After taking quite a long break from all things camping, I decided this year that the time was right to pitch up, drink up and listen up – in fact my soul desperately needed it. I’ve always been a fan of music festivals… Reading, Download, Bloodstock, I’ve been to loads, but for some reason, when I discovered Catton Hall’s Bearded Theory in 2017, I knew that was the one I would return to the following year. Both 2017 and 2018 were fantastic, with the latter being the last time I attended any sort of overnight music event until now. So, of course, years later at the start of 2024, it was at the forefront of my mind when deciding where to go. Here, I have written about my experience of Bearded Theory 2024.

Now, before we get into the bands and all of the fun stuff, I want to point out an important thing. I have been incredibly blessed with past events when it came to the weather. Somehow, I have always had the sunshine in my bag ready to share with all of the other attendees whenever I decided to go to any festivals, and the only bit of rain I’ve ever encountered was a slightly glum first day and a bit of an overnight shower at Bearded in 2018. I attribute this great bit of luck to the fact that I have lumbered wellies with me to every single one. Unused, cumbersome things that always sat in the corner of the tent, worn only on the way in so that my rucksack would be lighter. With the long range forecast telling me to expect a heatwave, and with assurance that my heavy-duty boots would withstand any unexpected showers that fell our way, I decided that wellies were not necessary.

This was a mistake.

We had gone for the Wednesday early entry option, because well, I wanted all of the festival I could get, mainly. Also, we figured travel would be easier, and we could get all pitched, sorted and ready to go for the rest of the week. I think the concern for the weather began for us around the Sunday before, when the forecast websites started to replace the happy little sun pictures with angry old rainclouds. Wednesday would be the worst day for it, they said. Oh dear. Still, though, our spirits couldn’t be dampened (much) and we made plans to travel early to beat the rain. Well, I’m afraid the rain beat us.

Wednesday – The Washout

We arrived just before 9am, after a concerning drive watching the rain absolutely hammering the windows of the minibus, and thankfully, the staff at the gates let us take shelter until it looked like there was a small window of opportunity for us to move (Thank you for the muffin Simon!). We then faced a walk through waterlogged fields with all of our stuff, until we got to our camping spot, exhausted, muddy and with seriously wet feet – yeah, the heavy-duty boots did not cut it. Morale was a bit shaken but fortunately I had a secret weapon in the form of a metal bottle full of some pre-made cocktail that I had bought from Aldi. This very much helped me to help my partner put the tent up (or is that watch? I can’t recall), and once that was done we were a go! Bearded Theory baby!

…Except, well, everywhere was flooded.

I have to say, the staff did the best with the hand they were dealt. There was a lot of rainfall in a relatively short amount of time, and of course, safety is paramount. The arena’s opening was very delayed, and the Woodland stage was a no-go, so when we were allowed in, we found that the acts from there had been relocated to the Convoy Caberet stage. We discovered that the Oxfam stall in our camping area sold wellies! Yes! So that was our first port of call. I then got out my plastic bottle of chardonnay (another fine buy from Aldi) and tried to drink the damp out of my bones. We wandered around a bit non-comittally, trying to rouse up the same excitement we had felt 24 hours beforehand. Eventually, though, we admitted defeat; we were exhausted, cold, and soggy. We decided to call it a night and try again the next day.

Thursday – Still Soggy, but the Spirit is Back!

A fresh new day, with fresh dry socks, and a fresh can of beer complete with a breakfast bap from the bus cafe made for a much more positive start. The weather was still rubbish, but for the most part the heavens stayed closed. Woodland was still blocked off, but the wider area of the arena was now open. This gave us new areas to explore, and the main stage – The Pallet – was in play. We waded through the endless rivers of mud with our welly-protected feet, said hello to Big Ed, and went in search of music to listen to.

