BEARDY 2023

[Field 7 is Heaven (Trev)]

Only three weeks to go before, Skerryvore, Merry Hell, Seth Lakeman, Martin Carthy ,Gaz Brookfield and a host of others take to the stage in the Walled garden at Hopton Court.

I love this festival held on lovely grounds half way between Ludlow and Kidderminster. Cant wait. One feature I haven't seen elsewhere is the use of the two stages.

One starts as soon as the act on the other finishes. You don't have to waste half of your time waiting for the next act on to tune up.

[Poor Will (Bill)]

It will be our first visit there. Can’t wait!

[Andy]

Wendy & I are stewarding there for the first time.

[Swamp Donkey (Keith)]

Andy and Wendy, oh no, not another one I’ll have to behave myself. Great little festival.
Really looking forward to seeing you both.
Keith

[Nick Reg]

Andy and Wendy, oh no, not another one I’ll have to behave myself. Great little festival.
Really looking forward to seeing you both.
Keith

Are you glamping or tenting?

[Sue & Chris]

One feature I haven't seen elsewhere is the use of the two stages.

One starts as soon as the act on the other finishes. You don't have to waste half of your time waiting for the next act on to tune up.

They do the same thing at Moseley.

I agree, it certainly keeps the music flowing (and the sound team on their toes!)

[Andy]

In summary, a very mixed bag of acts. I didn't see all of them because we were Stewarding.

Of those I saw (in the order I think of them):

o Track Dogs were excellent
o Longest Johns were excellent
o Skerryvore were quite poor IMHO (this opinion not shared by all) I think Peatbog Faeries do this much better.
o John Smith was excellent (strong echoes of John Martyn, but that's not a bad thing)
o Mark Radcliff was funny, his songs quite sharp and his band were excellent
o Truckstop Honeymoon were excellent and very funny
o Bof! A Breton band and very good too.
o Cut Capers are an excellent Acid Jazz ensemble (at a Folk festival?). Their energy was fabulous to behold and they're really quite reminiscent of Joe Broughton's Folk Ensemble in many ways.
o Shelly Ann is a welsh lady belting out the tunes and if you like that sort of thing, she was very likeable.
o Seth Lakeman was... Seth Lakeman.  His voice was rather strained, whereas Benji Kirkpatrick and Alex Hart were in full voice and really very good. I thought at first it was the PA, but with the latter two coming over the speakers well, I can only conclude that Seth's voice is rather reedy at the moment.

Finally, I'd like to mention the wonderful Martin Carthy. Martin is 82 now and unfortunately it really showed. With false starts & losing his place, generally he confused himself and the audience at times. However, he did play some "real folk" and supplied some funny anecdotes. The audience (including me) gave him love and understanding, but it's time (IMHO) to take a step back from solo live performances, before the sadness overwhelms his well-justified reputation, garnered over the last 60 years. If he wants to keep performing I can't say I blame him and he's earned the right to do what the hell he likes.

Nevertheless, he got a standing ovation at the end of his set.

The layout of the festival (which isn't a huge one, 2,000 punters there at most) is good. The main venue is within the walled garden, in which the microclimate was sometimes boiling hot, sometimes very cool and bore no relation to the weather the other side of the walls.

The sun was astonishingly hot and the promised thunderstorm didn't emerge until 19:00 on Sunday, just as we finished our last shift and scarpered home on flooded Shropshire roads.

[Nick Reg]

A very good weekend , not the best ever , but a lot of very good stuss all the same , we had to pick and choose so may have missed one or two goodies.

Merry Hell (obviously) Gaz Brookfield, Skerryvore, Jenny Colquitt and Nati Dreddd   (never heard of her before) were outstanding. Agree with Andy about Carthy, bless him. Now Track Dogs! , I found their set quite watchable but am staggered by the overblown adulation for something that is not that special, original or inspirational. Baffled. Mind you there was plenty for the peoplewatchers while they were on. Must have been enough material for two series of Motherland. Were they from Cheshire or London, who knows?

[davidmjs]

A very good weekend , not the best ever , but a lot of very good stuss all the same , we had to pick and choose so may have missed one or two goodies.

Merry Hell (obviously) Gaz Brookfield, Skerryvore, Jenny Colquitt and Nati Dreddd   (never heard of her before) were outstanding. Agree with Andy about Carthy, bless him. Now Track Dogs! , I found their set quite watchable but am staggered by the overblown adulation for something that is not that special, original or inspirational. Baffled. Mind you there was plenty for the peoplewatchers while they were on. Must have been enough material for two series of Motherland. Were they from Cheshire or London, who knows?

 

[hendo (Dave)]

In summary, a very mixed bag of acts. I didn't see all of them because we were Stewarding.

