Bearded Theory 2018

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

26 minutes ago, The Red Telephone said:

Just back from my first time at Bearded, had a bath, cracked open some left over cider and now ready to watch the play-off final.

My thoughts on the 4 days....

Bit of a nightmare getting in...wasn’t expecting it at all (and I don’t think the organisers were). Sat in a 9-hour queue at Glastonbury in 2016, so used to festival traffic problems! Not much info around as what the problem was and how long we would be waiting. Seems that the organisers blamed it on an accident/ breakdowns on the A38, which was a bit slack - couldn’t see any, and was probably down to access into the car parks and campervan fields.

Anyway, once we got in we really enjoyed it! Took my 5 year-old to his first festival (he stayed the first 2 days, then went to in-laws) and he had a fantastic time. Said to us at one point “Everyone is so happy!” - which was lovely. Great place for kids, but still enough of an “edge” around it not to make It anaemic. Stayed in family camping, which was very quiet at night. Had friends staying in regular camping and they found it a normal festival experience, music from neighbours going on until about 3.

Really friendly crowd, didn’t experience any twattery from anyone. Great choice of beers and ciders. Food selection good, normal festival prices for meals - £8/10. Liked the Sudanese stall and a had a good veggie curry from old favourites, Ghandis Flip Flop. Tea/ coffee good value at £1/2 from some places.

Loved the Woodland stage - a beautiful place. Main stage sound was a bit ropey at times - think the dance tent should probably be relocated if they want to keep the same volume in there. Enjoyed  the little Ship stage!

Musically, I wouldn’t have chosen this festival - mainly selected it because of the family vibe and the good value. That said I enjoyed The Coral, Fun Lovin Criminals, Robert Plant, Darren Emerson, Mik Artistik, Dub Pistols, Dobioza Collectiv and Jimmy Cliff. A lot of punk and ska, but seems like a lot the crowd at there fot it - so, not a criticism!

Good that you can take your own booze in and have the chance to buy interesting beer from different places - other festivals should take note.

 

 

Thanks for the report. It's definitely remains a festival on my hit list.

[Beerqueen]

4 hours ago, ivan said:

Shambles getting into the CV fields was the stewards getting vehicles to move 1mm to the left then 1mm to the right .  If they were worried about space they should enforce the no tents or cars rule in the cv fields . 

Agreed.  We were made to park within a metre of the van in front and then the van next to us was told to come in close.  When I wandered to the loo, there was a huge space (enough for 10 kids to play football in) the other side of the van in front!  Not sure what that was all about.  And distributing wrist bands individually to each occupant of each van didn't help people get on site quickly either!  Maybe they should look towards giving out campervan (and carpark) stickers with festival tickets so that occupants have them on their windscreens and can be waved through, park up and then collect their wristbands?

Other than that, we had a great festival - everything close by and easy to move around.  Highlights were Mik Artistik,  Barsteward Sons of Val Doonican, Lucy Spraggan, Three Daft Monkeys, Thingy Kolectiv and the Crinkle Cuts.  Jimmy Cliff was a great way to end the festival too.  I'm sure there were loads of others that I'll remember too! 

Was a little disappointed in the range of beers in the bar by the main stage - not a patch on the one in Woodland.  But I survived.  And agree that it's great to be able to take some cans in to save the pocket a little and avoid having to go to the bar at inopportune moments.

Oh but whose bright idea was it to have the Barsteward Sons and Everly Pregnant Brothers on at the same time?  

 

[BlueDaze]

First time for myself and the wife this year too... Pretty much agree with The Red Telephone..

Also suffered the 2016 Glastonbury queue, but there was some justification for that one as the ground was sodden... Looked like the only issues at BT were the stewards being disorganised.. no-one asked for tickets or issued wrist bands, we had to go looking for them later..

Shame, as this was the only real complaint... and easily avoidable..

Whilst the festival is tiny, there were no crowds anywhere...!! (with the exception of Cheesy Vinyl where we had to settle for take-away cheese...

Stood in the middle of The Pallet stage whenever there was someone i really wanted to see... plenty of room and no young twats trying to push their way to the front 10 minutes in..

The food wasnt too bad.. Cheesy Vinyl did look the pick of the bunch..

