Music festival guide
The summer season is coming up soon, which means a multitude of fabulous music festivals will be as well. There will be festivals that cater to those who love a particular genre, those who like to listen to varied kinds of music and those who want a familyfriendly environment.
The most wonderful thing about them is they all run during the warm weather period, where you can stand outside for a couple of hours, listen to your favourite music artists live and you won’t freeze to death. However, most festivals do seem to have little luck avoiding the rain.
A few of the most popular UK festivals coming up is Download the rock and metal festival at its regular location, Donington Park, followed by Glatsonbudget, a family favourite tribute festival that’s easier on the pocket than the festival it’s commonly associated with, Glastonbury.
The one to look out for this year is TexFest, a brand new major festival that has a promising line up of performers, it will likely be another popular festival in no time. Read on to see the full list of music festivals arriving in or around Leicestershire this summer.
And of course there is the local favourite 110 Above which takes place near Market Bosworth.
Download festival
Taking place at Donington Park since 2003, Download Festival has yet to disappoint. It is the most popular rock and heavy metal festival in the UK and has attracted some of the biggest names in rock music.
This year, the headlining acts will be Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of the famous heavy metal band Black Sabbath and reality TV star of The Osbournes, Guns and Roses who are the 41st best-selling artists of all time and Avenged Sevenfold, who have sold over 8 million albums worldwide.
Other well-known rock artists that will be performing at Download are among the likes of Marilyn Manson and Rise Against the Machine.
At the festival, acts will span over seven stages throughout the weekend. Some stages will have performers doing stand up, circus acts and musical comedy skits. One stage will be constructed into a wrestling ring that WWE stars will be battling out their differences on. To give festival goers extra thrills, the fairground area will showcase stunts and more exciting entertainment.
There will be food and merchandise such as T-shirts and jumpers on sale too, however, if festival goers would like a more permanent memento of the weekend, they can always get a tattoo at the old Sarum Tattoo area.
The festival will take place from June 8 -10. For more information, visit the official site www.downloadfestival. co.uk
Glastonbudget
Glastonbudget is the biggest and best tribute festival in the world and they have upheld their excellent reputation of entertaining the masses since 2005, at Turnpost Farm, Wymeswold.
The festival, which will take place from May 25- 27, will have the most popular artists in the tribute world performing.
The bands performing on the main stage on Friday will be ABBA revival, Letz-zep, Tragedy and Whole Lotta DC. Saturday will be Coldplace, Mused, Oasish and Kins of Leon and Sunday, Not the Rolling Stones, T*Rextast, The Cureheads and Who’s who.
Even though not all the top tribute acts will be on the main stage, there will be five more stages where they’ll be found firing up the crowds. Artists such as The UB40 experience, Ben a tribute to Michael Jackson, The Smyths and much more will be among them.
New for this year, festivalgoers will have a chance to dance around in the silent disco area, where the headphones provided will give listeners access to two radio stations. Channel one will mainly consist of classic trance, dance and club anthems. Channel two will have indie rock, brit pop, 90s anthems and rock anthems. In between them all, there will be disco tracks, cheesy pop tunes and general crowd pleasers.
Details have not yet been released, but there are plans for the festival to have a VIP area which will be another new element to Glastonbudget.
For more information, visit the official site www.glastonbudget.org
TexFest
Opening for the first time at the Market Harborough showground from June 29 - July 1, TexFest does not yet have a history, though it’s likely it will create a good one for itself as it promises to showcase artists who have sung chart-topping songs. The artists that have been named so far are Example & DJ Wire, Nick Grimshaw, The Hoosiers, We Are Scientists, Tinchy Stryder, The South, Beans On Toasts, Lewis Watson and Reggie & Bollie.
Festivalgoers can expect to see different kinds of entertainment, fair rides and food stalls during the festival.
