listened to some music and watched the sun set. I even got the guitar out for the first time this weekend.
The boys made it to the airport and we arrived to an empty house. Bliss!
Twas a lovely way to prolong our long weekend away. Twas also a nice swerve!
The perfect end to a perfect weekend.
Can’t wait to come back…
