With the sun starting to come out and Handmade Festival getting us all in the mood for some quality live music, as we get closer to the summer months it’s time for our attention to turn to the festival season and see what the hottest tickets are that you need to be grabbing right now!
Nearby and further afield, here’s our pick of the bunch!
DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL
The home of rock is right on our doorstep in Leicestershire with Download Festival taking place at Donington Park every June. The year the lineup doesn’t disappoint with Biffy Clyro, System of a Down, Steel Panther and a last EVER UK peformance from Aerosmith. If you’re an old pop punk fan like us then you’ll be delighted to see the likes of Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Simple Plan on the lineup to relive your youth and there’s even some live wrestling action with NXT superstars descending on the festival.Day and weekend tickets are available from the Download Festival website.
CORNBURY FESTIVAL
This is officially your last chance to experience the beautiful Cornbury Festival as after 2017 it is no more. It’s set to be a fantastic weekend with the lineup including Bryan Adams, Kaiser Chief, The Pretenders, Jools Holland, Tom Chaplin, Jack Savoretti, Ward Thomas, Scouting for Girls, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Right Said Fred, Imelda May and so much for. It’s the sort of festival you can take your parents to and your little niece and nephew as well. It’s civilised, charming and irresistible – the sort of festival where you can sip a glass of champagne with your pie.
Cornbury takes place from 7 to 9 July in Oxfordshire. Don’t miss out on the last few tickets priced at £170 for the weekend with day options also available. Buy your tickets from the Cornbury Festival website.
SPLENDOUR FESTIVAL
Just down the road in Nottingham, Splendour takes place every summer at Wollaton Park. This year on Saturday 22 July the music lineup includes the likes of Billy Ocean, Busted, Tony Hadley, Kaiser Chiefs and punk veterans Buzzcocks. If that’s not a lineup to suit varied tastes, I don’t know what is. There’s also space on the lineup for rising star Will Varley, long standing indie favourites British Sea Power and a host of local East Midlands talent. With family friendly activities and a fully programmed comedy tent, it’s a fantastic day out for all the family, and only just down the road from Leicester.
Tickets are reasonable too, priced at £46 with under 11s free. Tickets are available now from the Splendour website.
Y NOT FESTIVAL
Another of our favourite festivals takes place across the midlands in the Peak District as Y Not lands at Pikehall from 27 to 30 July. Every year Y Not pull a stellar lineup out of the bag and this year is no different. Stereophonics, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Frank Turner, Slaves, Jake Bugg, Clean Bandit, Feeder and so many more, make this an unmissable weekend. Hell, they’ve even got Idris Elba on the DJ decks! Other Cool As favourites playing over the weekend include Kate Nash, Beans on Toast and Cast, as well as the very best upcoming talent from Cabbage, The Hunna and Declan McKenna. It’s going to be brilliant. 6 stages, loads of bars, great food options, Tipi field, and they even once won Best UK Festival Toilets.
Tickets are selling fast with the last few available from the Y Not Festival website.
110 ABOVE
A bit of a hidden gem, 110 Above takes place over in Twycross (you know, near the zoo) at Gopsall Hall Farm from 4 to 6 August and this year they’ve got a great lineup coming up. Some of the very best upcoming talent will grace the stage with weekend headliners including Sundara Karma, Black Honey, Little Comets and Clean Cut Kid with more to be announced. One of our favourite, Eliza and the Bear will also be there, along with the likes of Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Blaenavon and Will Joseph Cook.
Camping tickets for the whole weekend cost just £75 with a number of glamping options available. Tickets are available from the 110 Above website.
BACK TO THE 80s 90s
If you enjoy a little cheese every now and then (who doesn’t?) then you’re in luck this summer with the Back the the 80s 90s throwback festival taking place right here in Leicestershire at Cattows Farm from 11 to 13 August. The lineup boasts some of your favourite stars of yesteryear and will see you busting out all of those forgotten dance moves. You can expect to see S Club, Five, Chesney Hawkes, B*Witches, A1, 911, T’Pau, Phats & Small, Pat Sharp, Berri, The Cheeky Girls and so much more.
