Magic Aura at Beat-Herder Festival 2025 – A Weekend of Psychedelic Joy
Returning for our second year at the iconic Beat-Herder Festival, and still elated after our Deevstock Debut, Magic Aura rolled into Beatherder 2025 on Thursday evening ready to join the crew camp. This year was a whole new experience for us – we were lucky enough to camp for the entire duration in our motorhome Poem.
What a game changer!
We shared an area alongside the Laundrette crew, but the Sunrise Tent crew all gathered within the space with their motorhomes and tents, creating a vibrant little village of Sunrise goers.
While it was cosy, there was still room to squeeze in our gorgeous friend Fiona (aka Fiery Fi from the old Leeds rave scene*), who was attending Beat-Herder for the first time. Having her as part of the crew – and her bestie Ben (aka FuzzyLogic), who was playing on Sunday – set the tone for a weekend of good vibes from the start.
Thursday – Settling In
Thursday was a relaxed set-up day. We wandered the site and it was already bursting with colour, music, scents, and energy. You could just feel the magic building. After catching up with friends in the crew pit, we had a late night (or early morning!) before crashing for a much-needed lie-in – the calm before the storm.
Friday – Showtime
Friday was our day to perform, and the afternoon kicked off beautifully with PsyBase, filling the air with the deep, hypnotic pulse of psytrance – a sound close to our hearts. Next up, Ashstafari brought his usual brilliance, smashing out a fantastic set.
By early evening, Thallom arrived just in time for his high-energy set (after a delayed journey) – the perfect adrenaline boost before our own slot. At 9:30pm, we climbed – quite literally – onto the smaller-than-usual stage.
A massive thank you to Ed for giving us this prime time slot; the tent was packed, buzzing, and ready.
It was hot. Really hot. Limited space made mixing a bit of a dance in itself, but Mr Chukkel saved the day with a fan, plus water and beer to keep us going (although my bladder wasn’t quite as grateful!).
The view from the decks – the sea of glowing, happy faces, the kaleidoscopic décor, and the psychedelic lasers – was everything we love about Beat-Herder.
Special mention – Joshii’s unstoppable sound:
We were absolutely pumped to feature two tracks from our good friend and psytrance powerhouse Joshii (aka Kerplux / R4dium) in our set. Well-known and respected in the psytrance community, Joshii is one of those rare artists whose fast-paced, high-energy productions hit with both technical precision and pure dancefloor power. His ability to push boundaries while keeping that hypnotic psytrance pulse is exactly why we love playing his music.
The track of the night – “Shake” – had the entire Sunrise Tent bouncing in unison, and the energy it created was unreal. Huge thanks to Holly for capturing the moment on film – it’s been one of our most-shared clips since the festival. If you haven’t yet experienced Joshii’s work, make sure you do – his momentum is unstoppable, and we’re proud to have his music as part of the Magic Aura soundscape.
We finished slightly earlier than planned due to Mikki’s hair nearly catching in the light rig (yes, really) and my perimenopausal self feeling the heat a little too much. Still, we left the stage proud, happy, and full of love for everyone who danced with us – including one guy who told us the reason he returned to Beat-Herder was because of our set last year.
And then there’s Fiona – our absolute hero of the night. Acting as media manager, she not only footworked herself into a frenzy on the dancefloor, but also captured the night through her lens with an eye for those electrifying, can’t-repeat moments. The photos she took have become part of our festival story – the kind of magic you can only get from someone who’s both in the moment and documenting it at the same time. We are forever grateful to have her on our team.
Andy Mason followed us with his beautifully techy, high-energy psychedelic sounds, helping us to wind down. We also got to enjoy Melonscop – a mind-blowing, hardcore-meets-high-tech psytrance set that kept Lilly rooted to the dancefloor for the full two hours.
Saturday – Adventures & Legendsa
Saturday at Beathereder 2025 was all about recovery, great food, and exploring. We caught the end of Fish Octagon’s set before wandering the site – waterfalls, fun fairs, graffiti walls, tattoo shops, telephone box tunnels, cars with turntables inside, shops, art installations and more… Beat-Herder’s creativity is endless.
Back in the Sunrise Tent, we caught ElectrikBlue delivering her always-flawless, immersive set, followed by Mr Chuckkles with an uplifting trancey-psytrance journey. A quick nap (festival longevity essential!) and we were back for Inner Cinema before Mr PsyTrance himself – Ed Tangent – closed Saturday with an absolute stormer of a set.
Sunday – Rain, Mud & Missed Moments
By Sunday, the weekend’s energy (and Saturday night’s celebrations) had definitely caught up with us. We started the day determined to make the most of it, catching Fuzzy Logic on the decks and part of Techno Hippie’s set – a true grassroots psytrance gem, bringing those pure Goa sounds back into the Sunrise Tent.
Then the skies opened. What started as a bit of drizzle turned into a cataclysmic downpour, flooding parts of the site and turning walkways into slippery, muddy rivers. In the middle of this, Lilly decided a boot change was in order. That mission turned into an unplanned comedy moment when she slipped down the bank in full festival style (grace optional).
We finally made it back to the van to get changed, sat down “just for a minute”… and woke up at 3am. This meant we missed the sets of Prognosis, Lost Element, and the incredible Ed Storm. We’re really sorry to have missed them, but we know they would have gone down brilliantly with the Sunrise crowd.
Beat-Herder 2025 was another unforgettable chapter for Magic Aura. From the music and the madness to the friends old and new, the Sunrise Tent “village” will always feel like home. We left tired, muddy, and grinning from ear to ear – and we can’t wait to do it all again.
Special Mentions – We love you guys
We’d like to say a very special, Thank You, for the following people.
Ed, Helen, Warwick, Kenny, Dave, and the whole Sunrise team are the heartbeat of this community.
Year after year, they create a space that’s pure magic, and we’re so grateful to play our part in it.
