The warm summer breeze drifting through empty meadows with the distant sound of machinery erecting big tops, stages, marquees and other temporary structures can only mean one thing, it’s time for Beautiful Days Festival 2022.
Having missed the 2021 event owing to a long overdue family holiday, I was eager to get back onsite, meet up with the old gang and enjoy 3 days of music, dancing, fun and frolics in what has long since been THE ‘go to’ festival for anyone in the West country. Whilst there are plenty of other festivals to choose from, there is something unique about Beautiful Days that keeps people coming back year after year, maybe it’s the fact that it is 100% independent with NO corporate sponsorship and the bullshit that goes along with it, maybe it’s the bands and artists that are hand selected every year to come and play for your entertainment, whatever it is, people love it and it’s amazing to see familiar faces year after year.
Arriving late afternoon on the Friday, I had time to take in the atmosphere as I walked down from the car park, camper vans, yurts, bell tents and standard 2 and 4 man temporary shelters were erected all over the place, allowing sleeping quarters and refuge for the circa 25000 people that had bought tickets for the weekend’s festivities. I’d already handpicked the acts that I wanted to see this year, whether I get to catch them all is anyone’s guess and will depend on whether I choose to continue watching that act after I have finished taking photos or whether I think that it would be good to get pics from another show whilst that one is still going on (my life is ‘tres’ complicated at times!)
As I arrived in the main arena, I bumped into the main stage compere John Robb who has been a festival regular for many years. We chatted about which acts he was excited about this year and shared a few stories about some of the classic acts booked to perform over the weekend. THE RUMJACKS were midway through their set which comprised of songs influenced by The Clash and The Pogues, the audience were loving it and it instantly put a smile on my face to see so many people having a good time. Following these chaps was Lars Frederiksen, the guitarist from a band called Rancid and was a major part of the Californian punk rock scene in the 90’s. I couldn’t help but feel that Lars’ set would have been a more rounded affair had he have bought along a drummer and a bass player to help add a little clout to proceedings but the audience seemed to be buying into his music and huge cheers went up when he played key tracks from the various outfits that he has been a part of over the years.
After tucking into a roast beef Yorkshire pudding wrap, which was in effect a roast dinner wrapped up into something that you could shove down your gob whilst wandering about the festival, it was time to wander across to the Big Top to catch up with The Magic Numbers. I had the pleasure of watching and interviewing these guys a few years ago at Boardmasters festival in Cornwall and thanks to Wikipedia and an out-of-date press release (thanks PR Manager), I managed to make a complete hash of it all! Lucky for me that Romeo and Michele Stodart are the NICEST people in the music industry and we had a laugh about it all the same. Their set was peppered with tracks spanning their career including some early offerings from their debut which was released in 2005 (17 years ago!)
The Dandy Warhols were playing only one UK festival this year and it happened to be right here! Their set kicked off with a bunch of low-key, brooding numbers which reminded me of early 90’s shoegaze acts which were popular at the time and I started to think that the audience were not getting as involved as they should have been. Then they dropped their hit single ‘Bohemian Like You’ which saw the arena light up and shake off any cobwebs that may have settled during the initial stages of the set. Having never seen the band before, I was very much unsure exactly what to expect and come the end of their show, the place was very much alive and buzzing.
I’d heard big things about Flogging Molly from a band called Ferocious Dog who weren’t on the bill this year but had spent time abroad supporting them recently, from what Ken and Dan told me, they were a force to be reckoned with and a sure-fire band to catch at any festival lucky enough to be graced with their presence. Their set was chock full of Celtic styled sing/dance-a-long anthemic tracks that had the audience up and bobbing along nicely to the hectic temp that the band kicked out. I guess if you asked me for a band to liken them to, I would probably say The Pogues but looking at the bands that band members have been in over the years, it would be rude to pigeonhole them into this genre as there are so moany different styles and genres to consider. I read that Flogging Molly began hosting their own Caribbean cruises called ‘Salty Dog Cruises’ which I imagine would be great fun for all involved and quite possibly, a little bit messy as they regularly include other high octane acts including NOFX, Less Than Jake and even Frank Turner!
