Back with a bang – Beautiful Days 2022 met every expectation
We’ve been at every edition of Beautiful Days since the festival started – almost 20 ears ago – and this was a vintage year if ever we saw one.
From the quietly raucous Thursday-night 100% acoustic shenanigans at the back of Dirty Davey’s bar tent to the festival’s first official wedding (that took place to the distant soundtrack of the Leveller’s opening set), and the usual great array of food traders, through to outstanding sets from the likes of Funke and the Two Tone Baby, The Sweetchunks Band, Samantics, Sleaze, Mr Bruce, and Cam Cole – not to mention a few slightly bigger names such as Flogging Molly, Maximo Park, The Specials, Seasick Steve, The Interruptors, and…oh yes, Levellers… 2022 brought us non-stop quality crowd-pleasing entertainment alongside almost perfect weather.
And that’s what we have come to expect (well, maybe not the weather), as an earlier incarnation of this website (Virtual Festivals) described Beautiful Days as ‘The Festival that sells out [of tickets]…by not selling out’.
Because there’s no big brands – just bands and their fans…although we had to laugh when Lovely Eggs singer Holly Ross made this point on the main stage whilst waving a can of a well-known brand of cider in the air over her head!
That one minor indiscretion aside, the local Otter Brewery offerings at the bars and the complete absence of anything even resembling a sponsorship deal was its usual refreshing break from corporate tents trying to woo audiences with crass product placements and giveaways wrapped in a thin veneer of festival chic.
Strolling around the site, the kids areas and activities were nicely integrated into the main festival rather than being tucked away in the naughty corner, all of our favourite food stalls were in their usual places (with one or two nice new additions), the non-food stalls were of a typically high quality and offered plenty of retail-therapy opportunities, and the festival was nearly spotless.
So get ready to be a part of the Beautiful Days 20th birthday party next year – it wouldn’t be the same without YOU
Daily videos
Here are a few hastily edited videos from on site… one iPhone and a bit of iMovie magic.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Beautiful Days 2022 photo galleries
We tried to whittle down our massive photo collection to a manageable size… but we failed.
Our shortlist of top snaps still runs to almost 300 shots.
That’s over eight reels worth of pictures developed down at the local chemists for those of you who remember the days of pictures coming back with ‘out of focus’ stickers on them.
Anyway – as usual, our top snapper Sara Bowrey managed to get everything perfectly composed and pin-sharp.
If you are a real glutton then head to our Flickr collection to dive into a full visual history of the festival.
But, for the edited highlights, scroll down through our favourite shots.
