Festivals and gigs. A listings calendar, plus previews, news, reviews, and photos
Glastonbury Festival 2022, Thursday highlights There’s something really special about Thursdays at Glastonbury. It’s maybe something to do with the fact that main stages don’t fire up for another day. That means it really is the best opportunity for emerging bands to make their mark – so a top tip for agents with new talent…
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Glastonbury 2022 – sunshine and smiles all around Photos by Sara Bowrey / Festival Flyer As you can see from our photos, today was probably the perfect festival weather. Sunny and warm, but not so scorching that heat became a problem. And when the sun set it was a picture-postcard moment up at the stone…
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This weekend, 85,000 rock fans descended on the hallowed grounds of Donington Park, Leicester, as the world’s premier rock and metal event made its triumphant, sun-filled return. As the rock community reunited at the first full-scale Download Festival in three years, the crowds embraced one another and lost themselves in a celebration of everything which makes the culture so special.…
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Our view on Bearded Theory in these post-Covid times is that it’s still a winner We arrived at Bearded Theory 2022 in what looks like being a crunch-year for many festivals as they teeter between enforced Covid absences and a new world which seems dominated by rising event production costs coupled with squeezed household budgets.…
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Watching BODEGA launch their new album (‘Broken Equipment’) was a must-see event. I go to a lot of gigs. Maybe not as many gigs as a few people I know of course, but way more than is probably healthy for a 50+ year-old who really ought to know better. That said, on the age thing,…
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Words: John Bownas, Pictures: Sara Bowrey What else are you doing at the end of February that is more important than a great five-day party by the seaside – at Hastings Fat Tuesday? And Hastings has this covered…because, in preparation for the solemn start of Lent, the town throws caution to the wind in the…
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Review and photos by Sara Bowrey ENTOMBED 2022 Entombed was brought to Hastings by Toxit Wotsit (the team behind Wotsit Called Festival) and local live promoters, Infected Umbrella. It was a festival dedicated to all things heavy, and for fans of noise this was the ideal way to blow away the January/COVID blues. Centred mainly…
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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…
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We’ve always had a soft spot for Camp Bestival – despite not fitting the target demographic for which the event is most famous. That is to say, we’re not the proud parents of 2.2 five-to-seven year-olds. We are, however, of the right sort of age to appreciate the heavily 90’s-led line-ups. And it’s always great…
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Early bird tickets on sale 6pm, Monday 26th July Tramlines, Sheffield’s biggest festival of music, art and comedy, has come to a close, marking a landmark moment for the city and the UK live events industry. 40,000 revellers attended the sold-out event at Hillsborough Park each day from 23rd to 25th July as Tramlines became…
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It’s been a long, long time, but arriving at Latitude Festival 2021 felt like coming home. Despite what is still going on in the outside world some sense of normality appeared to have been achieved. OK, so the event lost a couple of acts due to self-isolation issues (but given that resulted in Sports Team…
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After so many months without even a sniff of a festival, Bigfoot was a breath of fresh air. A genuine feeling that normality will soon be resumed…as soon as anyone can work out exactly what ‘normal’ is these days. At only 4,000 capacity it was only four-fifths the audience of a sold-out show at Brixton…
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All photos by Sara-Louise Bowrey Gaz Brookfield and the Company of Thieves – In Cider Festival 2020 by John Bownas February 5, 2020 by John Bownas February 5, 2020 Surfin’ Turnips – In Cider Festival 2020 by John Bownas February 5, 2020 by John Bownas February 5, 2020 Samantics – In Cider Festival 2020 by…
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The Great Escape 2020 – First 50 PHOTOS BY WWW.SARABOWREYPHOTOS.COM So November 2019 isn’t even half-way through and already we are enjoying the first swathe of festival sets for 2020… Brighton’s Great Escape Festival jumped the gun and decided to take itself up to London to show the capital how it’s going to be done…
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WOTSIT CALLED FESTIVAL 2019 Three days of grass-roots ‘punken’ delights Deep in the darkest depths of East Sussex, Hastings is home to a crazy world of hardcore music fans who thrive on the loudest and most raucous sounds around. Born into a town where deprivation is masked by the relative affluence of the ever…
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With tickets selling out over the weekend, Boomtown 2019 saw some 66,000 guests, performers and crew descend once more on the hills and forests of the Winchester countryside. Yet again, the immersive storyline rolled on, and for those who love to play out the fabled fiction of the ever-changing chapters there was plenty of opportunity…
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With idyllic settings in the Cotswolds and a history of artists any festival would die for, this festival is one that’s been on the hitlist for us for quite a while. Established back in 2004 and originally called ‘Poshstock’ in the press, the festival boasts attendees at 20,000 per cycle. The top echelons of musical…
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If every gig sounded this good the world would be a joyous place. CUD’s return to the Islington Academy some ten years and a handful of months after their triumphant explosion back onto the live scene was a treat for the ears – as well as the eyes. Flamboyant as ever, and basking in the…
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When your love of festivals is purely about the music look no further than Ragged Bear. No overpriced food – just pop across the road for a Subway. No overpriced beer – it’s all at that under-£4 price point we love, and they have real ale coming out of their ears. No staggering back to…
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The Funking Barstewards have been putting smiles on the faces of festival crowds since they first graced a big stage at Phoenix Festival back in 1993. Still funking it up after all these years with a greatest hits back catalogue of disco classics, the Barstewards’ most recent foray into festival land was at the annual…
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We pride ourselves in knowing a thing or two about what makes a great festival act. And The Sweetchunks Band tick all our boxes. After 25 years of walking the fields and experiencing all of the highs and lows of festival life there’s no questioning that we’ve seen and heard some truly awful stuff in…
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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Boomtown – we salute you! [by John Bownas and Ali Ryland] In a day and age where festivals are seemingly popped out of the same-old jelly moulds to a Jamie Oliver 30-minute recipe, Boomtown excels in delivering a dish of unknown pleasures that Heston himself would…
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The sun is shining, there’s plenty of glitter, beer and band T-Shirts and everyone seems suitably excited for four days of indie/rock/alt-action at this years Y-Not Festival in Derby. The weekend boasts an impressive bill featuring the likes of Jamiroquia, Catfish And The Bottlemen and Kaiser Chiefs to name but a few of the…
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Fired up with every flame that was ever fanned by the power of folk music… Grace Petrie
Hats off to Gaffa Tape Sandy played Latitude 2018 in every possible way. They fly-posted the site before their Alcove set and it paid off with a packed and energised crowd who crashed the barriers and raised the energy levels as high as they could go on a sweltering weekend of dry dust and sunburn.
