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 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 weâÂÂd like to go to ourselves".
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.
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. The festival has received two nominations at the European Festival Awards:
In 2013 the festival won the 'Best Festival Award' at the 'IJzeren Podiumdieren' award show at Eurosonic Noorderslag. The 'IJzeren Podiumdieren' award show is an initiative by the Vereniging Nederlandse Poppodia- en Festivals (Dutch venues and festivals association). 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.
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In total, around 100 artists, bands and DJ's performed at Best Kept Secret festival 2016.
In total, around 95 artists, bands and DJ's performed at Best Kept Secret festival 2015.