Beat-Herder Competition
Sawley, Lancashire
thirteenth – sixteenth July 2023

What do sheep do when it rains? They only get on with it don’t they. It’s a lesson for all of us, and it’s the perspective with which the hardiest of Herders tackled Beat-Herder pageant this yr.

Whereas Friday night time mainstage headliners Confidence Man have a ravishing calm night for his or her pleasant deadpan pop and camp choreography, Alison Goldfrapp’s Sunday night time crowd are dancing no less than partly to make sure they don’t sink into the Bathroom of Beatherdershire.

In the meantime, Saturday’s dramatic shift by Pendulum is beset by icy horizontal rain that retains all however essentially the most decided huddled inside. Those that courageous it have a proper Wim Hof of a time, operating round afterwards all energised and victorious sufficient to make one surprise if staying within the consolation zone is value it.

And talking of consolation zones, there are lots. Whereas the pageant can’t do something concerning the climate, what they’ll do is sack off the massive soulless tent levels for smaller, extra creative and extra strong constructions – little worlds the place you possibly can sit down and hang around and neglect it’s lashing it down exterior.

The Beat-Herder and District Working Males’s Membership is programmed by the Committee, who do a strong job of filling the weekend with crowd-pleasing covers bands, cabaret performances and comedy turns. Filled with cozy chairs and ’70s decor, it’s a portal to a cheesier time, and hosts late-night back-to-back wedding ceremony celebration DJs who make soggy entrants really feel immediately warmed.

Over at two-level venue The Manufacturing unit, the wind is straightforward to neglect, with corrugated partitions defending a wildcard line-up together with hotly-tipped and aptly-titled NOISY – who actually take a look at the structural integrity of the PA with the power of their electroclash – in addition to celebration bands and tribute acts. One in every of this yr’s joys is watching individuals slide unwillingly down the muddy hill into The Manufacturing unit, and resolve they’ll willingly stay, due to some gem that didn’t catch their eye within the programme however has simply turn into a peak expertise.

Belching flames into the sky like a siren name to ravers, The Fortress is consistently packed. It’s unclear whether or not anybody in there ever a) leaves, or b) is aware of it’s raining. The identical may also be mentioned of the blessed Toil Timber, the center of the pageant, the place Gok Wan will get one of many largest crowds of the weekend and the place a four-hour Sunday set from Mr Scruff is taken into account a self-care routine. The disco ball addition this yr is fairly sufficient in the course of the day, however virtually blindingly lovely to the big-eyed nocturnal crowds each time the techs turned t’large gentle on.

I’ve banged on concerning the climate so much, I do know, however there’s a purpose. The downpours actually highlighted what makes Beat-Herder so value it, rain or shine; there are no less than 20 levels at this comparatively tiny pageant, and solely 4 of them are open to the weather. The remaining are picket buildings, delivery containers and steel constructions dressed up – all the way down to the tiniest particulars – as lodges, discos, church buildings, homes, members’ golf equipment… there’s even a completely functioning swimming pool, if you’ll find it.

Free of huge sponsors, and true to its freeparty roots, the genre-hopping Beat-Herder is a pageant individuals belief sufficient to bag their tickets in droves earlier than any line-up announcement, and no matter any climate forecast. This yr’s sop drove individuals largely away from the primary stage and in direction of the invention of their new favorite factor, and anybody who took the time to wade via the mud virtually actually discovered some treasure.

Tickets are out now for Beat-Herder 2024.

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All phrases by Kate Wellham

Pictures by Giles Smith and Andrew Whitton