Beach Break Live
Pembrey Country Park, Wales
14/06/2010 – 18/06/2010

Basically, festivals are pretty good. So are beaches. And you know students? They are known to enjoy both festivals and beaches. Our Sherlock Holmesian powers have deduced, therefore, that combining them all together into a beautiful, swirling, mildly sunburnt mash of midweek fun might be a laugh. You dig?
They did, but the BBL crew merely laughed in their callous faces; who would want Duncan Bannatyne’s greasy fingers sullying their beloved creation? Four years later and 17,500 students are throwing some serious leg shapes in a beautiful Welsh country park instead. Lush grassland is bordered by white sandy beaches, a magical wood and an inexplicable luge. Man, these guys know how to pick a venue that sets the tone, and that tone is: amazingdoublefun.

Happily, The Fly’s anxiety of a fest full of chanting rugby boys and 18 year olds being sick on each other never really comes to fruition. The crowds are chilled and everyone sports beaming smiles below their £1 Primark sunglasses. Just how good the venue is cannot be overstated; a brilliant mix of stages (the outdoor one designed to look like a ghetto blaster is a particular highlight), fairground rides, good food, table tennis and relatively cheap bars.

What about the music I hear you (or The Fly’s editor) cry? Again, BBL manage to mix an eclectic cocktail of big names, local bands and DJs into a tasty, coherent whole. Big acts like Chase And Status (with a little help from surprise guest Tempa T), Vampire Weekend and Calvin Harris smash the main stage and get the entire capacity jumping (Plan B is dreadful though; why is this guy so popular?), while 2manydjs, Annie Mac, Zinc and Nero (amongst others) turn the dance tent into a sweaty jumble of limbs and jaws. Personal highlight, though, is Raffertie and Plastician absolutely destroying the giant ghetto blaster on the first night. So much bass The Fly literally has to go and have a little lie down afterwards and wait for our eyes to stop vibrating.
BBL may not have the trendiest or biggest line up out there, it might raise a look of scorn in the Glasto crusties or ATP scene kids, but what it delivers is four days of happiness and music in some beautiful surroundings. Who could ask for more?    

George Rowe