Festival Review:
Beat-Herder 2024
All Image Credits: Andrew Whitton
Festival Review:
Beat-Herder 2024
Let’s just cut to the chase! This was the best weekend I had in 2024. Beat-Herder was an absolute blast from start to end. For anyone unfamiliar with Beat-Herder started (officially) back in 2006. It may have existed unofficially before then as a nice little rave spot, thanks to an accommodating farmer who thought he was hosting a wedding party and getting a few hundred quid for it.
As with most illegal raves in the 90’s, the Criminal Justice Bill did a pretty effective job of killing the party, and sound systems either went deeper underground, sold off their kit, got it confiscated by the bizzies, or legitimised their parties by adopting the persona of a Festival. Beat-Herder evolved out of the latter, and has grown into one of the best small festivals in the UK or arguably the best festival in the North of England.
Beat-Herder isn’t just an illegal party in disguise, and you can forget the image of a bunch of crusties with a crappy sound system and some UV paint.
The sheer level of creativity to make the magical land that is the Beat-Herder site is quite astonishing. It’s absolutely crammed with unexpected delights, from hidden pool parties, micro venues and follies to keep even the most mashed party heads entertained.
I don’t really want to compare it with Boomtown as one is a fecking monster of a festival and the other is much more bejeaux! But you can’t ignore the similarities in exploration and adventure into the unknown that each festival provides. I’ve been to Beat-Herder back in 2018 and it’s evolved a bit since then with some new stages, and despite two visits and much exploring, I still managed to miss micro venues hidden away.
It’s true I may have been slightly impaired through my own misadventures, but to not experience all that Beat-Herder has to offer despite actively going out to look for it either displays my ineptitude to explore, or the sheer scale of the set builds and the number of stages on offer.
Image Credit: Andrew Whitton
Beat-Herder manages to offer both a massive mainstage for headline acts and endless rabbit holes to go exploring down from the Chapel, the Launderette and my personal favourite, the Bushrocker HiFi shed which has a proper roots sound-system in an old corrugated metal shed. There are just so many places to explore and so many different vibes that come with them. You can explore some of them here – https://beatherder.co.uk/stages
Much of the stages are open air, but there are many under cover which does help when the traditional Northern weather descends. There is just so much to explore, and you can be sure of whatever mood you are in, you will be able to find your tribe somewhere on the site.
Talking of tribes, can I just take a moment to express just how chilled this event is. I usually bump into a few dickheads at a festival (or they bump into me…) but I would say the dickhead count at Beat-Herder 2024 was less than 0.5% of the overall population. The people at Beat-Herder are just the friendliest bunch you are likely to meet at any fesitval!
This is absolutely one of the best festivals in the UK right now, and really should be on your list. It’s probably about now I should wax lyrical about all the artists and headline acts, and yes Orbital were amazing, as were Leftfield and the Wailers. Mungo’s Hifi and Eva Lazarus put together a great set on Sunday afternoon and Mickey Dread and the Channel One crew were on fire on Saturday night.
The music over the whole weekend was simply sublime, but what was best of all was the stumbling into a tiny room (looking at you Bubba Gumma) and losing a few hours of my life dancing my tits off, blissfully unaware of who was playing. That to me is what Beat-Herder is about. It’s not about the big commercial hooks and headliners, it’s about getting a bit messy, and stumbling around in the dark exploring what each area had to offer until you find the perfect place for your current state of mind.
For me, Beat-Herder was the best weekend of 2024. I had a grin from ear to ear for at least a week after getting home, and felt more energised and grounded as a human being for quite a long time after that.
Image Credit: Andrew Whitton
Image Credit: Andrew Whitton
Image Credit: Andrew Whitton
Beat-Herder 2025 continues to offer something for everyone in an eclectic mix of delights. Artists include Armand Van Helden, Fabio & Grooverider and the outlook Orchestra, Hybrid Minds, Goldie, Dave Clarke (going to be a messy one), Mr Scruff, K.O.G, DJ Rap, Plum DJ’s, Zero 7 (DJ) and the Dub Pistols.
Image Credit: Andrew Whitton
Image Credit: Andrew Whitton
