Situated in the beautiful countryside of the Yorkshire Dales on Helseker Farm estate, this years near to capacity Beacons Festival was due to be a fun filled weekend of debauched rocking out fueled by copious amounts of fruit based cider and the occasional pie and mash.
Arriving on Friday lunchtime first impressions were of it’s intimacy and uniqueness. It’s a fairly compact site seemingly filled with revelers of an age group into their 20’s-30’s. It’s blend of community spirit thrives in the ‘arts’ enclosure which is populated by ‘making things’ tents, poetry, independent films views and places where you can dress up and have a proper cup of tea in a china cup and saucer!! It is quite quaint in a way especially as it also has an excellent family camping area equipped with lots of fun equipment and things to do, to keep the kids happy especially when recovering from your expected hangover (note to parents* you will not be judged to be deemed as an unfit parent if you slightly over indulge at a festival as long as the kids are in bed and asleep by 9pm…ish and your obviously with them).
Fridays list of ‘must sees’ was drawn up and off we went, cameras at the ready. 1pm started us off with Battle Lines, a full bodied indie rock group, great bassy rhythms and angelic vocals from singer Carly Humphries.
Brighton trio Esben & The Witch came on at 6pm and filled the tent with their unique sultry goth rock bringing some heavy riffs and loud drum beats to Beacons, Rachel Davies soft vocals bring an eerie undertone to their set which accompanies it really well.
Leeds smashers, Eagulls pulled in a massive crowd filled with anthemic tunes, fast paced and very lively. Over on the main stage stage, Ghost Poet entertained the masses while we secretly awaited the onslaught that is F*cked Up! The phenomenal David Abraham and co obliterate the stage taking no front row punter prisoner. Their brash punk rock, guitar laden sound runs the crowd ragged. Toronto’s finest and Beacons best band of the day, Leeds Virtuoso Simon Green aka Bonobo ended the day on a high.
With the music from Friday running into the early hours of the morning there was a silent hallow wallowing through the fields at Beacons. Grey skies occasionally part for the odd spot of sunshine but on the whole it’s going to be a rainy day. No down turn in the mood of the vast number of though, Beacons spirit continues with the help of a bacon and egg sandwich.
On Sunday, Best Friends were the first band of the day for us, a four piece indie rock band combining happy surf type sounds with catchy guitar choruses. Hotly tipped, Moon Duo were a definite must see of the weekend, fast paced rock n roll guitar with loud distorted riffs. A genuinely great set from a great band and a brief chat with Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada afterwards included discussions on 
Overall Beacons is a pretty fantastic festival, i’d hate for it to become grossly larger as it would take its authenticity away, its ran really well, its pr’d really well and its policed really well. 2014 could possibly do with a bigger name enticer but the aim for this year for me was to catch new acts id never heard before and fill ipod with a broader eclectic taste which, it did do and some.
Acts of the weekend: F*cked Up, Telegram, Eagulls, Dutch Uncles, Japanese Fighting Fish, Moon Duo, Splashh.