For more information, visit the official site https://www.texfest.co.uk/
Y NOT
Y Not festival started as a private party of Ralph Broadbent at a disused quarry site in 2005, for around 120 people. It has grown to be a large independent festival which now has above 15,000 festivalgoers attending each year. The Big Gin was the former name of the festival, which was a play on words on the location the festival is near to, Biggins in the Peak District.
Big names in indie music and chart stars have performed at the festival in the past. This year, the lineup list has not been released yet, but judging from a few of last years of headliners, Two Door Cinema Club, Clean Bandit and Example & DJ Wire, the acts will be worth the ticket.
For country music fans, there is the saloon bar which will be playing country music, acoustic, the blues and bluegrass. There will also be chances to grab a beer at the western-themed area.
Octopus Gardens will be the place festivalgoers can head to for entertainment which is suitable for adults and children. They can expect to see stilt walkers, art, comedians and acts from local talent. There will be sessions of ska, funk and heavy dance music too. Club Malibu will have 80s music and plenty of Michael Jackson tracks playing, to Club Malibu’s retro theme. There was even a wedding at last year’s event, so it’s also a place to consider for wedding hire too.
Y Not will run from July 26-29. For more information, visit the official site www.ynotfestivals.co.uk
110 and Above
A small and intimate festival, 110 has quietly gained popularity in recent years, though it only has the capacity to accommodate 1000 people. The festival resides in a secluded area in Gopsall and it makes sure to showcase smaller names in the music industry and local talent on multiple stages.
The headliners have not been announced yet for this year, but they will be something to look forward to. Last year’s headliners were Black Honey and Little Comets who performed on Friday, Sundara Karma on Saturday, Coasts and Eliza & The Bear finished off on Sunday.
For those who prefer to have a luxurious camping experience, you can opt for glamping in a bell tent.
110 will give glampers a wide tent, bed and stools to place their things on however they fancy, much like renting a native American themed room in tent.
People of all ages are welcome to attend, though the festival tends to be more popular with the younger generation.
It will run from August 3 - 5. For more information, visit the official site www.110above.com
Noisily
Noisily is the top electronic festival in the county known for its hedonistic vibes and glorious forest theme, which is expected, as it is located in The Coney woods. The only big restriction this festival has, is children are not allowed to attend. Otherwise, adults are free to dress up and dance however they like and do as they please.
Noisily has a mind body and soul section if festivalgoers need peace and quiet from the music and want to look deeper into spirituality or want to meet like-minded people. the area will also have yoga instructors, talks on topics, banquets, palm and tarot readings.
They will also be serving veganfriendly food. Last year they served vegan sushi, so if you are vegan or are open to trying vegan food, this may be the place to go.
From previous years, DJs such as Acid Pauli, Perfect Stranger and Slam have performed at Noisily. The DJs taking the reins this year have not yet been revealed, though we do know that they will be from different parts of the world and will be blasting the speakers with techno or house music.
There are only three stages at Noisily, however, they are perfect for a small
festival and have managed to entertain the crowds that have reached past 3000 in the past. This year the festival will run from July 5-8.
For more information, visit the official site www.noisilyfestival.com
Nedwood
Nedwood is a fun family festival full of performances from local and international talent. The acts range from tribute acts, unsigned solo artists from Leicestershire and established DJs. Jan Blazak is one of the DJs performing who has toured around Europe at large venues. All of the acts will be lighting up the three stages the festival has to offer.
Plenty of crafting workshops will be available throughout the weekend. Some have been designed just for kids, and that will have pirate-related tasks and performances, taking place in the kid’s area called Hoi Polloi. The workshops, including the adult ones, have been created with the environment in mind and have a recycling theme to encourage recycling. They will be using recyclable materials also.
Nedwood is at Turnpost Farm and will be taking place on August 24-27. For more information, visit the official site www.nedwood.co.uk
Handmade
Being known as an independent, artsy sort of music festival, Handmade has been running for five years in total, collaborating with up-and-coming creatives to create a fresh, innovative type of music festival. They combine art, film, photography and comedy alongside music to entertain those who like out of the box visuals and sounds.
