Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff has been announced as the headliner to close next year’s annual Bearded Theory Spring Gathering in Derbyshire – performing in the UK for the first time in five years.
Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering will return in 2018, from 24th to 28th May, at Catton Hall, Derbyshire, hot on the heels of the hugely successful sold out 2017 ’10th Birthday edition’. Included in The Daily Telegraph’s 2017 list of “Best Family Friendly Festivals In The Country”.
The four-day event has also announced a bunch of other sparkling names for the festival, with more to come soon. But for now, those who want to grab a ticket early while they still can – circa 65% of the allocation have already gone – have the following artists and bands to look forward to.
Jesus & Marychain, Sleaford Mods, The Coral, Fun Loving Criminals, Show of Hands, Shimmer Band, Crazyhead, Sleeper, UK Subs, Milburn, Jesus Jones, Lucy Spraggan, Reverend & The Makers, Ruts DC, Don Letts and many, many more acts of an extremely broad church of genres.
The main stage (Pallet) has around 10 more acts to announce, including two headliners, and they are still working on the bookings for the Woodland stage, and the various marquee stages. This year there are a few new additions to the event, including One Big Showcase, an “Introducing stage” to give new and up and coming acts a profile at the thriving event.
A new 600-seated capacity Circus will hold four free shows each day, and it is guaranteed not to include the use of clowns or animals. They will deliver child friendly daytime shows and more adult orientated performances at night. Comedy will take over the Woodland stage every night after the headline act has done, and comedians will do their thing until up to 3am. There’s a few more new areas too on site.
“Early Bird” tickets for the 2018 Bearded Theory Spring Gathering sold out in a record-breaking three minutes. A total of 5,000 tickets were sold on the first weekend of sales. A special allocation of 2000 early bird adult weekend camping tickets, priced at just £100 each and made available to mailing list subscribers and past attendees, literally flew out (see what we did there?)
Standard tickets are £115 for four days of music, entertainment and camping, and more than 3000 full price tickets were sold in the two days since they went on sale, making this by far the fastest selling launch in the festival’s 10-year history. The daily capacity is usually around 10,000 people. Family camping has been extended for 2018 with an additional two fields secured, to cater for the many thousands of families who attend the festival every year.
Madness, Seasick Steve and Skunk Anansie headlined the main stage this year (2017), with The Fall, Foy Vance, Reverend and the Makers and Cast headlining on the Wooodland stage. Slaves, Sugarhill Gang, Vintage Trouble and Alabama 3 joined in the fun with more than 200 bands across several stages over the four days.
The award-winning event’s organisers have again teamed up with National Express, who will be running direct services to the Derbyshire site from across the UK. Coach travel is available from: Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, London, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Leicester.
- All tickets for the festival include camping, and there are no day tickets. www.beardedtheory.co.uk