The act that I had been waiting for all evening was performing over at the Big Top so over I wandered, in the dark via the back service lane and joined the other photographers in the photo pit to await the start of Beth Orton’s set. Having never seen Beth perform in the past, I really had no idea what to expect, I imagined it would be her accompanied by a couple of other musicians and how right I was when she took to the stage to rapturous applause, joined by a guitarist/bass and fiddler player to assist her for the evening. She played a career-spanning set which took in all of her 6 studio albums, the newer material sounded sharp and fresh whereas the older material still sounded as bright and vibrant as it did back in the day. We used to use ‘Trailer Park’ as a chill-out album after a hectic night in the club and over the years has gone on to become one of my fave albums of all time. Beth’s voice sounded sublime and she accentuated this with piano and acoustic guitar which sounded incredible. “To err is to be human” couldn’t have meant more this evening, with the start of ‘She Cries Your Name’, the fiddle kicked off with its haunting sound and Beth came in on the acoustic guitar and soon called a halt to proceedings as something wasn’t right, this was a funny scene as the fiddle player was adamant he was in the right and Beth said that it was definitely him who was playing in the wrong key. Once they had sorted out the error, they went on to perform a pitch perfect version which had the audience dumbstruck. After the show, I chatted to Beth and thanked her for one of the finest performances I have seen in a long time and also for ‘Trailer Park’, I explained to her how we used to consume her music after a heavy night out which raised a smile on her face. If you get the chance to see Beth on her forthcoming UK tour where she’ll be showcasing music from her forthcoming album (Weather Alive – released Sept 23rd) make sure you snap them tickets up as you are guaranteed the show of your life and a chance to catch her in some pretty unique and intimate venues up and down the country.
After buzzing for at least an hour after the show, I finally drove home and turned in at 3:30am, a ridiculous thing to do seeing as I was up in exactly 5 hours-time for another busy morning and at least 12 hours at the festival, let’s see how things progressed on Saturday!
Friday Gallery (all photos © Andrew Hobbs Photography except Beth Orton and Magic Numbers)
I had every intention to be onsite around 11:15 to catch the last of IDESTROY, a Bristol based punk trio who certainly did a grand job at another local festival called Chagstock a few weeks back. To say I failed was an understatement as I rolled in at 13:30 and managed to catch the last 30 mins of FEET, a London based indie/punk band who sounded like they were crossing into the territory of the more ‘Brit-Pop’ era acts, which is never a bad thing.
Owing to already feeling like poop, I decided that today was going to be a day of reflection, of looking back to the wilder days of my late teenage years and a chance to catch up with a band that basically formed my musical path as it is today, I’ll talk more about them later on!
I headed to the Big Top to catch THE LANGAN BAND, a trio who fused prog folk with elements of jazz and world music to create a sound that was very much their own. I stuck around, took some photos before heading back to the main stage for the next act.
I’d never heard of SNAPPED ANKLES before and the name alone conjured images of 4 sprightly upstarts, shouting about how they hate their parents and how Boris is a (C U Next Tuesday) etc... How wrong I was.... instead, 4 masked musicians took to the stage and took over the arena for an entire hour. If I was asked to describe their sound, I would probably say that they are a fusion of dance and electronica music with hypnotic, motorik beats that draw you in and engage you in their groove for the entirety of their set, that’s the effect they had on me and believe me, I’m no pushover when it comes to new acts! This is an act I am already investing time in and I will say that I am being rewarded with what I have heard thus far.
I saw the lovely lady from THE LOVELY EGGS tapping up the production office for the WIFI passcode ahead of their mid-afternoon slot and managed to chat to her about a Bristol show that we shot them at a few months back. She said that they were planning on staying onsite for the rest of the festival and then heading off to enjoy a camping trip which sounded sublime! 20 mins later, they were on stage, doing what they do, performing a set laced with lo-fi psych/rock numbers which was received really well by the huge audience that had amassed to see them. Their latest album ‘I Am Moron’ is out now and available to buy at all good record shops.
