Beverley Folk Festival 2025 took place across the midsummer weekend; YCG reviewer Beth took a tour through some highlights for the final day.
On Sunday 22nd June, I made my way through to catch the finale of Beverley Folk Festival. Having played at the festival last year, it was lovely to return this year and enjoy the festival from the audience’s perspective!
The whole town was still buzzing after a whole weekend of folky shenanigans, and while it may have been cloudy and a little drizzly at points, this didn’t stop the people from coming out to enjoy the music. First stop was Lewis Kilvington and Michael Nagasaka (collectively known as Swing 42 Duo) at Monks Walk. First time I’ve been to this pub and it was such a cool spot! A really warm, cosy pub with a spacious (and very full) beer garden. It was clear Lewis and Michael are local favourites in Beverley; they even had people dancing at 5pm on a Sunday. Lovely acoustic guitar music and amazing vocals! made for a really chilled, perfect Sunday afternoon.
Whilst enjoying Lewis’ and Michael’s exceptional (and very intricate!) guitar / cajon playing, I was able to have a quick catchup with festival organiser, Phil Simpson. When asked how he felt about this year’s festival, Phil was simply so proud (and rightfully so!).
I had to ask Phil’s festival highlight of course, which was Ranagri at St Mary’s Church on the Friday. Phil said there were over 200 people there and the band got not one, but two encores. This festival grows every year, and this year had more ticketed events than ever before with artists such as Ranagri and Ellie Gowers, Edwina Hayes, Jamie Lawson and Toria Wooff, Ruth Notman and Iona Wild, and Cara Dillon.
After wrapping up my chat with Phil, I noticed Lewis and Micheal had invited a rather remarkable young man on stage, by the name of Dexter Humphries. At just thirteen years old, Dexter joined Lewis and Michael on stage and wowed the audience with his impressive blues guitar playing. After witnessing some true musical magic from Dexter, I was lucky enough to have a chat with him and his family (who are very supportive of his music career!) When asked about how it felt to be invited to be on stage at such an iconic folk festival, Dexter was visibly beaming, so happy to have been involved. This wasn’t his only performance this weekend either, Dexter also rocked the Youth Stage at this year’s festival, both solo, and with his band. If you’re intrigued (and you should be) give him a follow (links below) to keep up with his journey. Dexter loves blues music and is seeking other musicians around his age who share the same passion.
After this enjoyable acoustic afternoon, I made my way to The Sun Inn just down the road to catch Hebble. Yet again, another cosy venue I hadn’t discovered until this day; clearly lots of hidden gems to explore in Beverley. After dedicating their first song to the hard-working bar staff, Hebble wowed us all with an eclectic mix of both original and traditional folk songs and gave the audience a description of each song, and why they included it, in this well-thought-out set; true authentic folk music, a proper treat.
Sam on Bouzouki, Helena on Cello, and Aiden on Bodhran provided the perfect close to this year’s festival, and a real sense of togetherness with witty banter in-between songs and a somewhat primal musical performance.
The trio of course were asked for an encore and closed their set with Fishin’ Blues, within which they incorporated lots of audience participation and challenged us to think of the most awkward river fish names for them to include, my favorite contribution had to be humpback whale!
Hebble went down a treat and had some really cool merch, including a song book containing notation of their originals, lovely photos and the stories behind the songs (grab one from their Bandcamp or at a show). I managed to catch the trio while they were packing down (what lovely people); when asked how they would describe their sound, Helena chipped in: ‘Folk with a twist’ and I couldn’t have put it better. Go catch them at a show if you get the chance, it’s well worth it.
This year has been another stunning festival for the town, thank you Phil for finding the time to speak with us, and for all that you do!
Links:
Swing 42 Duo – Lewis Kilvington and Michael Nagasaka
Check out the rest of our Beverley Folk Festival Coverage:
Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage + Iona Wild
