Bearded Theory 2025 – Festival Preview

Bearded Theory Festival
Catton Park, Derbyshire
21st – 25th May 2025

Bearded Theory Festival is back again next month with a stellar line-up. Neil Crud looks forward to making the annual pilgrimage to this wonderful festival, now in its eighteenth year and going from strength to strength.

From its humble beginnings to the pinnacles it exceeds year on year, Bearded Theory (in my opinion) is the best outdoor festival you can experience.

The eclectic music across eight stages, traverses from punk to funk, from dance to trance, with a family friendly feel and plenty to discover, (including an award winning children’s village). In fact, this festival is so good, I’m at pains to tell you about it… Wanna keep it as our little secret… Not too big like some overblown corporate event driven on profits with adverts in your face. BT is unassertive in its approach to cater for you and not their pockets.

And wow! What a line up! Bearded Theory 2025 sees punk rock royalty in the perfect form of Iggy Pop, alongside the eminence of Manic Street Preachers. Throw in the likes of Paul Heaton, Leftfield, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Yard Act, Sisters Of Mercy, Lovely Eggs, Inner Terrestrials, Ezra Furman and Ash (just to mention a few) and you know you’re gonna be well ‘n’ truly catered for.

From its origins as a friends birthday party in 2007, Bearded Theory has outgrown its capacity several times and has had to move sites. It is a family festival and the teenagers you see here in abundance were the 5-year-olds that were toddling around with their parents eighteen years ago and have been coming back ever since. 

I’m looking forward to making the annual pilgrimage to my home town and meeting up with the extended family once again.

Tickets available here

Our Bearded Theory 2024 review

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All words by Neil Crud, you can find his Louder Than War archive here