I mentioned earlier about a band that had helped to shape my musical taste at a very important time of my life. Around the early 90’s, I found myself at a fork in the road, acts such as KISS and WHITESNAKE were doing really well and I found myself gravitating towards their earlier material, which, whilst interesting, was never going to satisfy my love of guitar led indie rock bands. This is when I was introduced to a band called NED’S ATOMIC DUSTBIN. Hailing from the West Midlands, they burst onto the scene with their ‘Ingredients EP’ (which I still own to this day) and with another bunch of acts that seemed to be regular touring partners (The Wonderstuff, Pop Will Eat Itself aka PWEI, The Sandkings and others) earned a place in my heart right there and then. I knew that Ned’s were playing that afternoon so I stayed around the main stage compound until they rocked up and managed to chat to each and every one of them. I think the fact that I was wearing an original ‘Lunatic Magnet’ shirt from the early 90’s swung it for me as they all pointed and mentioned it (great move on my part!). I felt a rather painful dig in the ribs whilst chatting to Rat (Ned’s guitarist) and as I turned, saw the one and only Gerry Bryant (Mega City Four bass player) who had been asked by Ned’s to come along and run the sound desk for them, this was a double whammy for me as I was a massive fan of both acts so to get members of both bands together at the same time was a dream come true. Their high energy set was superb and spanned their entire back catalogue with offering from their debut ‘God Fodder’ but none from their latest venture ‘Brainbloodvolume’, luckily, it was the classics such as ‘Until You Find Out’, ‘Selfish’, ‘Cut Up’ and ‘Kill Your Television’ that did it for me and took me back to 1991 when I saw them at The Great Hall in Exeter...how the time has flown! After their set, I managed to snaffle a setlist from the stage and got all members to sign it for my good friend Debs who had her 50th birthday on the same day, something I’m sure she will treasure forever!
I didn’t get to see THE INTERRUPTERS as I was too busy speaking to my idols from 1991 and sharing some very amusing stories but I heard from a couple of the photographers that they performed an incredible set which was high on the Richter scale from start to finish.
MAXIMO PARK are a band that I have been aware of since their debut was released way back in 2007 and as soon as they hit the stage, I was familiar with their songs, the energy from their frontman was off the scale and he wasted no time in getting into the spirit, throwing some proper shapes around on stage whilst the band provided a multi-coloured sonic backdrop for him to perform over. What did strike me is that the frontman looked so young, I did my maths and worked out that even if he was in his late teens when their debut landed, that would place him in the 30–35-year-old bracket, coupled with a great skincare routine and not too many UV rays, I guess that would be about right (seeing as he’s from the North East, I don’t think that the sunshine poses much of a problem!) Their set consisted of a good spread from their back catalogue including, ‘Books from Boxes’, ‘Apply Some Pressure’ and ‘Our Velocity’ which had the audience doing exactly what they were supposed to in no time at all!
I met Horace Panter in the backstage compound and had a quick chat with him about how his festival season had gone so far, as we were chatting, Steve Cradock wandered past, walking his dog.....He was dressed head to toe in white and I made a comment about him looking like a man from C&A (it made me laugh anyway!)
As THE SPECIALS took to the stage, it was clear they had the audience on their side from the get go and as they launched into their set, the audience were singing back even louder than they were which was a promising thing to see. Having seen them many times before, the setlist is often front-loaded with newer material whereas the classics normally come later on, as this was a festival set, it was great to see them spread throughout to ensure that anyone who may not have been able to stay for the whole set would at least have the chance to hear some of their favourites. ‘Rat Race’, ‘Man at C&A’ (Steve Cradock) and ‘Do Nothing’ appeared within the first 5 songs and were followed by more classics such as, ‘A Message to You’, ‘Niteklub’ and ‘Too Much Too Young’. It was great to hear some of their newer offerings which included ‘We Sell Hope’ and ‘The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum’ which sounded as timeless and pure as their original material, I guess only time will tell if they remain on people’s playlists in another 25 years' time! They closed with a superb rendition of ‘Ghost Town’ which, whilst being a rather dour sounding track, sounded superb in the grounds of Escot Park with 25000 people singing along, word for word. After the set, I was done in, tired, sore feet and a headache, so I waited for the shuttle bus to take me back to the carpark and headed home for some much-needed rest (I’m not getting any younger!)