I normally have a distinct plan of who I want to see when I attend a festival, and schedule things accordingly… This year I wanted to do it a little differently. While the line up had some heavy hitters and seasoned bands such as Jane’s Addiction, Therapy?, and New Model Army on its roster, I noted that it had a lot of bands and musicians on there that I had simply never heard of. To be fair, this might be on me… I’ve been studying for the past two years and listening to a lot of my ‘comfort’ bands, and any new music I’ve been to see has largely been local musicians in the venues around Birmingham. So the prospect of spending a few days discovering some new names was very appealing to me, and with the exception of listening to some of the artists on the bill in the weeks leading to Bearded Theory, I was pretty much in the dark, and excited about what I might find.

There was a lot of shuffling around stages on the Thursday, and an air of disorganisation that the weather chaos had left behind. Sometimes we weren’t quite sure who was on and where, so my aformentioned method of wandering and discovering worked a treat here. We saw an impressive set from Andrea Kenny, and a fresh energetic display from Birmingham-based band Total Luck. Australian seven-piece Battlesnake played an enjoyable, high energy set and managed to get the crowd’s spirits up, while Irish rockers The Sprints stepped up to their relocation from the Woodland to the Pallet quite well.

Friday – We like the Meadow

Friday was the first day that the sun tried to greet us. We still needed wellies – the mud had hardened into a clay-like nightmare that gave us a proper workout and I was convinced I would have Chun Li-style legs once the week was though. It still rained a bit here and there, but even so, we were well and truly in the festival zone. Tents sprouted around us as we gained new neighbors, and a couple of our friends joined us too, happy, dry and eager to get stuck in. The Woodland was back in play, and we had the Meadow stage to check out as well as a whole host of other sights to see.

Over at the Meadow, we heard a cracking set by ferocious quartet Saint Agnes, a band that I definitely want to hear more from, and we checked out Lambrini Girls, a band with more bite than their name would have you believe. Later on, at the Pallet, London punk-rap duo Bob Vylan completely dominated the stage with an hour of raw, loud, in your face music that the crowd seemed to love. They were definitely one of the highlights of the whole week, and one of the artists that went straight onto my listening list when I got home.

After a bit of a disappointing set by Dexys, we headed back in the direction of the Meadow stage, and caught Therapy?, who I had seen previously at Bearded Theory in 2018. Straight after that was New Model Army. The Meadow is a stage that hadn’t been there when I last attended, having been introduced in 2023. It’s definitely a fine addition, with the sound and lighting being on point whenever I was in there. In fact, it was probably my favorite stage. More than once, I would see artists on the main stage and think “Yeah, their set was good, but I would have liked to have seen that in the Meadow”

All in all, Friday was a good day. We popped our heads in the other tents, such as Maui Maui, and Coda, and the vibes were great each time. On the way back to our camp, we nipped into the Magical Teapot, a really cool place that I remembered fondly from previous festivals. It’s a tent with a burning fire in the centre, a piano in the corner, a pay-what-you-feel ethos for a hot drink, and a beautiful vibe. You can rock up with your own instrument and join in, you can sing along, or you can just sit there and enjoy it all. It is a wonderful place to strike up conversations and make new friends, and the fireplace makes it ideal to warm yourself up a bit before bunking down for the night.

Saturday – Sunshine, good times!

So Saturday arrived, and with it came the realisation that it probably wasn’t the best idea to jump straight from a six-year-break from camping into a five-day outdoor bonanza. I ached, I still hadn’t quite warmed up, and the beer coat wasn’t quite working as efficiently as it had before. Luckily, some Saturday attendee had very kindly bought the sunshine in their bag and shared it with the whole festival, and thank goodness, because it was just what we needed.

With the ground finally sturdy enough to walk on without fearing a topple into the mud, and my boots all dried out, it was time to see what Saturday was all about. The Woodlands was now less of a mud-fest, too, although admittedly I did not spend too much time there. Sadly, what was previously my favourite stage, was still a bit messy and claggy for my liking. There was also an unfortunate placement of the toilets to the right of the stage which left the whole area kind of pungent. The bar staff in the tent were lovely and jolly though, exchanging jokes, banter and a nice back and forth with the customers.

