Britain is a dreary place with wet weather and armies of people queuing up to start moral panics about someone somewhere bring offended about something sometime. Britain in summertime, however, is a brilliant place with events every weekend determined to squeeze the last bit of fun, laughter and hedonism out of you.
Let's hear it for festivals! We may say horrible things about them sometimes but that's only us pretending to be all cynical and curmudgeonly.
Really we love them, so we're going to bring you a series of previews throughout the summer. These guides serve two purposes. Firstly to get you excited and improve your quality of life by getting you out of the house. Secondly, to help convince festival organisers to give us free tickets! And we don't even have to compromise our creative credibility since (a) we genuinely love festivals and (b) we have no creative credibility.
There is a multitude of festivals these days. Since the big festivals are the only ones that can afford the massive-selling bands, all the other festivals have had to get creative. So if you want a great atmosphere and line-ups that are mainly made up of either yesterday?s heroes or tomorrow?s next big things then you are spoilt for choice!
Here?s how to arrange your festival summer
1. Find out where your local festival is, and go there! If you don't support it in these early years it'll disappear, and your life will be poorer without it. There’s also the added bonus that you can be like all those Glasto-bores and tell everyone how you were going there from the very start.? If you want to find out if there's one nearby then there's plenty of websites like this one to help you out.
2. Right, now we’ve dispensed of the worthy stuff let’s have a look and see what else is on in May!
First Real Festival of the season? Bearded Theory, Derbyshire- 13th to 15th. Now in its 4th year, Bearded Theory is all about inclusive atmosphere and reminds hecklerspray of the festivals of yore. Line-up wise, it’s mainly festival veterans but there’s also some interesting artists from the current crop such as electro-pop Mancunians The Whip. Dance-wise you can expect text-book festival fare of drum ‘n’ bass and trance. An example that the more interesting festivals are marketing themselves against corporate involvement rather than embracing it.
Best Urban Festival ? The Great Escape, Brighton 12-14 May. If you don’t fancy camping and would rather trounce around one the best towns in Britain catching awesome bands in different venues then check this one out. As close as Britain has to South By Southwest. Worth going to for Sufjan Stevens and DJ Shadow alone.
Most Interesting Looking Brand New Festival– Playfest, Norwich 28-29 May. Good choices of signed acts (Futureheads, Frank Turner, Darwin Deez, The King Blues)? for the musos and veteran jungle DJs for those who like to party harder.
Nicest Festival – Wood, Oxfordshire. Being nice is one of the most underrated virtues of humanity and this festival have it nailed. From the organisers of Truck (arguably the best boutique festival of the summer), Wood describes itself as ‘music and nature’. Beautifully designed from the line-up to their use of graphics. The Truck boys know a thing or two about having a good time- trust them to soundtrack your weekend.
See you there!
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