Category: Festivals Coverage

HEIDENFEST 2011 @HMV Forum

London, 11th October

Once again it’s time to hear the call of the Northern forest, the ancient Gods will be sung through stories of wars, battles, magic, wisdom, prophecies and mysteries. The Heidenfest – at its third edition – groups together six bands for more than 20 dates in Europe this October.

October the 11th, the Viking ship lands at the HMV Forum in a still-warm autumn afternoon.

A horde of warlike and spiritual pagans is already waiting outside the Forum from the [...]

Bestival 2011

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Is Bestival the best festival? Well, the event won ‘best major festival’ at the 2010 UK Festival Awards, so I guess the case is closed. In truth, Glastonbury is the best UK festival (arguably the best festival in the world) but Bestival is perhaps the strongest contender for second best. And it does have one thing that will appeal to those who think Glastonbury is just a bit too much: its size. This fancy dress jollification on the Isle of [...]

V Festival 2011

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V festival has established itself as a major event of the festival season.  The event runs over two days on two sites – Chelmsford and Stafford, swapping acts between the sites for fun in both the North and South.  With pervious headline acts Muse, Oasis, and The Prodigy expectations were high.  This years crowd pullers featured Eminem, Rihanna, Pendulum, Primal Scream, and Chase & Status, all of whom were sure to please.

Finding the site and the appropriate car park was [...]

Bloodstock Open Air 2011

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Bloodstock Open Air 2011

 

This is one festival I’ve been waiting for all year.

And now it over……..

 

But it went down in true (Death/Black/Heavy – delete as necessary) metal style.

 

Again its all raining and stuff when we hit the skids for this years outing of Bloodstock Open Air, but we are the hard core, the slayer of beasts and the eaters of vegetarian cuisine, so we gather pace and before too long reach the mighty, awesome gates to hell. Then get our [...]

Camp Bestival 2011

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Camp Bestival 2011

 

The fairy tale festival returns this year bigger and shinier than ever, with more glitz and glamour than a Disney film on speed.

 

CB opens its doors to all on Thursday this year, and by all accounts it looks as though everyone turned up at the same time.

There was a little waiting around in queues and a bit of hustle and bustle to find a mount for ones nylon palace. But once in (and over the hills) I had [...]

The Secret Garden Party 2011

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The Secret Garden Party used to be a bit of a secret. When it first quietly crept onto the UK festival scene in 2004 it had but 1000 attendees, an understated lineup, and a giddy sense of being part of something truly hush-hush. In 2011, the festival (remaining in its country house grounds’ location, in Cambridgeshire) managed to squeeze in up to 26,000 attendees (aka ‘gardeners’), enough security to clean up the streets of Brixton, and a lineup mainstream enough [...]

Guilfest 2011

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Guilfest 2011.

I was told by a good friend that I should arrive at Guilfest as early as possible as the roads and the camp site get busy fast.

Taking said advice I hasten down to Guildford as fast I can muster and see that most of the punters actually got their the previous night.

Never fear, we hussle our gargantuan nylon palace into a choice location and stow our gear away for the next 3 days.

I’m pretty sure Friday was the hottest, [...]

Hop Farm 2011

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Hop Farm has proved, year after year, to be a successful and civilized festival which is also capable to deliver an interesting line-up of new artists and old glories, the kind that manages to get parents and children to agree on something.

This year is no exception, and, as the sun graced us all weekend, we strolled along the field for a 3 days full immersion of great music.

 

Brandon Flowers graced the stage, the duty of warming up the crowd before [...]

Latitude goes even greener

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Latitude goes even greener

 

Everything has been said about Latitude, a festival that in only 5 years established itself as one of the most variegated and attractive in Uk. Everything has been said about the mesmerizing line-up that will see on stage bands such as The National, Paolo Nutini, Suede, without mentioning icons such as Seasick Steve and Echo & The Bunnymen.

One of the most important features of this festival, something that the media seem to forget, is the attention to [...]

Sonisphere

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Sonisphere, Knebworth, 8th July 2011

 

There is talk of heavy rain, but all we can think of is the heaviest of the heavy that will be on stage…… today!

If you didn’t hear or if you was in a coma, there was some serious goings on at Knebworth on Friday afternoon. To elaborate slightly, THE F!*KING BIG 4 WERE PLAYING!!!!! – subtle enough?

Yes ladies and gentlemen of the UK, the shit went down as 60,000 metal heads from the four corners of [...]

T In The Park 2011

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Having opted for Thursday camping, things at T didn’t get off to the best start for my party with two early visits to the medical centre for a twisted ankle and stomach bug.  Still, we awaited the start of T with excitement as Parade opened the festival in the King Tuts Wah Wah Tent.  Playing a shorter than scheduled set, the band looked out of their depth opting to play covers whilst a rowdy Scottish audience were more interested in [...]

Blissfield 2011

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30th June 2011 Blissfield’s.

The long hot summer settled quietly for 3 days in a country clearing somewhere in Hampshire.

That was until Friday morning when the world pitched up and the part-ty got’s going……… Happy Blissfield’s!

This year Blissfield’s has shifted site a couple of minutes down the road, and in my (and I’m sure) everyone else’s half drunk opinion the new digs is just fine. That translates to a much larger festival area, with more parking, camping, facilities, tents and general goings on [...]

London Feis Festival 2011

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Finsbury Park, London18th – 19th June

Is it pouring down with rain? Have you almost killed yourself in a muddy field? Are you utterly soaked, head to toe? It doesn’t matter, you are at Feis Festival at Finsbury Park!  Very much like at Glastonbury, the “feisian” public ignores the inclement weather enjoying, instead, moments of pure nationalistic euphoria and pride. Girls wearing crowns of flowers, families watching the stage from quiet elevated spots, Irish flags dancing over the heads along with [...]

ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 2011

Isle of Wight Festival 2011

Friday 10th

So here we come, the famous Isle of Wight Festival. This is the first time for me and I’m really excited, you know every festival is fascinating, but the Isle of Wight is like Woodstock, I imagine to find hippies and naked people running through the fields…Actually it happened in London, but that’s another story…

Here people are dressed like perfect festival-goers, wellies and rainproof, weather is changeable and rain is forecasted in the afternoon.

This year the festival is going [...]

ROCKNESS 2011

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I’m always really exited when I’m travelling to festivals, and this year I had a whole 12 HOURS of excitement as we drove all the way to magical Loch Ness, full of charm and history and ONE HELL OF A FESTIVAL!!! – the gates to fun time are open, the batteries are charged and Rockness 2011 is about to go live.

This is my first visit to Rockness and from the instant vibe, I’m convinced this is going to be an [...]