LUSH Radio

LUSH was granted press access to Beach Break 2011. Dan went away for the weekend to review festival and talk to some performers. Read on for interviews with Ed Sheeran, Beardyman and Newton Faulkner.

What is Beach Break?

Founded back in 2007, and now on its fifth year, Beach Break Live claims to be ‘a new breed of festival purely for students’. Combining the classic allure of the seaside with live music, daytime activities (that range from dry ski slopes to beat box workshops) and a general sense of fun, Beach Break Live is a festival quickly increasing in popularity, not least shown through its ever-growing capacity. Situated in Pembrey Country Park, just outside LLanelli, Wales, Beach Break Live also offers a whole host of picturesque views of the west coast of Wales. Not to be unfairly compared to festivals with higher capacities (namely Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, T in the Park & Bestival), this Welsh based weekend provides a reasonable (only £100 a ticket for students) weekend of live music for the keen student population.

2011 Line Up

Amongst other big names, Beach Break Live 2011 boasted the following line up:

White Lies, Magnetic Man, Tinie Tempah, Example, Katy B, Professor Green, Newton Faulkner, We Are Scientists, Ed Sheeran, Beardyman, Jamie Woon, Sub Focus, Zane Lowe, Nero, Shy Fx, DJ Yoda and London Elektricity.

Thursday

Thursday boasted a host of DJs in the evening to entertain the fresh-wellied campers. Merlin’s Forest (a dance tent situated to the far left of the main stage), for example, hosted ‘The Forties to the Noughties!’, a set of six and a half hours of music progressing chronologically through the twentieth century to the twenty-first. Also, amongst fair-ground rides and quizzes there was plenty to take part in for those ready to get stuck in to the festival experience a day early.

Friday

A very rainy day was kicked off at 12pm and progressed through the afternoon with acts such as Maverick Sabre and Yasmin taking to the main stage. The highlight of the afternoon was for many (myself included) Ed Sheeran’s performance. Playing his hit single ‘The A Team’ amongst other crowd-pleasers such as ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’, Sheeran had the crowd singing along and forgetting about the adverse weather, whilst sharing stories of volunteer work at homeless shelters and promoting awareness of his album, to be released in September of this year.

Professor Green took to the stage at half past eight. I’ve got to be honest, I’m far from a die-hard ProGreen fan but was left impressed after the likeable, smiling rapper/singer sensation got the crowd going with his big hits ‘Just Be Good To Green’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Jungle’. Clearly happy to be performing and doing what he loves, Professor Green left the crowd wanting more after a lively set.

Tinie Tempah made his appearance just after ten o clock to the loud screams of adoring fans. I was a little sceptical that a live performance would be any good, but much like with Green, I was pleasantly surprised. With ‘Pass Out’ and ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’ having an impressive live energy, the main stage roster was concluded on a high.

Saturday

With the weather only looking a little better, Saturday only really began for me personally at around half past five, when I made my way to the main stage to witness the renowned raw talent of two-time Beatbox champion and live-looping artist, Beardyman. Keen to see this guy live again, I got a good position in front of the main stage and safe to say, was once again gobsmacked by the sheer variety of his vocal ability. Constructing the likes of Eurhythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ and New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ with nothing but his own voice and looping equipment, Beardyman demonstrated a frankly mind-blowing ability to create almost any track with nigh on seamless transition between hits. The highlight of the set had to be the improvised ‘Boobies’ track created, predictably, after a young lady flashed her breasts in full view. Finding room for comedy amongst his genius, Beardyman seemed to seriously impress everyone, be it through his musical ability or his mesmerising stage presence.

Next up were We Are Scientists. Unfortunately, due to interview commitments, I only managed to catch about half an hour of their set. However, what I did see was great. Known for their humour and friendly stage presence, WAS played a lot of their best stuff from 2005’s With Love and Squalor and 2008’s Brain Thrust Mastery, including ‘Nobody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt’ and ‘After Hours’ whilst also offering some newer tracks from their 2010 release Barbara.

At half past eight the stage was greeted with chart-topping rapper/singer Example. Much like Tinie Tempah and Professor Green of Friday night, Example put on an exciting performance, teaching the crowd how to ‘bounce’ properly to ‘Kickstarts’, ‘Won’t Go Quietly’ and ‘Last Ones Standing’. Possessing a good live energy, Example’s songs seem best appreciated live.

