Best Kept Secret (festival)
Dutch music festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Best Kept Secret is a three-day music festival held since 2013 in the Beekse Bergen in the village of Hilvarenbeek, which is west of Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
| Best Kept Secret | |
|---|---|
The entrance to Best Kept Secret in 2014 | |
| Dates | Early-to-mid June |
| Locations | Hilvarenbeek, North Brabant, The Netherlands |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Website | bestkeptsecret |
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, and a mixture of styles. The festival's centerpiece is a lake in the back of Beekse Bergen safari park. The founder of the festival said that his vision was "aiming to create something that we’d like to go to ourselves".[1]
Best Kept Secret festival has an 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, which hosts performances of hardcore bands. For the 2019 edition of the festival, 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 it was a sellout with 15,000 visitors daily.[2] The festival has received two nominations 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 introduced a concept, a 'food line-up' for the first festival in 2013. The organization strives for diverse and sustainable food options including vegetarian meals, soups, and juices. After the 2019 edition, Maurits Westerik, who is also the frontman of the Dutch band Bewilder, became the festival's new director. He replaced Robert Swarts.[6]
Festival summary
Editions
2026
| Best Kept Secret 2026 (12th edition) | ||
| Friday June 12 | Saturday June 13 | Sunday June 14 |
|---|---|---|
|
Jack White
|
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
Gorillaz
|
2025
2024
2023
2022
| Best Kept Secret 2022 (8th edition) | ||
| Friday June 10 | Saturday June 11 | Sunday June 12 |
|---|---|---|
|
alt-J
|
The Strokes
|
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
|
2019
2018
| Best Kept Secret 2018 (6th edition) | ||
| Friday June 8 | Saturday June 9 | Sunday June 10 |
|---|---|---|
|
Arctic Monkeys
|
The National
|
LCD Soundsystem
|
2017
| Best Kept Secret 2017 (5th edition) | ||
| Friday June 16 | Saturday June 17 | Sunday June 18 |
|---|---|---|
|
Run The Jewels
|
Arcade Fire
|
Radiohead
|
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.
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.
2014
| Best Kept Secret 2014 (2nd edition) | ||
| Friday June 20 | Saturday June 21 | Sunday June 22 |
|---|---|---|
|
Pixies
|
Franz Ferdinand
|
Elbow
|
2013
| Best Kept Secret 2013 (1st edition) | ||
| Friday June 21 | Saturday June 22 | Sunday June 23 |
|---|---|---|
|
Arctic Monkeys
|
Damien Rice
|
Sigur Ros
|
