Bearded Theory 2023

[Pinhead]

Just been talking to Mik Artistik who was lamenting all the smaller stages lost at Glasto this year due to rationalisation / costs whatever...

Also this year - spotless bogs - never seen this!

[Flaminglippy]

17 hours ago, Pinhead said:

Just been talking to Mik Artistik who was lamenting all the smaller stages lost at Glasto this year due to rationalisation / costs whatever...

Also this year - spotless bogs - never seen this!

The toilets are exceptional! Not seen a single dirty one. Overall think this is probably one of the best weekends.  The addition of the Meadow is a massive bonus and everywhere else seems to be a bit less rammed as a result. 

Music highlights so far definitely Benefits, Deja Vega, Pet Needs, Oh My God! Its The Church. Bit disappointed in Viagra Boys. The people are as lovely as ever, had some great chats with some lovely randoms. The weather is obviously helping. 

[Pinhead]

Working backstage. Just told Billy Bragg to move his car.. Seen Gary around as well.

[ciderbus]

Cracking weekend so far.

Particularly enjoyed Heartwirms, Snapped Ankles and Pale Blue Eyes.

Don't get the appeal of Elvana but each to their own.

Think Interpol must be the smallest crowd i have seen for a headliner here.

[Flaminglippy]

23 hours ago, ciderbus said:

Cracking weekend so far.

Particularly enjoyed Heartwirms, Snapped Ankles and Pale Blue Eyes.

Don't get the appeal of Elvana but each to their own.

Think Interpol must be the smallest crowd i have seen for a headliner here.

Yeah the Interpol crowd was embarassingly small. Shame, they were decent. Think Echo & The Bunnymen were probably a much bigger draw than they were expecting...couldnt get anywhere near the tent

Edited May 29, 2023 by Flaminglippy

[Pinhead]

Impressed by The Pretenders, top Primals set and saw some of Sleeper. Just got back after preemptive early rise to avoid traffic. Never remember a colder night than last night tho - overnight shift stewards said there was a frost!

[Flaminglippy]

Would probably go so far as to say that was one of favourite festival weekends ever. Some great music, absolutely lovely crowd (possibly a few more completely out of it than I have seen on previous occasions), decent loos. Obviously weather helped. 

[Pinhead]

Saw a campervan in Trent with an eFests 'dancing man' flag and the letters 'VINBOOCE' down the side - anyone we know here?

[Flaminglippy]

1 minute ago, Pinhead said:

Impressed by The Pretenders, top Primals set and saw some of Sleeper. Just got back after preemptive early rise to avoid traffic. Never remember a colder night than last night tho - overnight shift stewards said there was a frost!

It was bloody freezing weren't it! I had to wrap a blanket round my feet about 2am before got frostbite. 

[Nobody Interesting]

I think you could sum that up in two words.

NAILED IT

 

I am a bit broken, the tent is very broken as it now has a new always open sun roof but never mind.

Anything and everything was a bit damn good.

[Pinhead]

Yes the new owners have assessed well what works and what doesnt and the changes they have introduced are a positive step in the right direction. Shame the crew bar was a disaster this year mind.

[elgatonegrofabricwardrobe]

Brilliant weekend. A blur of great acts, sun and proper decent people. Personal highlights would probably be Gogol Bordello, Abdoujaparov and PSB. 

[Jackie Daytona]

Incredible festival! First rain-less festival I've ever been to and it's not even Summer yet!

The acts were all great! Delilah Bon is a future star, Public Service Broadcasting were one of the most unique headliners I've ever seen and I started my first mosh pit at Warmduscher!

Also, thrashing out Take Me Out at Knockerdown karaoke wasn't too shabby either! 😂 

Really considering going again if any of my suggestions next year reach the bookers

[riverwise]

49 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Yes the new owners have assessed well what works and what doesnt and the changes they have introduced are a positive step in the right direction. .

Bang on. I think pretty much every tweak they made worked out for the better. My regular crew and I had discussed beforehand that it might be our last Bearded if we didn't like the new direction, but no fear of that. My only small gripe would be....the toilets in the Woodlands! Obviously great to have them finally after years of moans about it, but when the wind was right, the smell did distract from the lovely woodland vibe...Don't know what the answer is, maybe use the same sawdust ones as the campsites?

