Beacons: An aerial view.

The weather at Beacons went full circle with it ending pretty much as it started with the sun banished by some pretty heavy rain. Despite the weather team amazing rolled up their sleeves and recorded a bunch of sessions with the likes of Admiral Fallow, Tall Ships and The Wave Pictures. Keep your eyes peeled on The Amazing Sessions page this week  for these sessions as well as a glorious track from Weird Dreams filmed on what we’re now calling calling ‘Sunny Saturday’.

Even with all the sessions being recorded, the team made it out into the festival to catch as many bands as possible. B>E>A>K, Willy Mason, Hawk Eyes, That F*cking Tank and of course Mark Ryan in the Koppaberg Kube, all entertained the soaking masses before the team made the pilgrimage back to Amazing Towers.

Listen to Charlie Ashcroft, Mark Ryan and Tom Cotton describe their festival experience in the players below, and remember to listen in to Amazing Afternoons with Greg Porter and Amazing Beats to hear interviews with many of the artists from the festival.

We loved our Beacons experience and can’t wait for next year’s festival.

P.S. The Beacons team managed to capture the mood of this year’s festival with this short video posted to the Beacons Facebook page.

Tom Cotton and Charlie Ashcroft enjoy the Saturday sunshine at Beacons.

Team amazing once again took to the festival fields of Beacons in an effort to see as many performances as possible on a beautifully sunny Saturday. Trudging around in the festival mud is always easier when the sun is shining and the weather seemed to bring out the best in the artist with faultless performances going on left, right and centre.

Regular listeners to Amazing Radio will be familiar with much of the Beacons line up and in many ways it’s our ideal festival, full to the brim with artists amazing have supported over the last 12 months. The likes of 2:54, Stay +, Amazing Sessions veteran Ghostpoet, Splashh, Swim Deep, Eagulls and Koreless all produced the goods and simply wandering into a tent at Beacons seems to yield a great gig. The Audiences were fantastic too, with packed tents for many of the artists on show.

It hasn’t all been about seeing bands though. Amazing Radio presenters Mark Ryan, Greg Porter, Shell Zenner, Charlie Ashcroft and Head of Music Tom Cotton have all been in attendance, interviewing artists as well as checking out their favourites on stage. Mark spoke to Ghostpoet before catching Koreless‘ set on the Greendales Stage. We’ll bring you some audio blogs tomorrow so the guys can fill you in on their Beacons experience and we’ve already uploaded a second photo album to Facebook which captures the day perfectly.

One band that didn’t make the stage were Weird Dreams, who sadly missed their stage time. Luckily for us it meant that the band  had some time to do a session for us and played Suburban Coated Creatures on the back of a tractor to a small audience of amazing staffers, lucky campers and of course the cows in the next field.

With more sessions planned for Sunday, keep your eyes peeled on The Amazing Sessions page as well as here on the blog.

Team amazing arrived at a rain afflicted Beacons site in North Yorkshire on Friday morning. With spirits high we made camp and set off to explore the site. It might seem odd to host a tented festival in what seems to be ample space for an outdoor arena but clearly the Beacons team have some experience when it comes to the British summer. There’s something magical about seeing bands in a tent, especially when the rain is beating down on the tarps, and something equally odd about huge communal areas being outdoors, It works though and despite the weather doing it’s best to gatecrash the party, it’s nothing a pop-up tent, wellies and a waterproof can’t combat.

Amongst the downpours there was another deluge in the form of the number of bands playing Beacons . The line-up is huge, and with artists kicking off here there and everywhere, it’s well worth planning your day in advance. The tents are close enough together to make getting around easy but such is team amazing‘s thirst to experience everything, there’s been some incomplete sets watched. By our rough calculations we make it over 20 bands viewed in the first 24 hours.

It’s been a buzz to see bands like Pale Seas, Peace, Jessie Ware, Sunless ’97, Hey Sholay, Savages, Outfit, Submotion Orchestra, Runaround Kids, Wot Gorilla, PINS and D/R/U/G/S all in the same place. It’s also great to see artists we’ve featured in sessions like Theme Park and Veronica Falls go down so well.

Keep your eyes peeled on The Amazing Seesions and tune in to Amazing Afternoons with Greg Porter to see and hear the fruits of our labour all next week on Amazing Radio. If you want to see some of what we’re up to and the bands we’ve seen. Head on over to our Facebook page and check out our Beacons gallery.

In the meantime, we’re off to dance for sunshine and enjoy the Saturday line-up. Wish you were here. Oh you are? Tweet us then and let us know who you’re enjoying.