If the big festivals are starting to leave you feeling bloated and overwhelmed it might be time to consider something a little lighter – because a little less is sometimes a whole lot more. And Into the Wild (not to be confused with Into the Wild Gathering) could be just what the doctor ordered…but do…
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It’s safe to say that this is one fringe with real benefits… principle amongst which are (1) it’s in Hastings (2) it’s 99% free entry and (3) the quality of the acts is top notch. Hastings Fringe Comedy Festival is a real labour of love for it’s organisers. Run on a shoestring, it somehow manages…
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Steve White writes… So, after a week of almost constant sunshine Saturday decides to be wet, windy and miserable. Wakefield is damp and grey when we arrive but beginning to brighten up both weather-wise and event wise. Long Division Festival started in 2011, is an annual event (although organisers took a break from duties in…
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Opening up for The Magic Numbers at Brighton’s Old Market are a starry-eyed young band called Penelope Isles. Somewhat confusingly none of the band members are called Penelope Isles – but two of them are called Jack. One of the Jacks is the brother of Lily, and then there’s Becky to make up the magic…
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On paper a 20-year-old hash-up of country styled techno tunes delivered by nine blokes of a certain age doing occasional choreographed dad-dance routines should be growing tired – some might question how it ever worked in the first place. But far, far, far from it. What The Alabama 3 have held on to over two…
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It’s so hard to separate a festival from its weather or any tragedy that happens within its gates. Regardless of anything else, extremes of hot or cold, wet or dry always tend to define an event – as do those terrible moments that happen every day in the real world but seem to have no…
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Firstly, I’d like to take a moment for the people of Boardmasters who had their makeup and mirrors taken away on entry. We all thought there was some sort of clause to the “No Glass” rule that would allow for L’Oreal True Match – but evidently not. I like to think the excessive glitter around…
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Once again Boomtown has shown the world how to really ‘produce’ a festival. As Rome announced during the stupendously amazing Sublime with Rome show on Sunday night – “You guys really know how to have a party – we just ain’t got nothing like this back in the States…” The point is that for a…
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So it’s been a week since Bloodstock and it’s took that long to take in what we saw. It kicked off Thursday with the Sophie Lancaster Stage but it was Friday when they heavyweights made an appearance. It wasn’t Whitechapels (6) day on the main stage as it seemed front man Phil Bozeman was concentrating…
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Hats off to the Nozworthy clan. Herefordshire ought to give the freedom of the county if such a thing exists) to this family of free-thinking hedonists. For, as the creators and curators of Nozstock, they have established the sort of festival many other event organisers can only dream of. Because anyone who started going to…
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Headlining Zooquarium’s first edition on a windswept, but otherwise dry and warm (in sheltered spots), Hastings Pier was Ratboy. The darling of the music press also proved a big hit with the young audience at which the festival had marketed itself, and as the sun set he took control of the main stage. Sadly due…
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[rwp-review id=”0″] Check below for links to all out photo galleries. Rate the festival if you went this year (login securely with Facebook) You can’t go wrong with an audience made up largely of people in their late forties and early fifties with a set of Mod classics: From the Jam. You’re also on a…
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Not even a bristling and pitch-perfect set from Radiohead could save the sense that the mighty Glastonbury lacked something truly special this year. Maybe I’m smarting from the fact that the ‘big surprise’ act on the John Peel stage on the Sunday turned out to be The Killers. Pohoda followed suit this year, with a…
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[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…
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As Sunday night draws in we’ve scanned the Twitter-sphere for people’s reactions to Download Festival 2017…and without a shadow of a doubt this year has been a vintage one…if you ignore calls for Steel Panther to headline, the odd niggle over stage clashes, and no love lost for those down the front not getting properly…
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