The bars were fantastic.! all a decent size, plenty of friendly staff (who were always willing to guide on the immense choice of beers), little or no waiting, cheap as chips... best i have seen by a country mile.. I took a can out of the fridge on my way from the caravan in the morning but then couldnt understand people who stuck with their own (warm) cans whilst near the bars..

it definitely is a punk and ska/dub/reggae festival ... and whilst i dont do the shouty or heavy stuff, we found plenty to enjoy.. (Blossoms, Crinkle Cuts, Fun Loving Criminals, Colin Macleod, Dub Pistols, Dubioza Kolektiv, Holy Moly and the crackers...)

The ground was fine despite the massive storm on saturday night...

Will look to give it another go next year...

 

[Beerqueen]

Oh and for anyone who enjoys the Bearded Theory festival, I would really recommend Farmer Phil's in Shropshire in August.  It is even smaller but with a similar vibe and musical mix.  Very friendly and for the price of the admission ticket you can camp all week if you want and make a bit of a holiday in the Shropshire Hills/explore Ironbridge/visit Shrewsbury and the like.

[WS_Jack_III]

Only there for 2 days this year because my car broke down on Thursday and I was supposed to go LCD on the Sunday in Glasgow but that never happened

 

 

Anyway, I got to play in the Something Else Tea tent on Friday and I managed to get some footage again. Check it out

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by WS_Jack_III

[Michaels denim shorts]

Just got back from my first time too.

i was in crew camping, and backstage @ the convoy cabaret which was slightly easier to get into on Thursday. It did look a bit of a shambles for standard campervans. 

I enjoyed it, it’s a nice little festival. The woodlands is a great spot & everything is within easy walking distance. 

Minor niggles, Crew camping could have put the toilets at the same end of the field as the water point. It was a mission to wash your hands after.. & why not have the box office wristband collection in the same field instead of forcing everyone to queue together then crew having to drive back out against the incoming traffic to go to a field across the road. Only added to the queue times 

We found it to be a little flat at times, it was friendly enough but people generally didn’t seem quite so up for a party as other festivals. Maybe that’s just a northern thing

i think it would be a good one to take my kids to at some point, il probably be back again next year if I can blag a artist entry again 

im off for a shower 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

4 hours ago, WS_Jack_III said:

Only there for 2 days this year because my car broke down on Thursday and I was supposed to go LCD on the Sunday in Glasgow but that never happened

 

 

Anyway, I got to play in the Something Else Tea tent on Friday and I managed to get some footage again. Check it out

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that footage. It's given me a visual flavour of the festival, and has reinforced my desire to go there.

As an aside;

(1) Was the first bit of band footage in the Something Else Tea Tent?  (@0.15)

(2) If it was (and there's no need to answer this), are you the one in the flat cap and glasses?

(3) If you were the one in the flat cap and glasses, did you used to be in Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine?

 

[WS_Jack_III]

27 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Thanks for that footage. It's given me a visual flavour of the festival, and has reinforced my desire to go there.

As an aside;

(1) Was the first bit of band footage in the Something Else Tea Tent?  (@0.15)

(2) If it was (and there's no need to answer this), are you the one in the flat cap and glasses?

(3) If you were the one in the flat cap and glasses, did you used to be in Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine?

 

 

Glad it can help, that's one of the reasons to lug all the gear around all weekend.

yes it was and no I'm not that guy and I've never been a member of Carter USM, I'd have struggled to get time off school when they were kicking about.

 

Didn't actually get any footage of my set unfortunately, didn't take my tripod, would you believe it?!

Good job I didn't anyway, one of my drum machines decided not to work and I messed up the first transition of my set, so it would have been quite cringey to watch back. One bloke told me he enjoyed it though so I was happy enough.

Edited May 28, 2018 by WS_Jack_III

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

2 hours ago, WS_Jack_III said:

 

Glad it can help, that's one of the reasons to lug all the gear around all weekend.

yes it was and no I'm not that guy and I've never been a member of Carter USM, I'd have struggled to get time off school when they were kicking about.

 

Didn't actually get any footage of my set unfortunately, didn't take my tripod, would you belie ve it?!

Good job I didn't anyway, one of my drum machines decided not to work and I messed up the first transition of my set, so it would have been quite cringey to watch back. One bloke told me he enjoyed it though so I was happy enough.

Thanks for replying. I have no idea when Carter USM were around, and then not around. I only know of their existence, and that I met a member of the former band at Equinox last year, and have a vague recollection that he was wearing a flat cap, glasses and came from 'up north'. I know that making that connection with you was more than a little tenuous, but, unfortunately, that's the best my brain can come up with nowadays! 

Anyway, thanks once again for the footage - it really has helped sway me. It's a festival that is reasonably close to me, so I really ought to give it a go, if possible.

