Glastonbury
June 22-26, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Glastonbury
Getting in may not be quite the labyrinthine
task of near impossibleness it once was but Uncle Eavis’ annual shindig down on
Worthy farm is sure to be full come opening day as 2012 sees the cows getting
the run of the place while the partying takes a year off. Get past the shock
and bore of U2 AND Coldplay both headlining and root around for the likes of techno’s
new white hope Nicholas Jaar and the wonderful Omar Souleyman and come rain or
shine it will be worth the trip. If there are any tickets left you can get hold
of them and all other info at glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
Supersonic
October 21-23, The Custard Factory, Birmingham
October 21-23, The Custard Factory, Birmingham
Who said festivals had to be in the middle of
August? The UK’s best avant-metal festival gives the plethora of summer
festivals the bird and returns to the Custard Factory for another round of all
things heavier than everything else in fittingly grim October. Dorset doom
legends Electric Wizard head up the bill with the undercard proving typically
strong and including a one off collaboration between David Tibet of Current93 and
Italian trio Zu and the welcome return to these shores of Steve Moore’s Zombi
project. Tickets, lineup and the rest at capsule.org.uk
Stop
Making Sense
August 12-14, The Garden, Petrcane, Croatia
August 12-14, The Garden, Petrcane, Croatia
OK, so
you could either go and drink warm Carling on a strip of mud just outside
Reading one-way system and watch Muse and My Chemical Romance OR you could
spend a weekend on a wooded peninsula on the Adriatic coast in a country where
you can live for a week on what it costs to go to the cinema in Leicester
Square. The fact that a smorgasbord of all that is currently good and exciting
in electronic music, from Martyn to Floating Points via Chad Valley, will be
playing is also not to be sniffed at. Tickets as well as travel and
accommodation advice can be found at sms-2010.com
Hop
Farm
July 1-2, Paddock Wood, Kent
Like
some benign festival dictator Vince “I made Reading what it is today” Power
insists on sticking his name above what has actually been a consistently great festival
for the last few years as long as you were born between 1935 and 1955. Last
year it was Dylan this year it’s The Eagles, Bryan Ferry, The Human League and
some young whippersnapper called Brandon Flowers. Tickets are £130 for the weekend or £70 per day.
Find out more at hopfarmfestival.com
Benicassim
July 14-17, Benicassim, Spain
July 14-17, Benicassim, Spain
Somehow Benicassim has sprawled into a being a
marathon of a festival with four “official” days sandwiched between various pre
and after parties. If six days in the sweltering Spanish sol doesn’t seem too
big an ask then you get a valedictory performance from The Streets, a James
Murphy solo show and Primal Scream doing Screamadelica
while you’re at it. Tickets for the very long weekend are £177.50. Get
those and all other info at fiberfib.com
Southwest
Four Weekender
August 27-28, Clapham Common, London
August 27-28, Clapham Common, London
For
one weekend only one of London’s prime cruising spots ends up being filled with
more dance music figureheads than the bar at the W hotel during the Miami
Winter Music Conference. Everyone from the old order (Underworld, Digweed, Sven
Vath, Richie Hawtin) to the young pretenders (Magnetic Man, Joker) will be down
there so if you are in to dancing to repetitive beats don’t sleep on it.
Weekend tickets are £95, day tickets are £45 and you can get those and find out
more at southwestfour.com
Get
Loaded In The Park
June 12, Clapham Common, London
There are now so many festivals that the fact
that a band are only playing one of the damn things in London is now seen as a
major selling point. If you want to be sold Razorlight as that band then look
no further! Get Loaded In The Park is your one-day piss up sent from on high.
British Sea Power and Babeshadow make things seem a little less bleak. Tickets
are £37.50. Get those and all information at getloadedinthepark.com
End Of
The Road
September
2-4, Larmer Tree Gardens, North Dorset
Along
with Green Man and Latitude, the End Of The Road festival completes the triumvirate
of
boutique-festivals-aimed-at-Uncut-and-Mojo-subscribers-and-their-kids-wot-done-good.
While it may be a whole lot bigger than years gone by End Of The Road can’t be
faulted on lineup. From former Lift To Experience fella turned lonesome crooner
Josh T. Pearson to Joanna Newsom to Mogwai via Wooden Shjips and a solo
appearance from Gruff Rhys it’s basically good things at every turn. Weekend
tickets are £145 and you can get those and find out more at endoftheroadfestival.com
The Secret
Garden Party
July 21-24, Near Huntington, Cambridgeshire
July 21-24, Near Huntington, Cambridgeshire
The not so Secret anymore Garden Party has cemented itself
as one of the most popular festivals of the entire season particularly amongst
people who like dressing up as ladybirds and discussing recycling as opposed to
watching live music. If you do find yourself there and are so inclined you
could do worse than watch Blondie or Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. Tickets
are £155 and available from secretgardenparty.com
Download
June 10-12, Donington Park, Midlands
Aside
from Pendulum bizarrely being billed above Korn, this years Download is even
more of a trip down metal-memory lane than usual. Def Leppard, System Of A Down
and Linkin Park headline and elsewhere The Cult, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister
and Cheap Trick pretend the last 20 years didn’t happen. Dig deeper though and
the bill yields a few gems: NOLA sludge supergroup Down make a rare UK
appearance and rare doesn’t even cover a show by Danzig, which is probably
worthy of admission alone. Weekend tickets are £155 and day tickets are £82.50.
Get those and anything else you need to know at downloadfestival.co.uk
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