OK let’s get the one negative aspect out of the way first. Back in 2011 I launched a bit of a tirade about the unacceptable amount of litter left lying around at Beat-Herder & whilst there are obviously more litter pickers around the site these days the situation is still just totally unacceptable. Admittedly there were virtually no bins to be found anywhere but there’s still no excuse for just dropping all your crap wherever you are finished with it. The litter pickers worked like Trojans but were simply overcome by the ever building tide of detritus, which I noticed included sanitary towels and soiled underwear. I mean really people!

But litter aside Beat-Herder continues to push the boundaries of the imagination. There was yet another impressive new venue to enjoy this year with the introduction of “Pratty’s Ring”. A 100ft diameter earthen circle with Neolithic looking stone gateways. According to legend John Pratt was a giant of a man who created a similar magical ring with earth from nearby Pendle Hill using only his bare hands. In order to make way for the Ring the Stumblefunk tent moved to a new location next to the Fortress and all of the other fantastic new venues from last year also returned.

The main bar this year was courtesy of the Old School Brewery who did a very acceptable range of beers, which at only £3 a pint were a very welcome 50p cheaper than 2013. They also did a very glugable 6% festival cider at £3:50. There seemed to be a lot more portaloos which kept queuing to acceptable levels and logistically everything else seemed to run smoothly.

Weather-wise we seem to have something of a recurring theme at this year’s festivals with a dry start followed by a fair amount of rain falling during the first part of the festival before a sunny Sunday encouraging everybody to laze on the grass again. Beat-Herder was no exception and the rain that we did have on the Saturday morning only really caused the main thoroughfares to become a little muddy.

Musically the line up at Beat-Herder is still predominantly geared towards the various dance genres but as always there was plenty to listen to other than beats and bleeps both from up and coming acts and classic names from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s with Boney M, ABC and the Happy Mondays all appearing on the main stage.