Of those I saw (in the order I think of them):

o Track Dogs were excellent
o Longest Johns were excellent
o Skerryvore were quite poor IMHO (this opinion not shared by all) I think Peatbog Faeries do this much better.
o John Smith was excellent (strong echoes of John Martyn, but that's not a bad thing)
o Mark Radcliff was funny, his songs quite sharp and his band were excellent
o Truckstop Honeymoon were excellent and very funny
o Bof! A Breton band and very good too.
o Cut Capers are an excellent Acid Jazz ensemble (at a Folk festival?). Their energy was fabulous to behold and they're really quite reminiscent of Joe Broughton's Folk Ensemble in many ways.
o Shelly Ann is a welsh lady belting out the tunes and if you like that sort of thing, she was very likeable.
o Seth Lakeman was... Seth Lakeman.  His voice was rather strained, whereas Benji Kirkpatrick and Alex Hart were in full voice and really very good. I thought at first it was the PA, but with the latter two coming over the speakers well, I can only conclude that Seth's voice is rather reedy at the moment.

Finally, I'd like to mention the wonderful Martin Carthy. Martin is 82 now and unfortunately it really showed. With false starts & losing his place, generally he confused himself and the audience at times. However, he did play some "real folk" and supplied some funny anecdotes. The audience (including me) gave him love and understanding, but it's time (IMHO) to take a step back from solo live performances, before the sadness overwhelms his well-justified reputation, garnered over the last 60 years. If he wants to keep performing I can't say I blame him and he's earned the right to do what the hell he likes.

Nevertheless, he got a standing ovation at the end of his set.

The layout of the festival (which isn't a huge one, 2,000 punters there at most) is good. The main venue is within the walled garden, in which the microclimate was sometimes boiling hot, sometimes very cool and bore no relation to the weather the other side of the walls.

The sun was astonishingly hot and the promised thunderstorm didn't emerge until 19:00 on Sunday, just as we finished our last shift and scarpered home on flooded Shropshire roads.

Thanks Andy….
……and I completely agree about Carthy……..but playing live is his income…..

[Andy]

I think he'd do better not flying solo, as I sought to imply above.

[Poor Will (Bill)]

Our first visit to Beardy.
As far as the music is concerned, the acts I enjoyed most were:

Track Dogs: Such a joyous sound and those harmonies are out of this world.

Skerryvore: I can understand the comparisons with The Peatbogs, but for me, Skerryvore have the edge due to the fact there are more songs rather than just instrumentals (I’d probably take Skippinish over both)

Longest Johns: Good fun and they don’t seem to have suffered from the recent lineup change.

Mark Radcliffe: I tend to forget just how good his forays into music are and this current incarnation is one of his best.

Truckstop Honeymoon: New to me, but I’d been told by a number of people that they were worth checking out. They were not wrong!

Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip: Another new act for me, and what can I say!
I spent so much time laughing that it took me a while to appreciate just how good his guitar and bass backing was. His observations of the seemingly mundane were just so funny. It was like Les Barker had hooked up with one of Lou Reeds finest live backing bands!

Martin Carthy: I found this to be one of the most enjoyable performances I’ve seen from him. Yes, there were a number of false starts and some forgotten lyrics which is completely understandable, but taken as a whole it was a mesmerising performance from someone who deserves the “National Treasure” epithet.

I feel I should give a mention to Merry Hell: I like their music and I like their sentiments, but there is something about seeing them live which sort of grates on me. I think it all boils down to the way they seem to act out every word. I find it reminiscent of a 1970’s pre-school TV programme. It wouldn’t surprise me if George, Bungle and Zippy came on as guests!

Other observations on the festival:

The surroundings are absolutely beautiful, especially in the periods of glorious weather we enjoyed.

Good entertainment for children.

I found the food choices a little limited and the quality variable, quite possibly the worst fish and chips I’ve ever experienced!

As far as drink was concerned, there was a good variety of beers and ciders and even a cocktail bar.
Beer and cider was generally £5 a pint (pretty normal for a festival). There was a voucher scheme in place which gave 6 pints for the price of 5, but the cynic in me would say that the amount of times they poured considerably less than a pint into a glass, you were actually getting 5 pints for the price of 5!

All in all a very enjoyable festival and if it was closer to home I might have become a regular, but with a 400 mile round journey, it would have to have a stellar lineup to attract m again.

[Andy]

Yes, the food was very variable. The Coffee stand had great gluten-free cake (and coffee and hot chocolate), whilst the Crêpes stand produced thick and chewy, um, stuff. Not an experience I wish to repeat.

Didn't have the fish, but the chips were all right.

The pizza stand gave great pepperoni pizza and Wendy really liked the Gluten Free Bowl stand's offerings.

Then there was the ice cream caravan. A late but most welcome arrival.

[kenhughes]

Our first visit to Beardy.
As far as the music is concerned, the acts I enjoyed most were:

Track Dogs: Such a joyous sound and those harmonies are out of this world.

Skerryvore: I can understand the comparisons with The Peatbogs, but for me, Skerryvore have the edge due to the fact there are more songs rather than just instrumentals (I’d probably take Skippinish over both)

Longest Johns: Good fun and they don’t seem to have suffered from the recent lineup change.

Mark Radcliffe: I tend to forget just how good his forays into music are and this current incarnation is one of his best.

Truckstop Honeymoon: New to me, but I’d been told by a number of people that they were worth checking out. They were not wrong!

Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip: Another new act for me, and what can I say!
I spent so much time laughing that it took me a while to appreciate just how good his guitar and bass backing was. His observations of the seemingly mundane were just so funny. It was like Les Barker had hooked up with one of Lou Reeds finest live backing bands!

