Beachdown Festival 2009

Brighton's newest and most laid back festival takes place this year at South Downs with a great line up of music, comedy and food.

Thanks to the unique chalk base of the site, they are guaranteeing a mud-bath free zone no matter what the weather. The camp site also boasts a quiet family friendly area so all the family can attend. But the real commendations come from Beachdown’s commitment to making the festival as organic as possible, after all, they do assert: ‘food is as much part of the line-up as any of the musicians so come on and taste the flavour.’ The emphasis is on local suppliers but a host of world food will be represented. Even the water supplier is sourced from an organic spring.

Vintage lady vamp Grace Jones tops that bemusing bill with support from jazz conscious funky beats man Laurent Garnier. The Rakes bring the sounds of their latest record Klang to the fore while Saint Etienne, The Fall and Grandmaster Flash prove that Beachdown is living up to their odd-ball fusion remit. They’ve also ploughed the local scene for a host of acts to emphasise the community credentials. Transformer, The Xcerts and Monkey Sons are a few of the tipped bands there.

In keeping with contemporary environmental concerns, the festival aims to be as carbon neutral as possible employing a number of energy saving tools including a park and ride shuttle bus to minimise traffic at the beautiful back country site.

Weekend tickets are £97.50 but if you’re 17 or under you can more than halve that to £45.