Preview: Beachdown Festival – Brighton – 28-31/8/09
By: Keri Kennedy
The second ever Beachdown event, bravely held on the same weekend as the Reading Festival, has taken the surprising decision to downsize slightly this year. 2008's gathering, being the first, while very much a learning curve for organisers, was still far from huge. Now reined in – geographically at least - to allow less traipsing from stages to campsite, this most boutique of boutique festivals boasts a line-up comfortably removed from other identikit fests springing up on a weekly basis – and one that is staunchly, well, Brighton.
Set in an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (no less) on Devil's Dyke, just a mile or so north of the city, the emphasis is very much on 'keeping it Brighton', and green. Local restaurants provide food, a massive campaign to recruit local bands (over 40 are playing) and Djs to perform has been ongoing, and all the time you only have to look to the horizon, down sweeping hills towards the city itself, and miles and miles of coast. There's even an area called Calmdown, with activities for kids including Baby Loves Disco and restorative treatment areas to get you out of that hangover ready to start again. Cars are welcome – but local transport and eco-friendly shuttle buses transport you up into the hills from Brighton Station – itself of course only 45 minutes from central London.
The music's pretty impressive too. Running across four days, not three (check that, value fans!), over 42 hours of live music will see really rather massive name Djs such as Norman Jay, Joey Negro, Grandmaster Flash and Gilles Peterson grace the natural amphitheatre, while The Zutons, The Fall, The Rakes, Ida Maria and St Etienne will bring the live treats.
Highlights? It just has to be either Grace Jones, who has only played a handful of dates in support of 2008's Hurricane album, and Super Furry Animals, who have taken a similarly low-key touring approach, with 2009 album Dark Days/Light Years allegedly only now being performed in outdoor venues. It's hard to think of a platform that will better make sense of their return-to-form psychedelia – staring out to sea, drinking and eating local produce – on a bank holiday weekend. Bliss.
www.beachdownfestival.com
(Tickets cost £97.50 adults, £45 children, under 3s free)