Preview: Best Kept Secret Festival

by | indieBerlin

Shh. Whisper it. True to its name, the Netherland’s ‘Best Kept Secret’ Festival has surreptitiously announced a barnstormer of a line-up for this year.

It’s a relatively safe bet that in a list of dream summer destinations, Hilvarenbeek would be relatively low down. However, once again Best Kept Secret have announced an indie honeypot of a line-up. The Dutch festival has sprung heavyweights such as Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and The National in previous years and this year proves just as promising. Alongside headliners Bon Iver, Christine and the Queens and Kraftwerk there is a smorgasbord of talent to choose from and, most importantly perhaps for festival-lovers on a budget, ticket prices remain very affordable.

With artists ranging from Mac Demarco to Death grips, this is a fairly broad church in terms of genre. Moreover, the festival doesn’t suffer from a myopic focus on any specific era. Younger artists such as Shame, Blossoms and Kate Tempest feature alongside stalwarts such as Primal Scream, Spiritualized and Stereolab. The legendary Guided by Voices are something of a surprise given their very selective European tour dates this summer, while Interpol and Cigarettes after Sex are both big draws. There is more than enough quality and diversity on offer to please any alternative-inclined music fan.

And how hard will this hit the purse strings, you ask? Well, with camping tickets on offer for €180 euros and relatively easy transport options available from most of Europe, not particularly hard. Whilst not the cheapest of packages, this still remains relatively cheap amongst the plethora of European festivals. For the acts on offer, it is by our reckoning a very competitive option. It seems extremely unlikely that their secret will be kept much longer: with bigger line-ups each year this is a bandwagon to jump on ahead of the masses.

Best Kept Secret Festival will take place in Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands, from May 31st until June 2nd. Tickets and information available here. Photo credit: Best Kept Secret Festival.

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