For those of you who remember Beacons of 2011, one thing will have no doubt stuck in your mind – not the awful weather or the flooded fields that ultimately led to it’s cancellation – but the rallying around of musicians, organisers, venue owners and fans alike to ensure that something good still came from everyone’s hard work.

Beacons Festival 2012 is bigger (and hopefully brighter) than before, with a lineup diverse enough to boast Wild Beasts, Roots Manuva and Toots and the Maytals as their headliners, plus a plethora of new and emerging artists from right across the genre-spectrum.

Given that ‘new and emerging’ is what we do best here at Amazing Radio, we’ve compiled a handy list of must-see artists, plus a little sneaky insider information from the guys on site!

Friday

MUST SEE – SAVAGES

We’re completely enamoured with this London based 4 piece. Completely. The release of their double a-side Husbands b/w Flying To Berlin has sent waves of excitement through the industry and beyond. Team amazing caught them on their current tour and were blown away by the intensity of their live set up, they put on an absolutely mesmerising show and you’d be a fool to miss it. They close the Noisey/Vice stage at 11.30pm, Friday.

Earlier that same day you can also catch ex-session guests of ours Theme Park and Veronica Falls on the The Stool Pigeon Stage from 3pm, or alternatively from 2.45pm there’s Outfit over on the Greendales Stage. If you prefer things a little louder then you can set up camp at the aforementioned Noisey/Vice stage and see the likes of Wot Gorilla? followed by Leeds indie popsters Runaround Kids, Hey Sholay, Manchester based Pins plus the excellent Pale Seas – setting you up nicely for Savages.

Saturday

MUST SEE – JAPANDROIDS

Since releasing second album Celebration Rock there’s been an outpouring of acclaim for the Canadian garage rock two-piece, and rightly so. The House That Heaven Built is a favourite here at Amazing Radio and come 7pm Saturday that’s where you’ll find us – The Stool Pigeon Stage, centre front.

Other highlights from Saturday include the wonderful Ghostpoet, who’s 2011 visit to The Amazing Sessions you can see here. Add to this the guys responsible for one of our favourite tracks of the that same year, Clock Opera, and The Stool Pigeon Stage is looking like a good place to be.

For those who prefer their music at a slightly accelerated pace you can always head to the Noisey/Vice stage from 2pm to catch Juffage, Eagulls and exciting newcomers Splashh.

Sunday

MUST SEE – BLACKLISTERS

This was a really difficult choice to make for the Sunday, there are so many great bands playing and in the end it will entirely depend upon your mood. We plan to begin our day with Admiral Fallow at 1pm, followed by the consistently brilliant London 3 piece The Wave Pictures at 2.30pm. Come 6 o’clock it’ll be time to show your true colours – will it be Lanterns On The Lake over on The Stool Pigeon Stage, followed by Patrick Wolf acoustic? OR, join us in staking your spot at the Noisey/Vice stage for a barrage of brilliance from Hawkeyes, That Fucking Tank, Tall Ships and the much anticipated live set from Leeds based Blacklisters.

We’ve heard nothing but excellent reviews of their live shows, and they’ve developed further still in the past 6 months into something we’re incredibly excited to see.

If all of that gets a bit too much for you then don’t forget the full programme of events surrounding the music itself. There’s a special section named ‘Into The Woods’ that promises comedy, relevant discussions, spoken word, film screenings and best of all, Aerockbics.

That’s right, Aerobics to rock music.

We have it on good authority that there wont be a single overpriced burger van in sight; check out the catering options available throughout the weekend. Also, anyone familiar with Leeds itself will be thrilled to know that Whitelocks themselves are supplying the Real Ale.

For those who prefer a little more comfort whilst on site then it may be worth splurging your savings on one of these beauties – ‘glamping’ at it’s best!

However you choose to do it, and whoever you choose to see, you’re guaranteed a great time at Beacons 2012. We can’t wait!

It’s less than two weeks until North Yorkshire’s Beacons festival  kicks off and the organisers have just announced full stage times.

Click the image below to enlarge the line-up times or head over to this handy clashfinder.

Amazing Radio will be at Beacons in force and be sure to tune in to Shell Zenner‘s radio show this Friday from 1pm for a Beacons special! For more information on Beacons head to their official website.

With less than four weeks on the clock until Beacons festival, the organisers have sent us this sexy new interactive poster. Watch videos and stream tracks from every artist at the event. We’re too excited now.