Beautiful Days 2009
Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd August 2009Escot Park, near Fairmile, Devon, EX11 1LU, England MAP
adult weekend camping £100 - SOLD OUT
Sundays are often the most depressing days of a festival. Waking to find people packing away tents for an early departure are a reminder that it's nearly over. Less so at Beautiful Days. There seem to be a lot less people leaving. Getting up I find that one of our group is sitting amongst our tents with her leg in plaster. She's been to hospital after falling over last night and has a fractured ankle. Bless her, she desperately wants to stay and enjoy the remainder of the day but as the story unfolds, she's been offsite overnight (to be x-rayed) and the Red Cross people on site have apparently been great. Not only that but security arranged a lift back to the tent last night and after a health and safety assessment - they are allowed to drive down to pack up their belongings and she is taken away for an operation.
My opinions of Frank Turner may be dismissed as written by someone who is a big fan. I am. He's bloody great. The clever song writing (both instrumentally and lyrically), have reduced me to bleary eyed moments amongst a field full of hairy sweaty blokes. It's right that his on-the-mark observations and smart recounting of experiences that we can all identify with have won him many fans. He's supported the Levellers on recent tours which will obviously count in his favour today. The Punk and occasionally bitter lyrics over a folk or acoustic backing are delivered with a passion that Mills and Boon could only aspire to. Having never seen a duff performance from him, it's reassuring that the new material from a forthcoming album sounds good too. Unfortunately seeing Frank Turner means we have to forego Chris T-T and The Hoodrats as well.
After a very kind offer from a friend, we leave our nippers with her and head to the Little Big Top on a bit of a wander to see Howard Marks on a Q and A session. Shockingly, he appears on time and looking like he's had an interesting breakfast. He appears to be either very tired, very stoned or both. I'm loathed to give away too much information about what he says because his Mr Nice book is such an interesting read and Dope Stories is a good laugh. One of the enquiries that gives nothing away was "Would you do it all again?" The answer was a pretty emphatic affirmative, and I think he approves of the casting for the new Mr Nice film.
Back down to rescue our friend from our offspring and we catch the end of The Living End. The Aussie band is obviously well respected and seem to have gone down well with the people that we speak to on the way back.
It seems appropriate that they're playing to a field full of flower power dressed hippies, but it would also be good to see their effects and visuals under the same dark conditions that Hawkwind were given on Friday night. The fiddly guitars, electronic effects and well delivered drums are great but it all seems a bit 'noodly' and mixed up initially. Moving a little closer seemed to sort that out though. Daevid Allen's wizard suit looks great and some of the lyrics are genius: "Would you like some tea?" The set gives enough for me to want to find out a fair bit more.
Our hosts are next up and the crowd swells as anticipation builds. Tonight Levellers are performing the whole of their debut album 'A Weapon Called The Word'. The roar as they come on stage is huge and they're straight into 'World Freak Show'. Performing in album order, Mark even shares with us the moment when the vinyl version would have to be flipped over (I wonder how many people present still have a working record player).
Having played the album, we were also treated to 'Beautiful Day', 'Cholera Well', and 'One Way' which have the whole crowd roaring the lyrics. From our vantage point, we can see an entire field of people bouncing in time with each other. The last song is 'Liberty', and is accompanied by an amazing firework show. A great way to end the festival.
We're feeling a bit flat walking back to the tent but sitting around with mates and reminiscing over the weekend's highlights soon restores our smiles. Even with the rain on Monday morning, our spirits are not dampened. It's been another great weekend at Escot Park in Devon. The Levellers and their non-corporate festival have done it again, and this time, with the added tracks through the car park, it's easy to get off site.
We'll be back next year, with our kids, without a shadow of a doubt. They've enjoyed it as much as we have. Beautiful Days is a definite annual event for all of us now. The combination of a diverse melting pot of music and entertainment, and a broad range of people all intent on having a great time is too big a draw to miss.
review by: James Tayler
photos by: Andy Pitt / Danielle Millea / Karen Williams
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