THE BEAT-HERDER FESTIVAL
SAWLEY, RIBBLE VALLEY


FROM storming dance tunes in a huge, homemade fortress on Friday night to chilled reggae in the Sunday afternoon sunshine, the ninth Beat-Herder Festival went off with a bang.

The North West’s — if not the country’s — quirkiest, most eclectic and friendliest festival returned to the Ribble Valley’s rolling hills for another weekend with acts including electro dance duo 2 Many DJs, new wave ‘80s group ABC, pioneers of ambient house music The Orb, Daddy Cool singers Boney M. and Madchester legends The Happy Mondays.

The main new feature of last year’s festival was the Fortress — a gigantic, home-made corrugated steel castle which I was delighted to see had been lovingly pieced back together for 2014.

With its courtyard directly in front of the DJ booth, it is the perfect place for a rave-up and the tone was set on Friday night by the queens of hard house Anne Savage and Lisa Lashes.

The Tidy Girls played individual, blistering, energetic sets which had the crowd bouncing, whooping and dancing along.

Over on the main stage and headliners 2 Many DJ, Belgian brothers David and Stephen Dewaele and leaders in the world of dance mash-ups, took to the decks.

After the craziness of the Fortress, the set seemed a bit more sedate but the quality shone through and the crowd went wild as they dropped tunes and lights shone out over Beat-Herder.

Saturday’s highlights included Far Too Loud, aka Oli Cash, who brought high-energy and big basslines (think Skrillex on another level) to the Fortress.

A new addition for this year was Pratty’s Ring, a 100ft diameter earth ring with imposing walls and a Stonehenge style entranceway which played host to the likes of pioneers of rave Utah Saints, big beat musician A.Skillz and house and bass DJ duo, The Squatters.

It was clearly popular as, every time I went in, it was packed out and I escaped to the solace of Toil Trees — a stage nestled in a wooded area where you can dance to your heart’s content.

Techno and house DJ Paul Taylor, founder of the Retro club night, played a fantastic hands in the air set packed with tunes including Underworld’s Born Slippy and Josh Wink’s Higher State of Consciousness.

The sun shone throughout Sunday, perfect conditions for Macka B to take to the main stage with his infectious brand of reggae.

Aside from the music — far too many acts to mention here — there was also comedy in Maison D’Etre, fun and mayhem in The Beat-Herder & District Working Mens Social Club and The Street where you can get a tattoo, visit the Parish Church or crawl through the Teleport booth.

There is quite simply no other festival like Beat-Herder, and long may it stay that way.