Lots of great music, off the top of my head loved RDF, OMGITC, Henge, The Men They Couldn't Hang (must have been dusty in that tent, swear something got in my eye during The Green Fields Of France....) and especially Skindred. We could definitely stand to have a bit more metal at Bearded, and these guys were fantastic.

Only caught a bit of Primal Scream because I'll be seeing them at Beautiful Days, but nice to see that they seem to have made an effort this time round - the choir sounded great. Not paying £35 for a Screamadelica shirt though!

[Flaminglippy]

1 hour ago, riverwise said:

 

Only caught a bit of Primal Scream because I'll be seeing them at Beautiful Days, but nice to see that they seem to have made an effort this time round - the choir sounded great. Not paying £35 for a Screamadelica shirt though!

Think so much of the Primals set is down to what mood Bobby is in. Bit of a strange set list for the first 40 minutes (but still good) then ended with the bangers. They were pretty sh*t the last time we saw them, much better last night. 

50/50 if they will be brilliant/sh*t at Beautiful Days

[IndiePoppyJock]

That was my first Bearded Theory and I absolutely loved it. What a great weekend.

My previous festival experiences have been tiny events (Indietracks or local events) or big corporate ones (V Fest), so wasn't sure what to expect from BT, but the quality of the line up and the Indietracks hole I've been trying to fill meant I had to try it.

The organisers have done a magnificent job with the site and layout - plenty space for everyone (although I was scraping around for a Family Camping space at 10am on Friday. but got one), loads of shops, bars, food stalls and an impressive number of stages and a genuinely impressive stage set up. Woodland looks amazing. Most of the bands I wanted to see were in the Meadow, which I was a bit gutted about as sitting in the sun, listening to music would have been great, but probably just as well I had to go inside or I'd have fried!

The staff were all great - from the guys in the car park or the crossing, to the steward who pointed me towards Woodland stage, everyone I spoke to was a credit to the festival.

The sound quality from the stages was excellent, everything seemed to be on time, the crowd were lovely (I didn't see one cup of piss being thrown all weekend...must have been the £2 for the cups!!)

The Bug Club, The Beths, The Lovely Eggs & Panic Shack were the bands that tempted me to buy the tickets and they didn't disappoint (Bug Club being the highlight). When I had a bit of down time in my itinerary, I went wandering and saw High Horses and Blackthorn (both in Maui Waui)...wow to both of them. What perfect bands to have on at a festival in the middle of the day. No need to have known who they were because their songs and crowd interaction got everyone involved and everyone dancing. I walked past people from both those bands later in the day and I had to stop them to say how awesome I thought they both were. Need to go and check them out properly.

I have a habit of getting in to great things too late when they're on their way out, I really hope I've not jinxed BT and I hope it is around for many years to come

 

[Nobody Interesting]

Question:

Are there 'locals' Sunday tickets or something?

Never really noticed before but the main car park had heaps of new additions coming in on Sunday, families withy arms of chairs and stuff set for a day out and Sunday was the only day the Pallet was busy with chairs and blankets.

Tis not  a moan, just wondering.

[AmyShambles]

An incredible 4 days. Great weather, people and bands. Thought the sound was really good on all the stages and really liked the addition of The Meadow.

Acts of the weekend for me were Gogol, Interpol, Witch Fever, Oh My God! It's The Church, Abdoujaparov and Public Service Broadcasting. Saw some good comedians in Knockerdown too.

Hope everyone else had a brilliant time. Can't wait for next year already.

[onemoresolo]

Booked Bearded on a bit of a punt last year having done Bluedot in 2019 and 2022. Had an amazing time. Thought the site was really well laid out and the team did an amazing job keeping it clean. A couple more water points in the campsite would have been good but a minor gripe.

Think we made it to every stage at some point bar Magical Sounds but got to hear that from our tent most nights, cracking sound system in there. 😁 The Woodland stage is stunning! One of my favourite things was the variety of stages and places like the Tea Tent and Variety Club to hang out when you need a break or change of pace. 

Being able to legitimately bring your own drinks in is great and stops people getting pre leathered at the campsite, and the bars still seemed to be doing a great trade. I hope they stick with that policy under the new owners.