Martin Carthy: I found this to be one of the most enjoyable performances I’ve seen from him. Yes, there were a number of false starts and some forgotten lyrics which is completely understandable, but taken as a whole it was a mesmerising performance from someone who deserves the “National Treasure” epithet.

I feel I should give a mention to Merry Hell: I like their music and I like their sentiments, but there is something about seeing them live which sort of grates on me. I think it all boils down to the way they seem to act out every word. I find it reminiscent of a 1970’s pre-school TV programme. It wouldn’t surprise me if George, Bungle and Zippy came on as guests!

Other observations on the festival:

The surroundings are absolutely beautiful, especially in the periods of glorious weather we enjoyed.

Good entertainment for children.

I found the food choices a little limited and the quality variable, quite possibly the worst fish and chips I’ve ever experienced!

As far as drink was concerned, there was a good variety of beers and ciders and even a cocktail bar.
Beer and cider was generally £5 a pint (pretty normal for a festival). There was a voucher scheme in place which gave 6 pints for the price of 5, but the cynic in me would say that the amount of times they poured considerably less than a pint into a glass, you were actually getting 5 pints for the price of 5!

All in all a very enjoyable festival and if it was closer to home I might have become a regular, but with a 400 mile round journey, it would have to have a stellar lineup to attract m again.

We had tickets, but could not go due to a bereavement this year.

We have been to 3 previously, so I would comment based on those experiences and the feedback from this year here and on Facebook.

Regarding beer; I have never measured at the festival, but having used the "pint" pots at home, I have tried to pour 2 half pint cans into one of them and found not enough space even with no head.

You can remind them that the pint is the liquid and not the head. I am sure they will respect that.

The fish and chips vendor has been the same on all our visits and I believe was the same this year. Average at best, poor mostly. Why do they re-book them?

The pierogi stall has been very nice, but I understand was not there this year. A few people on the Beardy Facebook page have been asking for them back today.

I do not eat meat, so cannot comment on the burgers, but if I did I have a feeling they would be great. Everyone was talking about them last year.

Fresh Rootz have always provided high quality.

The last 2 years the main stage has been in the meadow outside the walled garden, great, but we like it inside the walled garden. Appreciate the comments about the climate inside the walls being different from outside.

It is a really great festival experience. It ticks so many boxes and has a vibe a little like Cropredy must have been like early on (we only started going in 2007). However, it does seem to lack the communal, special, atmosphere you get at Cropredy. But, don't so many of them! We go to all these festivals hoping to re-create the Cropredy experience, only to come up short.

 

[Poor Will (Bill)]

A small, but very important observation.
The cleanliness of the toilets at all times was impressive!

[hendo (Dave)]

A small, but very important observation.
The cleanliness of the toilets at all times was impressive!

I would hope so. You can’t have a motorhome and not clean your toilet! I can see you now,  rubber gloves to the elbow ……huge toilet brush…..

[Poor Will (Bill)]

A small, but very important observation.
The cleanliness of the toilets at all times was impressive!

I would hope so. You can’t have a motorhome and not clean your toilet! I can see you now,  rubber gloves to the elbow ……huge toilet brush…..

👏 👏 👏 😂

[iandiddams]

Beer and cider was generally £5 a pint (pretty normal for a festival). There was a voucher scheme in place which gave 6 pints for the price of 5, but the cynic in me would say that the amount of times they poured considerably less than a pint into a glass, you were actually getting 5 pints for the price of 5!

they would be idiots to permit that - thats trading stadards, weights and measures law and would leave tyhem open to huge fines and loss of licences etc .  (notwithstanding my following post below!)

Though app-reciating somebody has to catch them in the act so to speak!

[iandiddams]

You can remind them that the pint is the liquid and not the head. I am sure they will respect that.


  

sadly not totally true...  that insistence was in effect repealed in 1994.

https://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-law-sending-pint-back-to-bar-20221108

"... British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) ...

1993, the BBPA teamed up with the Department of Trade and Industry to create its own guidelines.
The Guidance Notes on the Dispense of Draught Beer by Free Flow and Hand Pull read: "A measure of a beer served with a head must include a minimum of 95 percent liquid."

While 95 percent is pretty good going, if you're not a fan of a mouthful of foam, you technically lose out on 19p's worth of beer for every £3.79 pint 92022 article - so more likely 25p on a £5 pint ], Kelvin Goodson explains.    

Thankfully, the 'guidance notes' encourage pint drinkers to go up to the bar and ask for a top-up if they're not fully satisfied - a request which it says 'should be received with good grace and never refused, subject to avoiding spillage of liquid'. "

oen of my locals has oversized glasses so they can serve a pint to the line PLUS watever head naturally forms

didds

[Nick Reg]

A small, but very important observation.
The cleanliness of the toilets at all times was impressive!

I would hope so. You can’t have a motorhome and not clean your toilet! I can see you now,  rubber gloves to the elbow ……huge toilet brush…..

In my motorhome my toilet brush is all yellow and is a figure of Boris Johnson with the bristles being the hair.