We blame that April heatwave. Reminds us of when a warm winter fools some of the flowers into thinking that Spring has sprung early, only for the snow to launch a surprise attack. Like the gullible flora we were similarly mislead by the glorious sunshine only for the rain to remind us that it's not actually summer yet.
Luckily other people are perfectly willing to help with this deception, thus the festival season now starts in the first half of May!
This is Bearded Theory?s fourth year and is set in the beautiful grounds of Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. There's something very pleasing about old stately homes being given financial help by new-age travellers and ex-travellers. We've missed ?crusties?. They scout around all at peace with the festival surrounding and with an air of friendly dignity, their numbers depleted much like their fellow tepee-botherers the Native Americans.
Bearded Theory is squarely aimed at the 35-50 year olds who still have one foot in an alternative lifestyle. That's not ?alternative? as a marketing buzzword for whatever this week?s Wella Shockwaves-sponsored rebellion might be, but ?alternative? as in ?there's nothing much in popular culture for us, let's make our own fun?.
Like a lot of the recent non-corporate festivals it reflects the taste and presumably the personality of the organisers. Consequently it's incredibly friendly, noticeably unpretentious and serves real ale. The compere is filled with genuine excitement and at one point proudly announces the fact that he has nothing to announce due to the lack of incident, accidents or other bad vibes.
Musically they know their audience and so the music is made up largely of punk or folk or folk-punk with scatterings of reggae/dub. In the dance tent, it's all trance. It's hard to walk anywhere without being greeted with ?fiddledy-dee or womp-womp?.
There are concessions to other genres here and there but the organisers underestimate the breadth of the crowd?s taste, preferring mainly to play safe with what they know will work for a crowd who would have already spent much of their lives dancing in fields to some of names here (Transglobal Underground, Zion Train, Eat Static etc). The bands that strayed away from the blueprint ranged from those on their way up- electro-pop Mancunians The Whip to those on their way down- Saturday night headliners Athlete, who were keen to provide the answer to the question ?what if The Police only had one song??.
Highlights of the weekend were Dub Pistols. We have to admit that we?d gone cold on Barry Ashworth?s band since they went from being one of best of late nineties breakbeat crews to embracing a love of ska that we didn't share quite so enthusiastically. Live, though, they've hit a very comfortable middle ground betwixt?? the two getting the crowd jumping with the beats and smiling with the ska.
It was a nice start to the summer at a festival that caters perfectly to a certain type but has more potential for pushing musical boundaries that it perhaps gives itself credit for. A braver booking policy could make it more interesting without losing its friendly inclusive atmosphere.
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