Festivals and gigs. A listings calendar, plus previews, news, reviews, and photos
Get Ready for a Wild Ride: Why You Can’t Miss Getdown Services at Glastonbury 2025 The buzz is building, and the stages are almost set for Glastonbury 2025… And to put the icing on the cake, one of the UK’s hottest (not-so) underground acts is about to hit Worthy Farm. Meet Getdown Services, the Bristol-based…
Read more
Glastonbury Unsung Heroes: Behind the Wheel with Ethan Harrison Ever wondered what keeps the greatest show on Earth running smoothly behind the scenes? While the roar of the crowd and the iconic acts on the Pyramid Stage grab the headlines, a dedicated crew works tirelessly to build and maintain the festival’s intricate infrastructure. We caught…
Read more
Forever Now Festival: A Deep Dive into the UK’s Newest Alternative Music Extravaganza Forever Now Festival, presented by AEG Presents, is poised to become a landmark event for fans of alternative culture, post-punk, new wave, and beyond. Scheduled for Sunday, June 22, 2025, this one-day spectacle will transform the iconic National Bowl in Milton Keynes…
Read more
No matter how hard you try it’s impossible to stay on top of new music these days. And that’s why festivals remain important, relevant, and critical to the process of putting new bands in front of (admittedly increasingly older) audiences. Bearded Theory always delivers the goods when it comes to a line-up that celebrates the…
Read more
Check out the Saturday action from Takedown Festival 2025 through the lens of Sara-Louise Bowrey… Takedown – back up and firing on all cylinders after a year off… After a year off, Takedown Festival came back with a vengeance — and trust me, it was so worth the wait. Taking over Portsmouth Guildhall for two…
Read more
It’s an early-doors start at The Forum tonight, but this Sunday session is a sell-out…and that’s not surprising, because headliners HotWax are the current darlings of the indie/grunge/rock circuit – and for good reason. Today isn’t just a celebration of their music and rise to (almost) household name status, it’s also bass player Lola Sam’s…
Read more
Do you remember flicking through the back pages of the NME to look for interesting gigs and festivals coming up? Well here’s the internet equivalent – a tonne of lovingly crafted festival line-ups all carefully crafted to catch your eye and sell you on buying a ticket… we’ll be adding more every week in the…
Read more
Even if you try very hard you would struggle to miss seeing HotWax at some point this year. They are the band on everyone’s lips right now…and indeed they have been since John Robb tipped them as the next Nirvana a few years back. And he should know, being the guy who did the first…
Read more
A perfectly sized and well-catered for festival Festival-veteran John Bownas writes… (brilliant photos by Sara Bowrey as ever). Before a run-down on some of the musical highs (and near-misses) here’s a quick run-down about the festival as a whole for those of you who are thinking of going in future years. And for the record,…
Read more
NED DYLAN reports from the field…with photos by Sara-Louise Bowrey Last weekend All Points East returned to London with a line up that celebrated the best of UK music and beyond. With a capacity of 40,000 All Points East is a well-sized festival in Victoria Park, which makes for a great site. This year the…
Read more
It’s pretty much official. As long as the Covid social distancing rules stay in place live music is pretty much dead – at least as far as indoor events are concerned. The point was proven earlier this week when, in the 1,250-capacity Clapham Grand, only 200 people made up the audience at a sold-out show.…
Read more
Tom Grennan, Gabrielle Aplin, You Me At Six, Gaika, The Amazons, Judge Jules, Mercury Prize Winner Speech Debelle, Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and Beggar’s Group Founder Martin Mills and more join the impressive programme of masterclasses, workshops and live performances at BBC Music Introducing Live 18’. A variety of BBC’s best-loved names will be broadcasting…
Read more
MAMA Festivals is a leading festival business focusing on creating unique platforms for all types of emerging artistic talent. As the head of creative production you’d work alongside managers and consultants in programming, production, licensing, event management and site logistics and look after a team of specialists in design and technical production to deliver creative…
Read more
[rwp-review id=”0″] Follow the links to each of our great photosets: The Idea 13 Stage: Village Green Festival 2017 Providing a truly eclectic mix of artists hand-picked by those in the know… The Trusted: Village Green Festival 2017 This hot young act played to an audience that spanned generations and won over everyone…
Read more
Green Day may not be the biggest headliner of them all on this year’s festival calendar, or even on British Summer Time Festival’s gargantuan bill, but they are definitely the most important. Father and son tag-team Steve and Josh Jenner explain why, from two very different perspectives… Josh Jenner, age 13: ​23rd August 2013 was…
Read more
Slaves – Glastonbury 2017 From one man and his dog gigs to the second biggest stage at Glastonbury (and the much lauded ‘classic Sunday morning opening set’), Slaves have come a long way in a short time and have a long and shiny future ahead of them…unless they simply explode in a ball of energy……
Read more
Dropkick Murphys – Glastonbury 2017
Chic – Glastonbury 2017
Biffy Clyro – Glastonbury 2017
Rag n Bone Man – Glastonbury 2017
Stormzy – Glastonbury 2017
Just a small selection of choice photos to help you remember Glastonbury 2017
WOWH – Glastonbury Festival 2017 Whittling down the wannabes from thousands to just a handful of acts, the annual Glastonbury emerging talent competition has a knack of turning up some remarkable finds. Are WOWH (We Only Write Hits) going to find a footing from the boost given to them by their Glastonbury 2017 debut? Check…
Read more
Will Varley – Glastonbury Festival 2017 Another of the festival circuit’s perennial stars, Will Varley is a songwriter first and formost, but, unlike some of the less well-polished performers of contemporary folk (naming no names) he also holds a tune so perfectly balanced you think it might go on forever.
Vintage Swing Cartel – Glastonbury Festival 2017 The perfect cure for Glastonbury wind-down blues is that moment towards the end of the festival when you stumble on some beautiful music being played in the back of a bar… The Vintage Swing Cartel put a spring back in your step with infectious rythmns and an uplifting…
Read more
The Avalanches – Glastonbury Festival 2017 Playing their debut UK festival show on the Glastonbury West Holts Stage, The Avalanches can only be described as seriously fun. Ripping up the rule book they blend and bend genres into new and interesting shapes. Their Glastonbury set was a joyous thing to behold, and when the strains…
Read more
Rev Schnider and the Band of Angels – Glastonbury Festival 2017 If you want a little chaos in your life you’ve come to the right place. This roving church of the fevered mind is a musical lifeline for anyone who just wants to see the world turned upside down. The Rev and his Band of…
Read more
Raye – Glastonbury Festival 2017 Watching the ausience numbers swell throughout her set it was clear to see that Raye’s soulful delivery is a real head-turner. The South Londoner hit the industry watch lists last year and whilst not everyone who gets the attention of the decision makers goes on to great things we’d be…
Read more
Loyle Carner – Glastonbury Festival 2017 Get used to his face and get used to his voice. Because you are going to be seeing and hearing a lot more from the hugely talented and charismatic Loyle Carner over many years to come. This Croydon boy has been doing the circuit for the last four years…
Read more
London Elektricity Big Band – Glastonbury Festival 2017 They are back after a few year’s break – and what a comeback. Playing to a packed Shangri La Truth stage late the night before, the London Elektricity Big Band might have been delayed by soundcheck gremlins, but once they kicked off they blew the Sunday afternoon…
Read more
Kiefer Sutherland – Glastonbury Festival 2017 The thing is, it’s really tough for an A-list actor to be taken seriously when they branch into music. But you know what – Kiefer Sutherland pulls it off with aplomb. His down-to-earth Americana is a self-written collection of stories of love, loss and booze…lots of boooze. And he…
Read more
Dead Kennedys – Glastonbury Festival 2017 Spending more time in the pit with the crowd than onstage with the band, Dead Kennedys frontman Ron Greer gives it his all as the seminal punk rockers tear through a frantic set that sets the audience on fire.
Birdy – Glastonbury Festival 2017 With a perfect voice and delicious songs, Birdy held the Avalon Stage audience in the palm of her hand.
Beans on Toast – Glastonbury Festival 2017 It simply wouldn’t be Glastonbury without Beans on Toast. He’s been going to Glastonbury for 20 years and has pleyed it for the last ten. If you haven’t yet been to see him live… why not???
12 Stone Toddler – Glastonbury Festival 2017 This Brighton bunch deserved a bigger crowd than they got on the Truth stage in Shangri La – but that’s a lesson for bands playing big festivals…sometimes the lure of other acts is just too much. They enjoyed the experience though and looked like they were giving it…
Read more
The opening act of The Truth stage in Glastonbury’s Shangri La saw a joyful and exhuberant set from the amazing New York Brass Band, who climbed off the stage and eventually played in the centre of a packed crowd. What only Glastonbury can provide came next – the extreme noise of Napalm Death. We got…
Read more
Despite the increasing shift to polished production and mainstream artists for the kids there is still a little of Glastonbury’s seedy underbelly left in the corners of the festival…if you know where to look. Shangri La is one of those places, and this, dear festival-goers, is some of the madness that can be found there.…
Read more
Glastonbury notoriously pays bands very little – and with over 2,500 performances across the weekend plus a huge amount of money going to charity you can see why. But enterprising acts (such as The Pipes of Death) can work the crowds and bump up their fees with a little busking action. These two young lads…
Read more
Temperatures in cars at Glastonbury Festival soared to over 40 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and Wednesday, and with 32 degrees in the shade there was little or no respite for those heading down to the site early to get the best spots. Seasoned festival wellies looking forward to their annual splosh through the Worthy Farm…
Read more
This is one in a series of ‘hunt them out’ blog posts designed to help you find something new and exciting at Glastonbury Festival 2017. So here’s a tip – Josphine and the Artisans… Who are Josphine and The Artisans… Josephine & The Artizans are a London-based HipHopera group who skillfully blend classical strings, operatic…
Read more
