Grab the wellies, it's summer festival season
By Kate Simon
Britain’s upcoming beer festivals are just one of the ways to get in the mood for summer. When Glastonbury begins next Wednesday, 22 June, it will herald the start of the main outdoor festival season (where’s my brolly?).
Of course, Glastonbury sold out long ago, but tickets are still on sale for many other big-name music events. Whether you prefer T’Pau or A$AP Rocky, there’s certainly room for more at Latitude, 21-24 July, in Suffolk, Rewind Festival, in Scotland, 22-24 July, in the North, 5-7 August, and the South, 19-21 August, and Wireless, at Crystal Palace, 1-3 July, and Finsbury Park and Birmingham, both 8-10 July.
Less obvious choices include We Out Here, 25-28 August, in Cambridgeshire. Gilles Peterson is the music maestro of this cross-generation gathering of jazz acts and club DJs. ArcTanGent, 17-20 August, near Bristol, is a rockers’ delight, with headbanging into the night guaranteed at the silent disco. And who said the spirit of rave is dead? Not at Field Maneuvres, 4-6 September, which pitches up in a secret location each year with a crowd-pleasing bunch of top and aspiring techno DJs. Though this not-for-profit three-nighter is more spirit of rave – you have to book one of the 1,000 places in this field.
The festival scene has become so crowded that these days a stellar line-up isn’t always enough. Boardmasters, 10-14 August, takes over Fistral Beach in Newquay and hosts a competition featuring the UK’s top surfers, as well as acts such as George Ezra. At the Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire, bluedot, 21-24 July, matches performances by the likes of Björk with talks by scientists such as the astronaut Tim Peake.
The Also festival, in Warwickshire, 8-10 July, is all about ideas – ‘The Gendered Nature of Emotions’ and ‘What to Believe in a Fake News World’ will be two of the posers to grapple with here. Sadly, there seem to be no dates this year for The Delaware Road, an enigmatic electronica festival based on a graphic novel and dedicated to the ‘transformative nature of sound’. Past acts have included the former snooker world champion turned prog rock DJ and member of The Utopia Strong, Steve Davis. Interesting! (sorry).
Even little kids can get in on the act. While many festivals are family friendly, Camp Bestival – which is adding a new venue this year in Shropshire, 18-21 August, to its base in Dorset, 28-31 July – is specifically designed for families with small children. So is the festival of the imagination, Just So, 19-21 August, and the activity-packed Geronimo (pictured), 27-29 August, both in Cheshire. But Starry Skies, a hybrid festival and family camping holiday in Monmouthshire, which encourages parents to let their kids run wild and unsupervised, is ‘taking a nap’ this year.
At the Holkham Estate in Norfolk, the Festival of Sport, 12-15 August, returns for its second year. Founded by rugby legends Will Greenwood and Austin Healy, children aged 5-17 are coached in a variety of sports, from cricket to rowing, by world-class athletes, and there are taster sessions for other activities including boxing, archery and trampolining.
New for 2022, Wide Skies festival, 5-7 August, also in Norfolk, has a programme that isn’t out of the ordinary – live music, comedy, culture and activities for all ages. But its ethos is a little more unusual in that it aims to provide a safe space that promotes diversity and welcomes families that don’t fit the 2.4 kids model.
Proving you don’t need international music stars to attract a crowd, there are special-interest summer festivals, too. New this year is the nature festival Wilderfest, 1-3 July, in Devon, which is about reclaiming, restoring and re-connecting with nature, with talks by respected ecologists and environmentalists.
At Exhale Festival, 26-29 August, in West Sussex, there are yoga and wellness sessions by day and party bangers in the barn-turned-club by night. Just don’t get them mixed up – Sun Salutation is a yoga pose not the latest band.
For Phil’s pick of the beer festivals, see Raise a glass to a summer of beer.