PREVIEW: Beat-Herder Festival 2017

Beat-Herder is a festival which has grown over the past few years to become one of the most talked about and highly anticipated weekend events of the year. Located in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, the festival offers its attendees a unique mixture of music which divulges across a wide range of genres, portraying the finest examples of music from some of the most sought after artists. The likes of Sleaford Mods, Kelis and Crystal Fighters.

Now entering its 12th year, the genres the festival presents has grown to become one of the most diverse a music festival can offer. Spanning from soul to old school dance, the 20 stages show just how diverse the music scene really is at the moment. There is never the case of a stage being empty as well. People who attend are very open to the idea of exploring new music and expanding their music listening horizon, welcoming in names which they may never have discovered otherwise.

Take your pick of the stages. Beat-Herder offers you the chance to jam in a makeshift church, live the high life in the hotel, be a king pin in the high society hideaway or lap it up in the working men’s club. Each stage is carefully crafted to keep to its theme, the level of detail is admirable. Even the artists who play each themed stage have been chosen to fit in with the desired genre or theme the stage possesses.

London based band Crystal Fighters will be the main headliner for the festival. This comes nearly nine months after the release of their third studio album ‘Everything is my Family.’ Beloved Punk duo Sleaford Mods are also topping the bill this year and will no doubt delight the fans with some tracks from their latest release ‘English Tapas’. Well established R&B star Kelis will also be making her only UK appearance this year, when she takes to the stage.

Beat-Herder is also hosting the likes of Denmark’s Trentmoller, Jamaica’s Toots and the Maytals and Lee “Scratch” Perry and hip-hop legends The Sugarhill Gang with Melle Mel and Scorpio. Once the fun and day’s proceedings finish on the main stage, you can head into the woods to discover a world of DJ’s who will be playing throughout the night, there’d even a swimming pool if you can locate it!

Beat-Herder promises to be a festival full of musical discovery and larger than life stages. The idea of picking a stage’s theme and sticking to it for the entire weekend is genius and works so well for the festival. Looking back on the previous years, it’s very easy to see why the festivals popularity has grown so much!=.

Watch the 2016 after-movie: