As you may have noticed we’ve thrown ourselves into festival season like nobody’s business this summer.

We’ve already had some great weekends and it’s still so early!  If you still haven’t decided where to go this summer, then please allow us to make some recommendations! So what’s in store for July then?

Apart from shouting ‘bollocks’ in a field and hoping everyone will join in, as opposed to bricking your tent to death…

If you’d like to spend some time with some dogs-on-string, people in awful novelty hats while drinking warm cans of lager which cost you £20, roll up, roll up, step right this way…

Wakestock 8-10 July, Cardigan Bay

Curious one this- music and wakeboarding. No, us neither but you have to admit it sounds interesting doesn’t it? And at £100 a ticket, pretty good value too considering music-wise you get Biffy Clyro (who are the closest thing you get to a sure thing at a festival), Subfocus, Chase & Status, Kelis and of course Ed Sheeran who, it has been predicted, will have been seen by every man, woman and child in the UK by the end of the summer.

Sonisphere, Knebworth 8-10 July

The one remaining essential weekend for metal. They’ve bagged themselves an outrageously good line-up this year including the big 4 (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax), Biffy Clyro, Slipknot, Mastodon and (cleverly) Bill Bailey.

Latitude, 14-17 July, Suffolk

Always a great bet for grown-up left-of-centre music, the heasdliners aren’t up to its usual high standards (Suede, The National and Paolo Nutini) but there are plenty further down the bill including My Morning Jacket, Iron & Wine, Foals, British Sea Power, Deerhunter, CW Stoneking and Ed bloody Sheeran. The atmosphere is very friendly but sometimes it’s a little too polite and is like spending a weekend inside a Guardian music supplement. Not for those who think Glastonbury has gone too middle-class.

2000Trees, 14-16 July, Gloucesteshire

Along with Oxford’s Truck festival, our best bet for underground rock and pop. Our favourites include Frightened Rabbit, Los Campesinos!, The Twilight Sad and Amplifier. A line-up put together by people who clearly spend too much time listening to music so that you don’t have to. Trust them.

Camp Bestival, 29-31 July, Dorset

Run by Sunday Best who know their festival shizzle, this is the ultimate family festival. We don’t mean it’s the ultimate kids’ festival, simply that it’s utterly inclusive. If you want to dance to the early hours or would rather hang out with your kids and retire early, all options are available. Everyone can have fun without having to compromise. Line-up wise they’ve got Primal Scream, Blondie, Beardyman, The Wonder Stuff, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer and obviously Ed “I’m actually just following you around at all times” Sheeran.

Global Gathering, 29-30 July, Stratford-Upon-Avon

If you prefer telling strangers you love them all night whilst dancing to a line-up that features every kind of dance music we can think of, then this is the one for you. Big name-wise they have Underworld, Ritchie Hawtin, Pendulum, Sasha and others but at this kind of event it’s about the quality of the lesser-known DJs that make the night. The buggers have got them too.

Paolo Nutini has said he wants Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page to produce his next album. Also, Rhydian has said he wants Bob Dylan to produce his first album, and The Krankies are in talks with Keith Richards.

Of course, that last one isn’t true. Not in your wildest dreams is that true. Neither is the Rhydian one. But the Paolo Nutini one is true and on the cards!

As everyone in the universe knows by now, Led Zeppelin have returned to rave reviews, one and all declaring ‘they still got it’, but do they? Do they? The seminal band, famous for writing songs that float complex metaphors over a sea of musical depth and intelligence – often listed as the greatest band of all time – actually allowed the empty vessel that is Paulo Nutini, famous for his stupid pretty face spurting out lyrics that contain the emotional depth of a ten-year-old, to support them in their recent comeback gig.   

Nutini said:

"You have all these people on your wish-list, and Jimmy Page is definitely on mine, getting someone that’s enthusiastic about your music is the main thing. It’s better to have someone like that produce your record than the trendy hitmakers."

Yeah, it’s better to have Jimmy do it than someone like you, eh Paolo?

Like most of us, we haven’t yet heard Zeppelin’s new stuff, but judging by their new mindset, Page and Plant probably should have decided, back in the day, to join Hendrix and Cobain in the 27 club.

Read more:

My Debt To Rock Gods - Daily Star

[story by Paul Sorrenti]