Weekend camping tickets cost £99 with VIP packages, hen party packages and glamping also available. Check out the website for tickets and further information.
BAREFOOT FESTIVAL
Another festival on our doorstep is Barefoot Festival taking place at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough from 28 to 30 July. Barefoot is a grassroots festival, no big corporate sponsors and they’re taking it back to basics. Winner of the The Green Parent Family Festival Awards, this year the festival will see performances from fantastic local bands including The Brandy Thieves, Siobhan Mazzei, Jesse Wright, Homeless Shakespeare and Racketeers, as well as folk and blues acts from further field. There’ll be cabaret, burlesque, magic, craft activities and even a circus inspired fire show.
Day tickets cost £20 and weekend tickets are priced at £69. For a wholly different festival experience visit the Barefoot website.
CAMP BESTIVAL
When it comes to being family friendly, Camp Bestival is the ultimate. This might be down in Dorset but it’s absolutely worth the trip and can be tied in with a visit to some of the beautiful scenic places nearby, making a perfect summer holiday. With a lineup to please the adults including Madness, Mark Ronson, Brian Wilson, All Saints, The Lightening Seeds and Reginald D Hunter, you don’t even need to have kids in tow to enjoy it! Camp Bestival prides itself on its kids appeal, winner of countless Best Family Festival awards, you’ll find workshops, kids entertainment, huge stars on stage from CBeebies and so much more. Daily kids disco with Rob Da Bank, the world’s biggest bouncy castle, UK festival exclusive of School of Rock The Musical, Tudors on Tours from the Historic Royal Palace and even the UK Festival Air Guitar Championships, there’s absolutely no chance of you getting bored! The festival boasts seven arenas filled with amazing fun, delicious food & drink (including supper clubs that can be booked in advance), relaxing therapies and top notch facilities catering for your family’s needs, there’s even a host of glamping options for those not wanting to camp with little ones.
It’s a true family experience and tickets can be booked from the Camp Bestival website. Camp Bestival takes place from 27th to 30th July at Lulworth Castle, Dorset.
V FESTIVAL
As always, this year’s V Festival brings together a lineup packed full of household names. Pink, Jay-Z, Craig David, Stormzy, Rudimental, Dizzee Rascal, Jess Glynn, James Arthur and so many more we can’t possibly write them all down. There’ll be comedy from the likes of Cool As favourites Joel Dommett and Joe Lycett and it’s set to be one of the biggest parties of the summer.
The festival takes place across 2 sites on 19 and 20 August; at Weston Park (Staffordshire) and Hylands Park (Chelmsford) and limited tickets are still available. Grab yours from the V Festival website.
MOSELEY FOLK FESTIVAL
Over in Birmingham from 1 to 3 September is the Moseley Folk Festival with a lineup that we can’t wait to see including Laura Marling, Amy MacDonald, Jose Gonzales, Kate Rusby, The Magic Numbers, Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble, The Furrow Collective and a whole lot more. Held in a leafy glade, Moseley Folk Festival is widely regarding as one of the most bloody love weekends you can have in the Midlands throughout the summer. Fine drinks, fine people and fine music held in Moseley Park, which is an 11 acre woodland glade in the heart of Moseley Village, just 2 miles from the centre of Birmingham. With its natural amphitheatre and stunning lake it’s a wonderful setting and you’re still in the heart of Moseley to enjoy their shops, restaurants, pubs and, of course, cash machines.
Day tickets are priced at £45 and weekend tickets at £99 and are available from the Moseley Folk Festival website.
BEYOND THE TRACKS
The Midlands’ festival scene is booming and another new addition this year is Birmingham’s Beyond The Tracks, taking place at Eastside City Park from 15 to 17 September. The festival is taking place right in the city centre, on a greenfield site just 10 minutes away from New Street station, making Beyond The Tracks very easy to access. The lineup this year includes Editors, Orbital, Ocean Colour Scene, Maximo Park, The Coral, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Wild Beasts and a whole host of other indie goodness. Being a city centre festival there’s no camping, but plenty of accommodation options nearby.
Tickets are priced at £45/day and are available from SeeTickets.
Which festivals have caught your eye this year? Let us know where you’ll be heading over on Twitter @coolasleicester.