Music Features

Beached festival 2006

The Beached festival began when Mike Lynsky commented to a friend 'wouldn't it be good to play a gig on the beach'. It was such a good idea in fact that he, and a few others, decided to make it happen and Beached was born.

The very first Beached was a fairly modest affair, but it caught the imagination of the Scarborough music scene.

As Mike Lynsky explains it all started to get thoroughly out of hand so how did he manage to tame this beast?

"It started out as just a small gig but within a couple of weeks we had six bands and a few DJ's wanting to get involved. To be honest we haven't really tamed it yet, it's just getting bigger and bigger every year.

"The second year we did it we had the Libertines on. It's really just bounded out of all control and we're just trying to hold on to the reigns at the moment.

"Last year we introduced another two days to the festival; we put the big movie night and an orchestral night on. They were both fantastic so they'll be back this year. Plus we've got the full two days of music on the stage, 12 hours of music each day."

To top it all off Beached has teamed up with BBC Radio York to broadcast a live DJ set on the Saturday evening.

See the Beached 2006 Video Preview > Audio and Video links on this page require Realplayer

"To comply with our licence we have to switch off the PA system at about 11:30pm, but loads of people are still hanging around on the beach and we wanted to find a way to keep them entertained"

The silent disco idea isn't new, but we don't think it's ever been done on this scale before. So if you're going to be at Beached on Saturday night, make sure you take a radio and be ready to tune in to BBC Radio York on 95.5FM to get the DJ set from Alan Raw of Raw Talent.

Beached is a free festival so there isn't lots of money to book all the big names, but Mike says there's been some very exciting discussions going on.

"We're talking to loads of fantastic bands that are usually out of the league of Beached. But if it comes off there could be some really good headliners coming up this year. But we'll have to wait and see."

There's certainly no shortage of acts wanting to play Beached, with about 700 demos sent in for Mike and his colleagues to sift through.

But if you're not selected to play the main stage, you can still entertain the masses because 2006 heralds the return of the acoustic tent. There's no PA, no drums kits, no big amps and no schedule, so anyone can turn up and entertain the crowds in a wonderfully, summery, chilled out, beached vibe.

So just how much effort and money does it take to put Beached together, and who pays for it?

"Actually putting it together is the easy bit because we've done it for six years now. Getting all the equipment, the bodies, the lighting and sound down there is probably about a days work.

"We spend most of the year trying to get the money together to actually pay for it. We do get a grant from Scarborough Council, who've been really good to us for the past few years, but obviously it's nowhere near the amount we need to put the event on.

"So we do look for arts based sponsorship from the arts council, which we don't usually get to be honest because we're a bit too popular, and not quite arty enough for them.

"But at the moment we're looking for corporate sponsorship from local and larger businesses. We do a thing called the Hundred club. It costs £250, you can invite four people back stage for the whole four days and use our nice corporate bar and restaurant, plus you get your own nice clean toilets."

Frankly we reckon £250 for your own clean festival toilet is cheap at twice the price!

Beached 2006 takes place on the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th of August on Scarborough Beach. The event is free, and if you're going along on the Saturday remember to take a radio with you!