The Meadow bought us such highlights as the eclectic Mancunian five-piece Sonic Boom Six, and a bit of well, brilliant daftness from 3 Daft Monkeys. The Pallet gave us an amazing set from Punk Rock Factory, featuring a crowdsurfing dinghy race and well known songs such as the Power Rangers theme, with a twist. There was also a fantastic set from Wargasm UK, an electro/nu-metal/slightly industrial? duo that rocked the Pallet brilliantly. Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods provided a bit of a marmite reaction from the audience, with some people absolutely loving the set and some people wondering what the hell they were hearing. Unfortunately, I fell into the latter crowd.

The big act of Saturday night was, of course, Jane’s Addiction, and they were alright, to be fair. It seemed, though, that there was a bit of a disconnect with the crowd from the band, and some of their audience interactions weren’t quite landing. The atmosphere didn’t sit quite right with me and sort of prevented me from enjoying the set as much as I maybe could have.

All in all though, Saturday was a win. We danced with Big Ed. We made an unsuccessful attempt to find the kareoke. We watched the first 20 minutes of Back to the Future at the Meadow. I rode the Ghost Train. It was rubbish. I do not recommend the Ghost Train.

Sunday – Running out of the good beer

I’m not going to lie. I didn’t see much on Sunday. I woke up feeling a little off and couldn’t shake it for the rest of the day, meaning that pit stops back to camp were annoyingly frequent. I watched a bit of Penetration at the Pallet, as well as punk New Yorkers BODEGA. Although they were decent, sadly neither of them blew me away, although I have to pay mind to the fact that I wasn’t feeling great, and so have to factor that in, and there may have been plenty of people who enjoyed them.

Over at Woodland, we checked out unique German funk-metal band Slope, who had a fantastically energetic show for the audience. Next up were local Midland duo Big Special, who were on top form, with natural, funny banter between them and a strong set that the crowd loved.

After this, I had to admit defeat and retire to my tent for good. It was more than a little disheartening, for sure. I would spend most of the next day kicking myself for not being able to hold out for Amyl and the Sniffers, who I had been quite looking forward to.

Conclusion

Bearded Theory was a blast. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Even with all the rain, mud, and chaos, it was a wonderful festival. I think that being soaked for most of the day on Wednesday was the only reason why I couldn’t quite enjoy the last day right until the end. Even with that said, as soon as I returned home on Monday, I wished I could go back.

I noticed an abundance of female fronted bands on the line up, which was very cool to see. Music feels fresh, raw, and it seems like people have a hell of a lot to say. Emotions are high, and it’s coming through, not just with a trickle, but with a scream and a loud bang. It is definitely a time to start paying attention.

The festival itself seems to have gone through some changes since 2018, which I guess is only natural. I love the addition of the Meadow stage, and I saw some excellent performances in there. I love that there is a dedicated children’s area, and how well maintained it is. Also, the food and bar stalls were all reasonably priced (for a festival). The traders sold some beautiful items, and were all friendly and chatty – more than once I found myself having a long chinwag and finding out more about their businesses.

However, there was something slightly amiss about the overall feel of the festival, as if just a little of the magic has gone, compared to how it was before. Maybe it’s unavoidable, due to its growing size and popularity, that just some of the quirkiness that made Bearded Theory so special has faded.

My apprehension may well be due to the challenges that the weather provided though. Cars and campervans got stuck in the mud, areas were blocked off, stages were closed and acts relocated… This must have been very stressful for the people who were working, and although there seemed to have been a bit of miscommunication from time to time, I have to say that most of the teams that I spoke to for advice/directions were very helpful and friendly.

So all in all, I am glad I chose Bearded Theory as my grand return to the festival life. Knowing what I do now, I probably would have given the Wednesday a miss (or glamped) but from Thursday onwards, I had a brilliant time. I can’t wait to do it again next year.

You can check out the full gallery of photos I took here