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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
[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…
Read more
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…
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
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…
Read more
The Skids are nine dates in to their 40th anniversary tour when they arrive in Leeds tonight. It’s a gig I’d been looking forward to since the tour was announced. I wasn’t disappointed. The night opens with Arthur & The Invincibles, a four piece indie-punk band from Leamington Spa who hit the stage bouncing with…
Read more
¥ If you haven’t yet experienced a Vintage Trouble live show you should add it to your bucket list and get ready for something just a little bit special. What we have here is a band who’ve adopted and adapted the styles, moves, grooves and attitudes of many of the great soul legends. But they’re…
Read more
Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering once again drew crowds and bands from the length and breadth of the country – if you were there here’s a few memories to hang on to. If you weren’t, here’s what you missed…
Hastings Fat Tuesday (which is actually a five-day Mardi Gras) is a fantastic little festival. Nowhere else in the UK has quite the same grass roots music dynamic at play. [rwp-review id=”0″] At a recent music industry conference in the town, Jeff Thompson, founder of the UnConvention movement, underlined this when he told the audience,…
Read more