White Lies closed the main stage on Saturday Evening. Blinding the crowd with impressive stage lighting, White Lies put on a fantastic performance, with the crowd going wild to ‘Death’ and ‘To Lose my Life’. Songs from their new album, Rituals were also impressive and well received, serving to show that the boys hailing for Ealing were without doubt worthy of their headline slot.

Merlin’s Forest played host to late night DJ’s once the main stage performers had finished. Saturday night’s roster looked impressive: Nero, Shy FX and Sub Focus. However, due to the tent being a little too small for the amount of people herding from the main stage, Nero’s set was incredibly cramped and a little disappointing. Sub Focus, however, made up for this anti-climax, laying down some of his best tracks including ‘Could This Be Real’, and ‘Rock It’ to a crowd ready to dance late into the night.

Sunday

Sunday brought more of the same in terms of great performances, with the sun finally making an appearance and showing itself on the rosy cheeks of excited campers. Jamie Woon played a stunning set to a late-afternoon crowd and Newton Faulkner charmed as usual with his cover of ‘Teardrop’, ‘Dream Catch Me’ and other tracks from both his albums, Hand Built By Robots and Rebuilt by Humans as his rhythmic tapping of his guitar resonated around the main arena.

As the evening drew on and the fairgrounds rides were lit up in the distance, Katy B took to the stage to perform what I personally felt what a disappointing set. ‘I Need Air’ lacked the intensity of its studio recording and Katy B’s interaction with the crowd seemed a little repetitive. However, the subsequent set by associated act Magnetic Man (composed of Benga, Skream and Artwork) seemed to turn the evening around. With blistering bass and a great MC on stage to get the crowd going, it didn’t matter that someone had thrown a cup of wee at me (well, didn’t matter as much) as ‘Perfect Stranger’ and other tracks from Magnetic Man’s self-titled debut blew the crowd away. Placing Magnetic Man on the Sunday was a good decision, as the heaviest performance was saved until last.

Interviews

LUSH were lucky enough to catch up with a few artists at Beach Break.

Ed Sheeran:

Beardyman:

Newton Faulkner:

Campsite

Being a rather small festival (at least when concerning capacity), Beach Break seemed to have a rather snug, comfortably sized camping area. Not too far from the toilets or food stalls, the camping fields were far enough from the arena to escape the frolics of the late night performers but also near enough as to not be too much of a pain to leave in the spur of the moment. Improvement was definitely needed in the toilet facilities however, as many a cubicle remained clogged to the rightful dismay of campers.

Atmosphere

Apart from camping with some lovely people anyway, Beach Break 2011 had a distinctly friendly atmosphere around both the main arena and campsite. This may be due to the fact that the festival is made for students and incorporates much of the student lifestyle, such as reasonably priced drinks (for a festival at least) fancy dress and lots of activities to get involved in, including sports on the beach. Overall, there didn’t seem to be any aggression or threatening behaviour and apart from robbed tents (which these days seems inevitable), both the campsite and the arena were heavily secured with guards.

Travel

We opted for the park-and-ride travel option. Driving to the parking area was clearly signposted and well organised. Once parked we queued for a coach and were only made to wait less than half an hour to board a coach, which took us to the campsite in less than ten minutes. Travel seemed well prepared and we found no delays in travelling to and from the festival, apart from minor delays on the motorway on the Monday morning.

How it compares to other festivals

Beach Break is admittedly one of the smaller festivals I have attended, yet it left a really good impression. With a decent mix of things to do and a suitably sized arena there seemed to largely be enough space for everyone to be in the middle of a crowd or appreciating from a distance. I found the general atmosphere of Beach Break to echo that of Bestival, at least in terms of fancy dress and laid back attitude, with the crowds having as much energy as those at Glastonbury or T in the Park. The only improvement I can see when comparing Beach Break Live to other festivals is the expansion of the dance tent. Nearly everyone flocks to the dance tent for late night DJs after the headliners have performed. With a bigger capacity, Merlin’s Forest would have been much more enjoyable. In general, however, Beach Break succeeded in competing with its bigger brother’s on the festival circuit, especially with its addition of an eight mile long beach.

Thumbs up to Beach Break from LUSH Radio!

Author

Daniel Breheny