 

[Gnomicide]

5 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Thanks for replying. I have no idea when Carter USM were around, and then not around. I only know of their existence, and that I met a member of the former band at Equinox last year, and have a vague recollection that he was wearing a flat cap, glasses and came from 'up north'. I know that making that connection with you was more than a little tenuous, but, unfortunately, that's the best my brain can come up with nowadays! 

Anyway, thanks once again for the footage - it really has helped sway me. It's a festival that is reasonably close to me, so I really ought to give it a go, if possible.

 

Les Carter once of Carter USM, now of Ferocious Dog, was there and did do a set in the Tea Tent. I didn't see it but apparently he was pleased as her only went wrong a couple of times.

As for the rest of the festival, I had a great time once again, many great sets over the 4 days, Robert Plant, Jimmy Cliff, Mik (x2), Hot Tramp, Therapy?, Random Hand, FLC, Doonicans, Dubioza Kolective, Ghosts of Men... 

My only gripe was the new Magic Teapot thing. I get the idea, a place to gather round a fire, story telling, singing, open 24 hours, all sounds lovely if you like that sort of thing. But why put it in the camp site? It may have been ok without the bongos, just acoustic guitar and singing doesn't carry far but those bloody bongos need binning.

It seemed to me that it made about 50 people happy while simultaneously pissing off several hundred others. If it is back next year, please give us warning where it will be so I can camp as far away as possible.

[The Red Telephone]

I went into the Magical Teapot at 3.30am on Saturday morning as I fancied a sit down before returning to the tent. I left at 3.32am when some started strumming the opening chords to Wonderwall on a badly-tuned guitar.

[WS_Jack_III]

7 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Thanks for replying. I have no idea when Carter USM were around, and then not around. I only know of their existence, and that I met a member of the former band at Equinox last year, and have a vague recollection that he was wearing a flat cap, glasses and came from 'up north'. I know that making that connection with you was more than a little tenuous, but, unfortunately, that's the best my brain can come up with nowadays! 

Anyway, thanks once again for the footage - it really has helped sway me. It's a festival that is reasonably close to me, so I really ought to give it a go, if possible.

 

early 90s I think. 

 

Anyway, I would recommend the festival, has a great crowd who are very appreciative of mostly any type of music it would seem. You can easily move around the site, get in and out of crowds with minimum hassle. The only part I don't really understand is the fairground part, not sure why so many festivals have these now.

[Flaminglippy]

Absolutely loved it. Admittedly we avoided the seemingly horrendous entry issues and tent thefts which would put almost anybody off but that aside thought it was superb.

* We had probably the easiest getting there/setting up/getting out of any festival I have ever been to.

* Literally everybody we spoke to was incredibly friendly, with the exception of 1 table of lads sat next to for about 5 minutes didn't see a single dickhead all weekend.

* Whilst a lot of the line-up isn't stuff I would normally go out of my way to watch, saw very little I didn't like. 'Dubioza Kolectiv' and 'Pizzatramp' were highlights. J&MC, Blossoms, Sleeper, The Coral were all great.   

* Probably the most consistently clean loos at any festival I have ever been to (there just weren't enough of them, especially by the main stage, and having urinals with just one door to go in and out is just mad)

* Jimmy Cliff sing-a-long was a perfect way to end it.

Definitely be back

  

     

[Wakey321]

Was my first time at the festival and loved every minute of it!

We arrived on Friday morning early so missed Thursdays traffic issues and found it excellently run.

Loved the woodland area and spent a fair bit of time there just relaxing and watching whoever came on the stage.

Music highlights for myself were The Coral, Milburn, Idles, Jesus and Mary Chain, Sheaf, Robert Plant and October Drift.

Will definitely be attending again next year and may bring my 12yr old daughter for her first festival.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

3 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

Les Carter once of Carter USM, now of Ferocious Dog, was there and did do a set in the Tea Tent. I didn't see it but apparently he was pleased as her only went wrong a couple of times.

Yeah that's the bloke I met. 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, WS_Jack_III said:

early 90s I think. 

 

Anyway, I would recommend the festival, has a great crowd who are very appreciative of mostly any type of music it would seem. You can easily move around the site, get in and out of crowds with minimum hassle. The only part I don't really understand is the fairground part, not sure why so many festivals have these now.

I don't get fairgrounds at festivals either, but then again, I don't get fairgrounds.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Yoghurt on a Stick
Just to say that I actually think that fairgrounds are a vulgar addition to a festival. A monstrous carbuncle etc

[paddyclark]

21 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Thanks for the report. It's definitely remains a festival on my hit list.