Artists like American indie band We Are the Scientists have performed at Handmade and comedians such as James Acaster who has been on 8 out of 10 Cats and Never Mind the Buzzcocks have been a part of Handmade’s line up. This year, Circa Waves, The Orielles, Magique and many more quirky and cool artists will be performing.
The festival takes place at the O2 Academy Leicester, on the 5 - 6 of May. For more information, visit the official site www.handmadefestival.co.uk
Foxton Locks
Foxon Locks is another family favourite festival on the smaller side, as it only has two stages for music. They are currently on the lookout for talent and have left an email on the site for any acts that are interested in performing.
There are a varied amount of things to do during the festival, including a funfair for kids and a dog show; registration will open on the day. Festivalgoers can even hire a boat if they wish, or purchase items from those who own one.
There will be more information to come about the activities closer to the time of the event, which will run from June 16-17. More details can be found the official site www.foxtonlocksfestival.co.uk
Flashpoint
Located at Rockingham Castle, Flashpoint festival has an idyllic, picturesque look, which livens up when music from local bands play. The line up has not yet been released, however, we do know this will be another festival with a silent disco, a funfair, a cocktail bar and Terry’s bar, which will serve authentic draft ale and other alcoholic drinks.
Flashpoint will be up and running on July 13-15. For more information, visit the official site
www.theflashpointfestival.com
Bloodstock
Bloodstock is as heavy as heavy metal gets in the Midlands, so metal- heads will certainly be interested in this one. Located at Catton Park between August 9-12, it will have three stages filled with acts talented enough to blow away even the least hardcore metal fans. Two of the stage names have been dedicated to Ronnie James Dio, a rock musician from the band Black Sabbath who died from stomach cancer in 2010 and Sophie Lancaster, a teenage victim of a hate-crime who died in 2007.
Some of the acts performing this year on the Ronnie James Dio stage will be Judas Priest, a band that has been rocking people’s world since 1969, Septic Flesh, who are considered to be pioneers of death metal, Fozzy, Chris Jericho the wrestler’s band and much more from around the world.
On the Sophie Lancaster stage, award-winning Doro will be performing on the first night, with Vola, Orphaned Land and Watain’s performances coming on the following days. The third stage, Hobgoblin New Blood will be reserved for fresh talent who have auditioned and competed to appear on the stage prior to the festival.
For more information, visit the official site http://www.bloodstock.uk. com/
Back To The 80s and 90s
The first of its kind in Leicestershire, Back To The 80s and 90s arrived last year providing nostalgic hits for festivalgoers at Cattows Farm.
This year, they promise to play classics in the DJ tent and have scheduled well-loved artists like The Vengaboys, Phats and Smalls, Whigfield and Mysterious girl’s Peter Andre to perform their vintage hits live on stage.
When festival goers are not at the stage areas, they can opt to play games in the 90s retro games console area, or better yet, take part in either the Mario championships, Pac-man competition or both. There will also be a classic movie chill out arena you can watch films in, which will most likely be from the 80s or 90s era.
This is definitely the festival for the ones who feel as if they were born in the wrong era, or want to go back in time at August 10 and 11. For more information, visit their Facebook page online by typing in ‘Leicestershire back to the 80s and 90s’ in the search bar.
Riverside
The Riverside festival in Bede park has been running for a number of years, hitting their 20th anniversary in 2017.
They showcase local talent across multi- sites and provide artistic workshops and market stands which sell food or unique items from around the world.
There are usually plenty of workshops to choose from that are suitable for a wide range of ages, that both children and adults can be entertained by. Last year, the festival had a funfair, children’s arts and crafts area and the book bus; all of which will most likely be returning this year. Another section they had last year was the Tipi in the Park, which was running spiritual workshops such Nerissa Meditation, yoga, Paulo drumming workshop and The Story of Park.
The line up of musicians will be released nearer to June. The festival will run on June 2-3. For more information, visit the official site www. visitleicester.info/whats-on/riverside-festival