Saturday Gallery (All Photos © Andrew Hobbs Photography)
After a 9-hour sleep, breakfast made for everyone and a lasagne popped into the oven for their tea, I was refreshed and ready to go, I arrived just after 1pm and whilst waiting for the shttle bus, made small talk with THE LOVELY EGGS who were camping onsite all weekend. After a gentle ride down the hill, enjoyed watching Noble jacks getting the crowd up and moving, kicking out any traces of a hangover with their foot stompin’, fiddle led sonic shenanigans.
I bumped into Bobby Vylan just before he and Bobbie (aka BOB VYLAN) took to the main stage to inject a little excitement into the mix. Kicking things off with a 5-minute yoga class including some stretching and breathing exercises, they launched into their incendiary set. “What this country needs is a good spanking”, were the opening lines of ‘England’s Ending’ which is exactly what was needed to wake up the sleepy audience who I think were hoping for a nice laid-back Sunday afternoon at Escot Park. Early in their set, Bobby jumped over the barrier and joined the healthy mosh pit for a couple of minutes, leaping about and singing whilst the audience jostled and rucked into a frenzy. Bobby dedicated a song to the Queen, said how much he misses Princess Diana and praised the RMT union for standing strong and not buckling when offered a sub-standard pay deal for its staff. Come the last song, Bobby said that this is the time when he invites a ‘few’ people onto the stage to join him for a dance, the next thing we knew, there were circa 300 people clambering over the barrier to get onto the stage, the security stepped in to ensure that nobody injured themselves climbing over and made sure that everyone was led safely off stage when the song had come to an end. For me, this was up there in the top three best performances of the weekend, it was lively, insightful, surprising and basically, jaw-droppingly good! Go check them out on Spotify, buy their album and a T-Shirt, you can thank me later!
The wonderful JIM BOB (that bloke from Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine) arrived and I managed to catch him for a quick chat. He said that he and the band had played an intimate warm up gig in Newport the night before at a venue called ‘Le Pub’ which sold out in minutes and was a great show at a very small venue, not what he’s used to at all (he, alongside Les (aka Fruitbat) headlined Glastonbury in 1992 don’t you know!) The last time I saw Jim Bob was supporting The Wonderstuff at a Christmas show in Exeter in 2019, he played solo that night and I was interested to see how the dynamics changed when he was joined on stage by other musicians. My questions were answered as he took to the stage to huge applause and delivered a set comprising of Carter USM classics including ‘Do Re Me, So Far So Good’, ‘Bloodsport for All’ and ‘A Prince in a Pauper’s Grave’, which were all delivered perfectly. Jim Bob went on to showcase a few newer tracks from his multitude of solo albums and the highlight for me (and probably the rest of the audience) was when he launched into ‘Angelstrike’ but forgot the words to the verses, he stopped, laughed, asked the rest of the band if they could remember the words and they too were at a complete loss. Rather than sacking the song off altogether, he brought the band in towards the end of the track and they played the last half without a hitch, I guess that’s what pressure does to you! All in all, a perfect set from one of England’s finest songwriters who deserves to be so much bigger than he is but you know what? I think he and the band are happy doing what they do, pleasing their fans up and down the country with a setlist guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face.
At this point in the afternoon, my stomach decided it was food time so off we went in search of something to settle the rumblings. We happened upon a rather nice-looking noodle bar and opted for the Thai green curry whilst my partner in crime settled for the sweet and sour crispy pork, both dishes hit the spot and 10 minutes later, we were back in the pit, waiting for the next act.
