Beautiful Days Festival 2014

Well, I did say I might write something about one of these, so you have been warned.  And what better one to write about, Beautiful Days is a small, friendly festival which has been run by folk-rockers the Levellers for ten years or so, the idea being to return to what festivals used to be like before corporate sponsors brought us Reading and Leeds, and before Glastonbury became the size of a small town.  I've been here for the last five or so, and this year I am stewarding which should be interesting, for one thing I'm here for fully six days, turning up on Wednesday the day before the paying customers.  I pitch my tent (in crew camping!), sign in with the Oxfam people who run the stewarding team (all in a good cause you see), then head for a wander around.  Very little is open at this point, the stages are largely built but there is plenty of activity setting up the food stalls and all the weird and wonderful decor that you see at festivals.  Back to steward HQ for my briefing - don't turn up for work drunk, that sort of thing - and then, of course, to the bar.  My 'backstage access' wristband gets me into the crew bar which is very nice, sofas and everything, and I have a few beers in pleasant company before bed.

Looking towards the main stage, before the public turn up.

 Thursday is when the customers start arriving, though there won't be much music today, and in any case I have to work, in one of the campsites, until midnight.  It's not a bad way to spend a few hours, I wander around the campsite checking for dangerous fires, answer the odd question and give directions, and chat to my fellow stewards.  Even when sheltering from a brief downpour under our watchtower, it still beats sitting in an office.  Midnight comes soon enough, time to find the party - well, turns out on the first day of the festival proper there isn't much of one.  I walk past a few public bars, all just closed, then manage to find a beer or two in the crew bar just before it too closes.  It is still too early to go to bed (for reasons that will become clear) so I head to the fringes of the festival.  Not much is happening, eventually I end up dancing to a reggae / tomtom mixup in the Leviticus tent, before heading to bed.  Well, bedroll anyway...

Public Service Broadcasting.

Friday, I have a good lie in, then meet up with my mate Chris (who has paid to get in, the fool) and enjoy the festival.  With a strong line up at the 'second stage' (Gabby Young, Cara Dillon, Adrian Edmonson and the wonderfully named Carolina Chocolate Drops) we pretty much stay there all day - there is food and beer (not that I drink much) and generally all is good.  The only drawback, I have to be on shift again at midnight, and then all the way through to 8am.  Well, it is good to learn that I can still enjoy the festival without drinking for hours, and I'm not missing much, barring the late night stuff - well, time for that tomorrow.  So, having done this at Glastonbury as well, I have learnt a lesson or two - on with a lot of warm layers of clothing, and back to the watchtower.  It is a long, cold and largely dull night, at least I have company, but there is really not a lot happening - I am up a watchtower in the 'quiet and family' camping area.  Up until as late as 4am people are still wandering back from the silent disco, and we do get the occasional report of breaks in the fence - no sign of the culprits though.  I keep awake thanks to regular deliveries of coffee, and eventually the sun comes up, early risers start to emerge from their tents, and at last, it is eight and I can get back to my tent.  Although I do briefly consider getting some breakfast and just not bothering with sleep...

The lovely Bimble.

Five hours or so later and I'm up and about, I now have the whole weekend free, yay.  Meeting up with Chris once more, we take in the festival sights - there are fire jugglers, giant scrap sculptures, flaming dragon heads and industrial scale bubble machines.  Reaching a favourite part of the festival, the Bimble Inn, a kind of giant elongated teepee, we have a pleasant afternoon watching the little known (but often very good) bands playing there.  Back to stage two (the Big Top) for Steeleye Span, playing songs from their rather cool Terry Pratchett collaboration 'Wintersmith'.  I'm a little sad that the 'ayurvedic' haddock chowder I'd had my eye on is sold out, never mind, almost as good is the massive 'flat cow' burger with stilton and bacon I get instead.  Then back to the Bimble, there is more live music and then a DJ - I still have the energy to dance for a while, but understandably sleep like a log back at the campsite.

All along the watchtower...

Sunday, and the fun continues.  We actually spend time at the main stage for the rather bizarre Public Service Broadcasting, then the big top for festival stalwarts 3 Daft Monkeys.  One of the meal tickets I received as part of the stewarding deal gets me a massive falafel which pretty much keeps me going all day... that and the beer.  More time is spent in the Bimble Inn, and the day flies by, as they do when you're having fun.  Not much sleep for me tonight either as I have an 8am start for my final shift - back to another watchtower in another campsite.  Quite interesting watching the site empty, the tents come down (apart from the abandoned ones), and the clean up crews sweep across removing litter from what increasingly starts to look like a country park again.  There's an unfortunate incident when a cherry picker used to dismantle the speaker stacks topples over, two people are injured and carried off in air ambulances - hopefully without permanent damage.  Not much of interest happens in my campsite though, and at 3pm I'm able to pack up my tent and start the long ride back to London.

So - in retrospect, this was all very enjoyable.  It's a great festival, and the stewarding didn't really impact at all on what I was able to see - and indeed, was often kind of fun in and of itself.  I would do this again.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.