Best Kept Secret (festival)
The Best Kept Secret festival is a three-day music festival held inside the Safaripark Beekse Bergen, within the village of Hilvarenbeek, in the south of the Netherlands, since 2013.
| Best Kept Secret | |
|---|---|
 The entrance to Best Kept Secret in 2014 | |
| Dates | Early-to-mid June |
| Location(s) | Hilvarenbeek, North Brabant, The Netherlands |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Website | www.bestkeptsecret.nl Best Kept Secret Festival (in American English) |
Best Kept Secret is a music festival with a line-up in which big names are alternated with new discoveries from indie, folk, hip-hop, rock, electronics or a mixture of styles. The festival's centerpiece is a lake at the back of Beekse Bergen safari park. The festival's founder described his vision as aiming to create "something that we’d like to go to ourselves".[1]
Best Kept Secret festival has one open air stage (ONE), three tent stages (TWO, FIVE and SEVEN) and two dance floor stages: THREE and FOUR. For the 2017 edition Best Kept Secret added 'The Casbah', a dive bar and hang-out, that hosts performances of hardcore bands. For the 2019 edition Best Kept Secret added SEVEN, a smaller tent stage for experimental performers.
History
The festival is organized by Dutch booking agency Friendly Fire.
In June 2013 the first edition was held, and sold-out each day with 15,000 visitors.[2]
The festival has been nominated twice at the European Festival Awards:[3]
- Best Festival Line-Up 2014
- Best Medium-Sized Festival 2014
In 2013 the festival won the 'Best Festival Award' at the 'IJzeren Podiumdieren' award show at Eurosonic Noorderslag.[4] The 'IJzeren Podiumdieren' award show is an initiative by the Vereniging Nederlandse Poppodia- en Festivals (Dutch venues and festivals association).[5]
Best Kept Secret festival introduced 'the food line-up' for their first edition. The festival organization strives for diverse and sustainable food options, including vegetarian meals, soup and juices.
Festival summary
| Edition | Year | Dates | Headliners |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2013 | June 21–23 | Arctic Monkeys · Damien Rice · Sigur Rós / Portishead |
| 2nd | 2014 | June 20–22 | Pixies / Interpol · Franz Ferdinand · Elbow / Lykke Li |
| 3rd | 2015 | June 19–21 | The Libertines · Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds / A$AP Rocky · Alt-J |
| 4th | 2016 | June 17–19 | Beck · Editors · Jamie xx |
| 5th | 2017 | June 16–18 | Run the Jewels · Arcade Fire · Radiohead |
| 6th | 2018 | June 1–5 | Arctic Monkeys · The National · LCD Soundsystem |
| 7th | 2019 | May 31–June 2 | Bon Iver · Kraftwerk · Christine and the Queens |
| — | 2020 | Scheduled: June 12–14 | Scheduled: The National · The Strokes · Massive Attack |
| — | 2021 | Scheduled: June 11–13 | |
| 8th | 2022 | June 10–12 | Alt-J / Jamie xx · The Strokes · Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds |
| 9th | 2023 | June 9–11 | The Chemical Brothers · Oscar and the Wolf · Aphex Twin |
| 10th | 2024 | June 7–9 |
Editions
2013
| Best Kept Secret 2013 (1st edition) | ||
| Friday June 21 | Saturday June 22 | Sunday June 23 |
|---|---|---|
|
Arctic Monkeys
|
Damien Rice
|
Sigur Ros
|
2014
| Best Kept Secret 2014 (2nd edition) | ||
| Friday June 20 | Saturday June 21 | Sunday June 22 |
|---|---|---|
|
Pixies
|
Franz Ferdinand
|
Elbow
|
2015
| Best Kept Secret 2015 (3rd edition) | ||
| Friday June 19 | Saturday June 20 | Sunday June 21 |
|---|---|---|
|
The Libertines
|
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
|
alt-J
|
In total, around 95 artists, bands and DJ's performed at Best Kept Secret festival 2015.
2016
| Best Kept Secret 2016 (4th edition) | ||
| Friday June 17 | Saturday June 18 | Sunday June 19 |
|---|---|---|
|
Beck
|
Editors
|
Jamie XX
|
In total, around 100 artists, bands and DJ's performed at Best Kept Secret festival 2016.
2017
| Best Kept Secret 2017 (5th edition) | ||
| Friday June 16 | Saturday June 17 | Sunday June 18 |
|---|---|---|
|
Run The Jewels
|
Arcade Fire
|
Radiohead
|
2018
| Best Kept Secret 2018 (6th edition) | ||
| Friday June 8 | Saturday June 9 | Sunday June 10 |
|---|---|---|
|
Arctic Monkeys
|
The National
|
LCD Soundsystem
|
2019
| Best Kept Secret 2019 (7th edition) | ||
| Friday May 31 | Saturday June 1 | Sunday June 2 |
|---|---|---|
|
Bon Iver
|
Kraftwerk
|
Christine & The Queens
|
References
- Festival Review: Best Kept Secret 2014, The Line of Best Fit, April 17, 2015
- Eerste editie festival Best Kept Secret uitverkocht
- Nominees European Festival Awards 2014 Archived February 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- "Nieuwkomer Best Kept Secret beste festival". NU (in Dutch). Retrieved 2015-12-31.
- Nieuwkomer Best Kept Secret beste festival, de Volkskrant, 18 January 2014