I booked before the lineup was announced but they smashed it out of the park. Saw so many great bands but the highlights for me were The Beths, Mik Artistik, The Bug Club, Elvana and the final night run of Primal Scream into PSB. I really enjoyed Interpol too but was surprised how few people stayed to the end of their set. Booking opposite Echo and the Bunnymen was a bad choice. The only low point for me was Warmduscher clashing with my usual Sunday evening festival blues so didn’t enjoy them as much as I’d hoped. Not their fault. I’m also left with plenty of bands to try and catch another time that I missed due to clashes or forgetfulness.

The regulars I spoke to seemed really positive about this year so I hope that’s a good sign for the future and a similar crowd keeps coming back. It was a great atmosphere from start to finish. It clearly attracts a nice crowd and the lack of day tickets is great. Nothing worse on a Sunday when you’re grimly hanging on and thousands of beered up Mancs roll up for a day out.

Edited May 29, 2023 by onemoresolo

[ciderbus]

Saw a few bits online about long queues to get off the car parks today. Hope it was sorted.

We got off early but needed a big sleep when we got home!

Great weekend, Sunday highlights for me included Snayx and the excellent three band end to the Pallet stage 

[gizmoman]

1 hour ago, Nobody Interesting said:

Question:

Are there 'locals' Sunday tickets or something?

Never really noticed before but the main car park had heaps of new additions coming in on Sunday, families withy arms of chairs and stuff set for a day out and Sunday was the only day the Pallet was busy with chairs and blankets.

Tis not  a moan, just wondering.

We spoke to a guy on Saturday who asked if we were local, he said he was just there for the day so there is clearly some arrangement for day tickets, Pallet was busier on Saturday and Sunday compared to Friday but I guess some don't get on site until late Friday if they come after work. Overall a cracking weekend, no issues at all for us, everything perfect, there's not many festivals that can claim that. Thought the acts all put in great efforts, it was the first festival of the season for many and they did really great, Gary Numan was far better than I expected and although I've seen the Bunnymen plenty of times over the years, this was the best, really great crowd and tremendous performance, glad I ditched Interpol early and got down the front. Roll on next year.

[Nobody Interesting]

29 minutes ago, gizmoman said:

We spoke to a guy on Saturday who asked if we were local, he said he was just there for the day so there is clearly some arrangement for day tickets, Pallet was busier on Saturday and Sunday compared to Friday but I guess some don't get on site until late Friday if they come after work. Overall a cracking weekend, no issues at all for us, everything perfect, there's not many festivals that can claim that. Thought the acts all put in great efforts, it was the first festival of the season for many and they did really great, Gary Numan was far better than I expected and although I've seen the Bunnymen plenty of times over the years, this was the best, really great crowd and tremendous performance, glad I ditched Interpol early and got down the front. Roll on next year.

Thanks.

Was just wondering.... but agree, festival is wonderful. Still the best there is by a long long way.

Been going since 2015 and one day when festivals have to stop it will be the last we stop doing. Before that there is the small matter of my 59th and 60th birthday's at the festival in 24 and 25. Bring it on.

 

[Rock bus]

Back after an awesome festival.
Thought people might like to see my review. Would be great if people could follow my site and share the review.

https://thesoulofaclown.com/2023/05/29/bearded-theory-26-28-may-2023-catton-hall/

[Johnnyseven]

On 5/28/2023 at 11:13 AM, ciderbus said:

Don't get the appeal of Elvana but each to their own.

I thought it was just me that thought this, glad i'm not alone.

1 hour ago, ciderbus said:

Saw a few bits online about long queues to get off the car parks today. Hope it was sorted.

Yeah it was painful. I was parked right at the end of the car park by the exit and it took me 45 mins to get out and it was about 200 metres away. I heard people say it had taken them 2 hours. Never had to queue the 2 previous time i've been.

Great weekend though. Only criticism was the sound in the Meadow wasn't great unless you were in the middle, on either side it was terrible - couldn't make out a word Ian McCulloch was saying. Plus there was major sound bleed from Magical Sounds during E&TB, the sound in there was great though!

[Nobody Interesting]

9 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

Only criticism was the sound in the Meadow wasn't great unless you were in the middle, on either side it was terrible - couldn't make out a word Ian McCulloch was saying. Plus there was major sound bleed from Magical Sounds during E&TB, the sound in there was great though!

Not sure many heard what he was saying - cos he was rather 'tiddly'. The spoken word was lost all weekend in the MEadow btu after Friday thay sorted the overall sound well.