REVEREND AND THE MAKERS are a band from Sheffield who have amassed 6 top twenty albums during their career to date. I saw these play when they supported Noel Gallagher at Powderham Castle a couple of years back and I was pleased to say that their set today was far better than the measly 30 minutes they had previously. Their set was full of bangers with offerings from their colourful catalogue of hits, including ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World’, ‘He Said he Loved Me’ and ‘Open Your Window’ which being from 2007, have proved that the band have what it takes to appeal to new fans as well as people who were drawn to their sound over 15 years ago.
It was touch and go as to whether us photographers would be allowed in the photo pit for SEASICK STEVE, having been at festivals where he has performed in the past, we often found out with minutes to spare that he didn’t want us taking photos of him but with 5 minutes to go before curtain’s up, we hadn’t been told so assumed it was all good. He took to the stage with his drummer, clearly a little refreshed but eager to please the crowd nonetheless and launched into his blues laced guitar led classics that he has become renowned for. With ten studio albums under his belt, he had no shortage of tracks to draw from for the capacity audience that had come to see him play. I was a little unsure when he stood up and stumbled to the front of the stage (there’s about a 10-foot drop into the pit) and I breathed a sigh of relief when he sat himself down again and settled in for the remainder of the set.
I saw that the legend that is BILLY BRAGG was headlining the Big Top so off I wandered into the darkness to go and catch a few tracks of his set. He was joined by two other musicians, a guitarist and lap steel player and a keyboard player. The set was more like ‘an evening with’ as Billy told stories between tracks and really made everyone feel welcome with some amusing, heart-warming anecdotes that raised a lot of laughter inside the tent. Having only stayed for a few songs, I was pleased that I caught ‘Sexuality’, which sounded as current and fresh as it did way back in 1991 when it appeared on his ‘Don’t Try This at Home’ long player. I didn’t stick around to see if he played ‘A New England’, I hope he did as this would have sounded immense in the Big Top with his fellow musicians, I guess someone will have to fill me in....
I headed back to the main arena for the finale of the festival, a 90-minute set from festival founders LEVELLERS who confirmed their latest signing Dan Donnelly as their main guitar player in 2022. Drawing upon their 12 studio albums, the setlist was chock full of early classics as well as numbers throughout their colourful career to date. Opening with ‘Liberty Song’, they went on to deliver another 5 from their 1991 album ‘Levelling the Land’ which I think was the record that attracted the majority of their fanbase that have remained firm followers of the band to this day. To balance things up, they played 4 tracks from their 2020 album ‘Peace’ which, despite the 29-year gap, the songs sounded as tight as they did back in the day and drew the audience in with plenty of dancing and sing-a-long moments. As ‘What a Beautiful Day’ rang out around the arena, the fireworks kicked off and everyone was treated to a wonderful display as the festival reached its climax.
As Beautiful Days 2022 drew to a close, I looked back over the last 3 days and thought about the sheer variety of acts that performed, covering multiple genres and styles that provide everyone with entertainment and maybe a chance to discover new acts that they had never heard of before. Highlights for me included Beth Orton, Snapped Ankles, Bob Vylan, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Jim Bob and The Lovely Eggs, but there are so many more that I didn’t even get to see and hope that maybe, I’ll get the chance to catch them in a couple of years-time when they return to perform once again.
Sunday Gallery (All Photos © Andrew Hobbs Photography except Levellers © Rob Marrison)
The festival wouldn’t be what it is without the support of all the people that work in the background, the security team who worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone remained safe, the catering crews that ensured everyone was fed and watered, the many vendors that served us all weekends, the first aid team and everyone that worked in welfare and finally, the people that spent so long pulling it all together, booking acts, creating stage line-ups and timings and generally keeping a cool head as others were losing theirs, I salute you all.....until next year!
If you like the photos shown above, CLICK HERE where you can purchase loads of photos taken at Beautiful Days Festival.
People Gallery (All Photos © Andrew Hobbs Photography)
