After 2 very soggy years we had glorious sunshine for most of this year’s Beat Herder. We did get a couple of hours rain on the Sunday but certainly not enough to dampen spirits or make conditions uncomfortable and it was wonderful to be able to sit on the grass and enjoy clear views of Pendle Hill and the spectacular surrounding countryside in the Ribble Valley.

There were a lot more people onsite this year with the capacity apparently having been upped 50% from 5,000 to 7,500 but our reservations over this were unfounded as the vibe remained as upbeat as ever and there was never any real danger of overcrowding. The site was enlarged with an additional field playing host to a New Bands tent and the tiny Caravan Stage. A new “Recovery Lounge” was conveniently positioned next to our old favourite Trailer Trash, but otherwise familiar venues like Toiltrees, Stumblefunk, Bushrocker HiFi, the Smoky Tentacles Shisha Lounge and the wonderfully quirky Beat Herder and District Working Mens Social Club were all much as we remembered them from previous years.

The choice in food outlets was improved again with Tibetan dumplings and steak and haggis pies among the culinary delights on offer. The bars also had both Beef Hurdler (3.8%) and Bleat Gurgler (4.4%) ales available at a mere £2.50 a pint. Toilets were more widely available than previous years although the ones in the campervan field were often pretty horrible and there was an unpleasant overflow situation at one of the urinals. However the only other moan I would have was the unnecessarily intrusive and time consuming searching that most punters were subjected to when entering the site on the Friday and Saturday as well as stories of thuggish behavior on the part of some of the security staff.

Musically the line up was excellent. The Lancashire Hotpots made a welcome return and the special guest appearance from Mr Motivator was an inspired piece of programming. And once again Beat Herder punters proved that when it comes to fancy dress they are some of the most imaginative around with dozens of different interpretations of the letter “B” theme on the Saturday night.