Beautiful Days 2024 – August 16th – 18th, Escot Park, Devon

I think this was our seventh Beautiful Days and…miracle of miracles…it actually stayed dry. Apart from a slight drizzle on Thursday night but we’ll ignore that.

Perhaps this wasn’t the strongest line up ever but all three days produced more than their fair share of musical treats, new and not so new. Here’s what we caught (as the loos were particularly clean this year hopefully we didn’t catch anything else…ahem).

Friday August 16^th

Our 28^th wedding anniversary. Yes, I know, I don’t look old enough do I eh?

Hotwax – Spunky, punky teen trio fronted by two girls of the female variety (can you still say that these days)...

...which was something of a rarity on the main stage in particular.

David Wax Museum – Lordy I loved this lot. 

One of my festival highlights. Imagine Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend on a day trip to Mexico and that’ll give you a tiny idea of how some of their tracks sound. I bought five of their CDs so they must’ve been good.

The Scratch – Another highlight! Irish rock, roll and soul with a percussionist who appears to be playing a box with a pair of greyhound’s legs. I may have had some cider by then though.

Lottery Winners – Indie rock with a dash of stand up. Played ‘our’ song, ‘It Must Be Love’...and on our wedding anniversary too. They must've known.

Moon Hooch – Highlight #3 of day #1, two scronkingly brilliant sax players and a drummer that must’ve been powered by at least a dozen Duracell batteries. It’s jazz Jim, but not as we know it.

The Saw Doctors – Second Irish band of the day, this lot are 40 years into their career though, as the crowd’s lusty singalongs proved.

Saturday

Holy Youth Movement – Despite an 11am start (what madness is this?) HYM attracted an impressive audience for their rock-tronica 

Yep, I’ve just made that one up. You’re welcome.

Pet Needs – The crowd swelled for this lot and I’m not surprised. Perfect pop punk singalongs with some slightly mellower moments to help you catch your breath back.

Up, Bustle and Out – Global dance music that deserved a much bigger audience than they got. So much on though and so little time to see it all.

Cast – First saw this bad supporting The Lightening Seeds back in 1894…possibly…and here we are 130 years later enjoying some of Brit Pops finest moments again. A Finetime was had by all…see what I did there?

Inspiral Carpets – Loved this set. Cool As Fuck. Particularly enjoyed the ghostly voice – no doubt recorded on a beer and baccy stained cassette found on a bus in Manchester – of Mark E. Smith on I Want You.

Mr Bruce – How does this man not explode? How can anyone dance with such energy and still carry on breathing let alone singing. This was one of the three seconds of his set when he wasn't leaping around.

One of the nine wonders of the world.

A bit of Richard Ashcroft – Clearly the drugs are still working.

Toyah and Robert – 

Mr and Mrs Fripp cover everything from Metallica to Bowie in one of the most fun sets I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen The Darkness play an 11am set at Glasto after a night on the pop.

Sunday

The Gulls – Why weren't these guys on later? Hell, why weren’t they headlining? 

Shut yer eyes and you could be at Woodstock in 1969…open yer eyes and, well, as you can see they look the part too.

3 Daft Monkeys – Legendary folk punksters play their first BD set for 12 years.

Kathryn Priddy – One of folk’s most beautiful voices with a mesmerising and maturing song book of current and future classics. 

You could have heard a pin drop in the Big Top, which is particularly impressive given the fact that we were standing on grass.

Pop Will Eat Itself – Almost 40 years after they formed the Poppies are back and sounding as rad as ever. Great to hear Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina for the first time since 1990.

A bit of Stornaway and Hard-Fi…sadly not on the same stage though.

The Damned – Punk godfathers (and grandfathers probably) dished out the hits and camped it up a bit too, at least Vanian did. Highlight? A shout out to the “Dawlish massive” from Captain Sensible himself.

We heard some of The Levs set and bits and pieces of other stuff but spent many a happy hour chatting to some of the many lovely peeps that make up the BD crowd, which is one of the joys of a festival like this one. If I'm still alive and kicking I'll be back next year.