Beacons Festival

Carleton, Yorkshire

4/5

THE inaugural Beacons was rained off in 2011 and, as the remnants of Hurricane Bertha batter the big tops and Ferris wheel on its closing day it looks like history may be about to repeat itself.

The party-hard, no-nonsense attitude of punters and organisers alike nonetheless ensures that the boutique music and arts festival continues with only minor disruption. This sees some of the smaller tents being closed throughout the day, an off/on set from icy Nico-esque singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon (right) and an interrupted show from post-punk troublemakers The Fall (below).

It’s a determination to have a good time that’s made all the easier by the sheer wealth of activities on offer over the four-day event. 

This year’s improved arts programme includes early morning yoga sessions, sign-painting workshops, comedy lectures and journalist Dave Haslam in conversation with celebrated DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall.

Many of these activities are delivered by local artists — a support for regional talent that extends to the food suppliers and music. That’s evidenced in a bill featuring Paul Thomas Saunders’ earnestly sweeping Americana, Vessels’ electronic post-rock, Hookworms’ Krautrock psych-rock and Galaxians’ post-disco party bangerz. 

Local interest also informs a film selection that includes a screening of The Selfish Giant plus a Q&A with its Bradford-raised director Clio Barnard and an over-subscribed showing of Pulp: A Film About Life, Death And Supermarkets. But it’s The Punk Singer, a documentary about Riot Grrrl’s central figure Kathleen Hannah, which truly seems to inform the spirit of the festival.

That’s equally true of PINS, opportunely scheduled to perform just after the film, who transform the energy of Savages into sweet noise pop. 

It’s possible to dash from one tent to the other due to improvements to the layout in the main arena which make the site more compact. The downside of this is that sound pollution does unfortunately affect some of the acts, with the bass from the Resident Adviser tent giving an unwanted dance element to Daughter’s post-The xx shoegaze set and spoiling the downbeat soul of Joan As Police Woman.

Such a sound clash is perhaps a small price to pay for such a left-field, genre-spanning line-up that covers the mellow folk of King Creosote, the B-movie jazz horror of Shatner’s Bassoon, the high energy jazz-funk of Melt Yourself Down, the post Soul II Soul sound system of Moko and the feel-good rock-steady hip-hop of Nightmares On Wax.

The rich diversity of mid-range acts means there’s no unifying “Dolly Parton” festival moment a la Glastonbury. But the small, friendly atmosphere helps pull Beacons to victory in the face of challenging weather conditions.