"Welcome to a miracle" observed The Levellers' Mark Chadwick during their traditional opening acoustic set. Given that just a few weeks ago it seemed as though Beautiful Days wouldn't happen this year I'd say that was a pretty justifiable statement. Sure the loos were a bit crap (as it were) and there may not have been as many bands on as usual (or am I just imaging that?) but the organisers deserve nothing but oodles of praise for pressing ahead and giving every attendee yet another memorable weekend.
Day One's highlights included Peat and Diesel's craic-ing set, Henge's out of this world psychedelia, the return of Alabama 3 (Woke Up This Morning's still a classic) and the sublime pairing of kora player Seckoh Keita and harpist Catrin Finch, all capped off with Frank Turner (the thinking Millennial's Billy Bragg) and his Sleeping Souls and the legendary Hawkwind (whose lead singer Dave Brock turned 80 today...who says (space) rock 'n' roll's no good for you eh?).
Emerging from our tent in a cider induced haze on Day Two we caught garage punkters Fighting Rhythm (who'd travelled 8 hours to get here to replace another band, now that's commitment) and then bounced between the Main Stage and Big Top. Edward II 's blend of Jamaican and English folk was as inspired as ever, setting us up for some right skanking to The Selector. Is it me or is Pauline Black getting younger? Despite the rain Gary Numan proved he's still electrifying (although happily he avoided getting electrocuted despite venturing onto a platform away from the shelter of the stage during the peak of the downpour) paving the way for another band who are enjoying something of a late career purple patch, James.
Day Three kicked off with some stunning blues covers from Dea Matrona and some equally awesome self penned folk from Katherine Priddy (whose debut album 'The Eternal Rocks Beneath' recently hit number one in the folk charts...hurrah!).
The rest of the afternoon saw us lapping up From The Jam. Dreadzone and Skindred before catching the proggier than a very proggy thing at a prog boot camp Van Der Graaf Generator's equally mesmerising , confusing and ever so slightly scary set (although that might just be the cider talking). As is traditional we listened to The Levellers closing set from the Tiny Tea Tent before collapsing in a messy heap. Ouch, my aching everything.
As ever we missed loads of great bands but spent many happy hours chatting with random strangers and taking in the unique sights, sounds and smells that make a festival such a bloody life affirming event.
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