Beautiful Days 2024 - The Review

This family-friendly festival is known for its atmosphere as much as for its music and we were looking forward to a weekend of great weather and positive vibes.

Thursday night is always the most chilled night as people began to get their bearings and traders set up their wares. This gave me a chance to try out the food, so I grabbed the most gorgeous pork bap from a vendor in the corner displaying the name of ‘Voted Best Hog Roast’. I had a spin on their ‘wheel of porktune’, hugging the person behind me as my prize before scoffing my pork yumminess.

My vegan and vegetarian companions munched their way happily through paella from Paellaria – which was also entirely GF - and a massive portion of bhaji, salad and chips from Anil’s Spice Village.

Of course, Thursday meant a visit to Dirty Davey’s, which was rammed and eclectic as always. I also popped over to Hope Tavern to pick up my reusable cup for ale refilling over the weekend, managing to sneak in a dance to some 70s and 80s rock classics playing in the background.

The anticipation of The Levellers Collective in The Big Top was palpable and the queueing for a decent spot started quite early. As expected, a fantastic group of musicians and a fantastic array of singalong classics. The tent was rammed, with lots of younger fans hanging out with family and friends to enjoy the atmosphere. No rain or drizzle this year so Mark gave a big shout out to the crowd for bringing the good weather with them.

I fancied checking out The Fiddler’s Arms Folk Sessions nearby and was not disappointed. Folk duo The Kahunas blew me away with their strong rhythms and melodies. Their song Gypsy Queen was a favourite and, alongside their obvious chemistry, was a great blending of violin and guitar harmonies. They’d brought along their super-fan Ian, who danced his way through their entire set with an energy that belied his years.

At 5pm The Main Stage offered us The Scratch, an Irish band giving me Thin Lizzy vibes alongside a great Pogues cover. Not having heard them before I was impressed with their energy and synchronised head banging alongside harder guitar riffs.

Popping over to The Theatre Tent to watch a bit of The Ministry of Burlesque was great fun, although I wasn’t sure that ‘family friendly’ meant that it was entirely suitable for children. One mother took her two sons out during an early act, much to their obvious chagrin. It was a titillating and entertaining show with a big mention to the guy juggling ping pong balls with his mouth and the wonderful body positivity throughout.

Fat Freddy’s Drop gave me funky, dirty basslines and some expressive brass action from New Zealand and lined us up nicely for The Saw Doctors, who held up their role of headliners well. I popped over to dance myself daft to The Ragga Twins and threw some moves – annoyingly some people decided to throw more than moves at the stage and were suitably chastised. Bad form, people. Coming outside from the Little Big Top to fire dancing and the beautiful lighting of the cube installation created a quite enchanting atmosphere.

We were all incredibly impressed with the cleanliness of the arena and the toilets; I have never been to such a clean festival!

Saturday, I enjoyed a massage up at the Wellbeing Area, able to have some zen time away from the crowds. After this a walk past some energetic Morris Dancers to the main stage where Thea Gilmore got the crowd chanting along. I popped over to the Bimble Inn for a bit of metal with Sadaxe, who made me feel old and were infectiously happy.

The Longest Johns got me tapping along on the main stage before some more funky brass and bass from The Dutty Moonshine Band. My favourites New Model Army played a range of songs from their extensive back catalogue, Green and Grey sounded beautiful and Justin’s voice hasn’t changed a bit. Similarly, headliner Richard Ashcroft could still belt out his classics and the whole crowd were singing along at full volume. Utah Saints in the Little Big Top were enjoyed – even though our poor knees would regret the dancing.

Sunday gave us Dub Pistols energy and Pop Will Eat Itself, who brought out a couple of new songs alongside crowd-pleasers like Defcon One. They overcame a slight blip and showed their experience. The Damned were simply superb, Eloise took me back through my decades and even Captain Sensible mooning the crowd on his way off stage was a highlight.

This year’s crowd didn’t seem to favour the bucket hats of last year and instead there was a wider variety of headwear on show. This came to a head (excuse the pun) with the most glorious masquerade outfits on the Sunday. The sparkles, colours and designs were truly spectacular and so many people had taken the time to create their masterpieces. The parade was a fun and magical; I could only admire the amazing creativity and commitment to the cause on show.

This festival has never been a corporate sellout, and we hope that it never will – something that Mark alluded to on stage as The Levellers finished off the most amazing weekend with their usual impeccably joyous finale. A glorious firework extravaganza sent us home beaming from ear to ear.

My only regret? That I didn’t get ‘pegged’ and my friend did – coming back to the tent with a lovely little peg, a nice message and a big smile. Next year, maybe it will be me.

Happy days at Beautiful Days, a beautiful weekend indeed.

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