The Beverley Festival – one of the finest festivals in the country for folk acoustic and roots music
Friday to Sunday – 15 to 17 June 2012
The Beverley Festival was on the shortlist at the 2011 UK Festival Awards for ‘Best Family Festival’ and ‘Best Small Festival’ and it’s no wonder, as it takes place in the one of the nicest locations, has a superb line-up, and is run by friendly people. The Festival specialises in a mix of folk, acoustic and roots music and one of its patrons, outstanding folk musician and BBC Radio 2 Wednesday Folk Show presenter Mike Harding, no less, reckons it’s the festival to attend this year. Mike said, “Beverley has always been a special festival for me. It’s not too big and they always have some great acts . . . winning acclaim as one of the best small festivals in the country and one of the most family friendly. With this year’s attractions – Steeleye Span, Peatbog Faeries, Chumbawamba, up and coming young band ahab, plus special guest – 60’s rock ‘n’ roller Joe Brown, it looks likely to maintain its deserved reputation.”
The Beverley Festival started way back in 1983, so, by my reckoning, this will be the 30th festival – and the Sunday Times have nominated it as one of the ten best UK folk festivals for 2012. And it gets great feedback from the people who’ve attended it – and in the end it’s their view that counts the most. Indeed, people come from all over the world (as far afield as Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and the US) to be there so it’s no wonder that the Festival has the tagline ‘The Local Festival with Global Appeal’.
Steeleye Span will be headlining on the opening Friday night. The Span have an amazing pedigree going back all the way to the early days of folk rock. With two top 20 hit singles and a string of top 50 albums, they are one of the few acts who have been able to combine popularity whilst remaining true to their roots.
On Saturday the top of the bill will be the Peatbog Faeries, who were nominated for Best Live Act in Radio 2’s folk awards this year. They’re a great Celtic party band – they know how to have a good time and make sure that the audience do too with their mix of ambient, electronica, folk, jazz and rock – and all based around traditional Celtic themes.
Sunday’s headliner is a blast from the past harking back to the early days of English rock ’n’ roll. Joe Brown started out as a session musician playing guitar to accompany the likes of Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochrane when they toured the UK in the late 1950s. He then went on to have a string of hits with his own band, ‘the Bruvvers’, and has carried on making music ever since, forging a special bond with George Harrison (George was Joe’s best man at his wedding in 2000, the year before the former Beatle died, and Joe played at the memorial Concert for George in November 2002). Joe’s repertoire includes some of his early hits and rock ‘n’ roll numbers from the 50s, through blues and country classics right up to covers of more recent releases by the likes of U2. It’s probably easier to count the people Joe hasn’t played with than who he has, as the list is very long indeed and includes the cream of British talent. Expect thousands of people to be singing “I’m ‘Enery the Eighth I am, ‘Enery the Eighth, I am, I am” after Joe’s performance – including many who are too young to have heard it before.
The organisers have also booked some terrific support acts, so that there’s always great music to listen to the whole weekend.
Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch are from the US and make a formidable duo. Abigail accompanies herself on clawhammer banjo and Kai sings and plays guitar (amongst other instruments). Abby’s 2007 album ‘Waterloo, TN’ was produced by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Furnace Mountain also come from the States and make music the way they used to in the Appalachian Mountains. Their fiddle player, Dave, has played with some great musicians including Vassar Clements and Keller Williams.
Further global appeal comes from Danish award-winning band Habadekuk, who are bound to get you dancing. Shooglenifty are a Scottish band who play ‘acid-croft’ music (which, I have to confess, is a genre that’s new to me – but sounds interesting).
Closer to home there’s the Yorkshire connection including Chumbawumba, who lived for a while in Leeds and dedicated a song to the West Yorkshire mining village of Fitzwilliam. Folk musician Martin Carthy has played with many of the greats of the UK folk scene. He worked as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Theatre in the Round in Scarborough and it was his arrangement of Scarborough Fair that Paul Simon lifted for his album Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme.
There’s a whole host of other acts (I can personally vouch for ahab – I saw them a few weeks ago in York and they were brilliant, with the crowd eating out of their collective hands) plus a huge variety of other of entertainment, including the Wold Top Marquee which features up-and-coming acts with the Wold Top bar serving real ales, a Literature mini-festival, a Festival ‘Film Club’, comedy acts, dance, family events (don’t miss the DEN for children – tons of things for them to watch and participate in) and too many other things to list them all.
The Beverley Festival is held just outside this attractive market town. If you get the chance try and squeeze in a visit to Beverley Minster. There’s also some great shops and restaurants in the town, and some terrific pubs too.
You can buy tickets for the whole weekend, single days or individual events.
Weekend Season Ticket prices are:
Adults 3 nights (includes camping) £113
Adults 3 nights (not camping) £98
Family weekend ticket 2 adults & 2 people under 18 £326 (includes camping), £281 (not camping)
Special rates for Children, Families, Youths, Senior Citizens
You can see the whole line-up for the Beverly Festival on their website along with everything else you need to know and where you can also book your tickets online.
T: 01377 217 569