Do it Yog.. Just been for the first time and cracking weekend..  Way more going on than festivals of its size, excellent food and the woodland and its bar is excellent in itself.  For an early Bird price of £100 hard to see anything better. Good mix of music and a good audience.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

2 minutes ago, paddyclark said:

Do it Yog.. Just been for the first time and cracking weekend..  Way more going on than festivals of its size, excellent food and the woodland and its bar is excellent in itself.  For an early Bird price of £100 hard to see anything better. Good mix of music and a good audience.

Thanks paddyclark. It really is looking more and more likely that I will. I think my days of going to very big festivals are over - or will be once I have been to BoomTown for the first time this August. Not only that, but Bearded Theory is relatively easy for me to get to ie not too far. 

[Curlygirl]

Well I am just about recovering from the weekend and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it!! There isn’t a thing I would change. The rain didn’t bother me at all! Jumping around like a lunatic to Dubioza was my absolute highlight!!! Met the most beautiful people including the lovely @paddyclark, loved the line up and the bars! Woodland is an awesome stage and the sound from the Pallet stage was spot on. The bars were all reasonably priced and had loads of choice! And the toastie stall.. well let’s just say I need more goats cheese and onion marmalade in my life!! @Yoghurt on a Stick You have to go next year!! I still owe you many pints for making Jessie!! I’d love nothing more than to sit on the grass and talk to you in real life about your adventures!! I will be there every year from now on without a doubt. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Curlygirl

[Curlygirl]

On 5/23/2018 at 7:59 PM, crazyfool1 said:

not so great at finding me at Glastonbury .. im sure it took a few years  

Maybe I wasn’t looking ?

 

in all seriousness, I always was, but it is huge there!! I’m pleased I met you when I did lovely one. 

[shoptildrop]

On 5/28/2018 at 11:31 AM, ivan said:

Shambles getting into the CV fields was the stewards getting vehicles to move 1mm to the left then 1mm to the right .  If they were worried about space they should enforce the no tents or cars rule in the cv fields . 

Is that what caused the queues? as we had great run down from Manchester and then we turn off the A38 onto A513 to then be waiting nearly 3 hours to go that last 3 miles. Apparently high lorry decided to go the route of low bridge so I would assume that didn't help either.... it didn't really make sense why we weren't moving but got there eventually and managed to get our tent up in Walton woods near the tipis so I was happy

 

[shoptildrop]

On 5/28/2018 at 3:57 PM, Beerqueen said:

Agreed.  We were made to park within a metre of the van in front and then the van next to us was told to come in close.  When I wandered to the loo, there was a huge space (enough for 10 kids to play football in) the other side of the van in front!  Not sure what that was all about.  And distributing wrist bands individually to each occupant of each van didn't help people get on site quickly either!  Maybe they should look towards giving out campervan (and carpark) stickers with festival tickets so that occupants have them on their windscreens and can be waved through, park up and then collect their wristbands?

I was wondering how they were going to issue bands for the camper vans but that sounds nuts, that will have contributed to queues for sure..

Well it sounds like the organisers do listen to the feedback so car park stickers in the post (for everyone imo) and a wristband point for camperfield

[shoptildrop]

I have to say Idles stole the show for me with such an awesome engaging set, from a kids singing on stage, guitarist going into the crowd and coming out 20 years older lol and those kids dancing at the end too - total highlight 

 

[ivan]

7 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

Is that what caused the queues? as we had great run down from Manchester and then we turn off the A38 onto A513 to then be waiting nearly 3 hours to go that last 3 miles. Apparently high lorry decided to go the route of low bridge so I would assume that didn't help either.... it didn't really make sense why we weren't moving but got there eventually and managed to get our tent up in Walton woods near the tipis so I was happy

 

My friend said in the car parks the stewards had a stick to  show you where to park exactly , so in frustration she tried to run over their stick when it kept getting moved 1mm to the left 1mm to the right.   But in their defence a steward in the cv fields on parking duty said he was only supposed to be litter picking not parking camper vans and cars up , but had been told to help out. 

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, Curlygirl said:

Maybe I wasn’t looking ?

 

in all seriousness, I always was, but it is huge there!! I’m pleased I met you when I did lovely one. 

thanks .. it is a little on the big side   Did you make it to October Drift .? .. spoke to my friend today and he said it was a bit wet at the time