Back from The Levellers' Beautiful Days festival in Devon. It was fantastic. Highlights musically were Bleeding Hearts, Drunk In Public (acoustic Levs), Justin Sullivan and The Levellers, though there were plenty of other stuff that was entertaining. Unfortunately I missed Dreadzone as I was down the front for Justin's set in the Big Top.
The whole atmosphere was great, partly due to the laid back attitude of everyone. Artists were wandering around the site just as much as the punters. After the Drunk In Public set, Simon from the Levs asked to shake DanDan's hand as he loved his festival hat and had seen him dancing in front of the main stage earlier in the day. Pity I'd run out of film in the camera at the time (we were just on the way to replenish the supplies) otherwise that would have been a great picture for DanDan to have on his bedroom wall :)
I was a bit worried about taking too much stuff, as I didn't want to get anything nicked. I didn't need to worry, everyone was really cool and there was no hassle at all. The beer was ã2 a pint, an excellent choice of food, loads of craft stalls and lots of kids activities. Even the toilets were still bearable on the Monday morning! The biggest surprise for me was that they only had a license for 5,000 people. Nicole's brother Jon, was talking to The Levellers manager on the Saturday morning while queuing up for breakfast, who said that their aim was to just break even this year. If they can show the locals that it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be, then they hope to increase the capacity next year.
Review & photos:
http://www.virtual-festivals.com/festivals/article.cfm?articleid=745
http://www.virtual-festivals.com/gallery/gallery.cfm?eventid=810&dbtable=eventgroup
http://www.microcams.co.uk/
http://imageevent.com/dim2000
Pity no-one photographed DanDan dancing down the front, or our 'We Love You Gel' placard for the Bleeding Hearts set. When I get the photos back I'll update with a link.
I haven't heard of any problems in the wake of the festival, if there were any arrests they were kept quiet. Everyone seemed really jovial on the Monday morning and even getting out of the car park was an absolute breeze. I really hope it all happens again next year, I'll certainly be there.
