45 festivals happening in August 2016

1) Fieldview Festival
Aug 4-7
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Price: £60 w/e
Tenth anniversary for this charity-giving, keenly green fest. Little detail as we head to press, but past experiences suggests you should expect a predominantly local music line-up, shisha bar chill out areas, busking, crafts and workshops.
www.fieldviewfestival.co.uk

2) Green Gathering
Aug 4-7
Chepstow, Wales
Price: £95 w/e
Nee the Big Green Gathering, and proudly “powered by wind, sun and people”. To that end, expect: plenty of opportunities to set the world to rights with experts active in environmental, peace and social justice movements; learn skills in foraging, bushcraft, solar panel wiring, etc; how to set up your own co-operative housing; live music; permaculture; healing area; unparalleled proportion of festival attendees sporting leafy headwear.
www.greengathering.org.uk

3) Soundwave
Aug 4-8
Tisno, Croatia
Price: £109.65
Renowned for boat parties, beach stages and plenty more things that work rather better on the edge of the sunny Adriatic than back in grey old Blighty. Among those taking advantage are Pharoahe Monch, Calibre, Mala, Craig Charles, and Gentleman’s Dub Club.
www.soundwavecroatia.com

4) Wacken Open Air
Aug 4-6
Nr Hamburg, Germany
Price: 150€ w/e
One of the cornerstones of the European metal/heavy rock scene, as evidenced by a big old bill including the likes of Whitesnake, Girlschool, Foreigner, Henry Rollins, Saxon, Twisted Sister, Blue Oyster Cult and Bullet For My Valentine.
www.wacken.com/en/

5) Wilderness
Aug 4-7Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire
Price: £164
A festival that aims high, and generally pulls it off: ‘long-table banquets’ and fine cuisine field restaurants – Raymond Blanc is among the chefs – in place of your regular festival fare, guerrilla archaeology workshops, literary talks, panel debates, spectacular circus stuff and an awful lot more. Appearees this year include Anthony Beevor, Zoe Williams and the wonderful Index on Censorship, with music acts including Robert Plant, The Flaming Lips, Crystal Fighters and Goldie & The Heritage Orchestra.
www.wildernessfestival.com

6) Brighton Pride
Aug 5-7Brighton
Price: £25.50 (Saturday)
Biggest Pride event in the country. Besides the parade you can expect a Pride village party, Pride diversity games, Pride pleasure gardens, even a Pride dog show.
www.brighton-pride.org

7) Outcider Festival
Aug 5-7Compton Martin, Somerset
Price: £50 w/e
‘No tribute bands. No X Factor. No Carling lager. No hipsters. No tossers’ is the festival’s proudly stated motto. To which we’d add, presumptuously, ‘No lack of inverted snobbery’. The self-styled ‘ragged community of free-thinkers’ say that they are ‘fighting their way out of England’s cold, conformist, consumerist majority’, a declaration to which we’ll append without comment: ‘There will be arks available and… luxury accommodation on the farm.’ If you can bear to be in the vicinity of such self-satisfied, wanton hypocrisy, the music line-up includes The Skimmity Hitchers, The Slackers, Duncan Disorderly & The Scallywags and The Eskies.
www.outciderfestival.co.uk

8) Boardmasters
Aug 5-9Newquay,Cornwall
Price: £134 w/e
Mixing all manner of adventuresome fun – surf, skate, BMX, etc – this fest, the biggest of its type in the country, also offers a multitude of stages from which you will see acts including Deadmau5, James Bay, Kaiser Chiefs, Primal Scream, Lianne La Havas, Craig David Presents TS5, Wolf Alice, Sigma, Gabrielle Aplin and the Magic Numbers.
www.boardmasters.co.uk

9) Edinburgh Festival
Aug 5-29Edinburgh, Scotland
Price: various
You know this one, don’t you? The largest festival of its kind on the planet, an absolute explosion of theatre, dance, music, comedy and everything else in-between. For 24 hours on 25 days, artists from the internationally renowned to the unknown turn Edinburgh into the most culturally happening place in the world.
www.eif.co.uk

10) Off Festival
Aug 5-7Katowice, Poland
Price: £40 w/e
Seriously good value event, this proper-job arts fest has a wealth of goodness to offer, and a breadth epitomised by a music line-up a whole lot more eclectic than your average gathering: The Kills, Mudhoney, GZA, Lush, GusGus, Napalm Death, Sleaford Mods, Lightning Bolt and Andrew Weatherall.
www.off-festival.pl

11) Redfest
Aug 6Redfield, Bristol
Price: free
Grandly sweeping St George Park is a hidden Bristol treasure, Redfield a too-oft overlooked area. Redfest presents the perfect opportunity to explore both at this, a properly thronging community assemblage of music, film, art, cabaret, children’s ents, etc. Longtime supporter, Grounded Cafe, is a headline sponsor, as is the Stillage pub, having last year hosted daytime music and night time after-party.
www.redfestbristol.co.uk

12) Brutal Assault
Aug 10-13Jaromer, Czech Republic
Price: €72
Whatever your preferred type of metal, you’re sure to detect it at this across-the-spectrum thunder fest. This year’s sound pummelers set to include Agnostic Front, The Black Dahlia Murder and Sikth.
www.brutalassault.cz/en/ 

13) Sziget
Aug 10-17Budapest, Hungary
Price: €249 7 days
Just colossal. 400,000 visitors come each day to see a programme packing over 1,000 artists across 60 stages, all contained on a big old island in the middle of the Danube. Among those adding the voice to the hubbub this year are Muse, Bullet For My Valentine, Roisin Murphy, David Guetta, Jess Glynne, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Lumineers, The Neighbourhood, Bastille, Bloc Party, Chvrches, M83 and Sigur Ros – the first eight acts for 2016.
www.szigetfestival.com

14) Boardmasters
Aug 10-14Watergate Bay, Cornwall
Price: £124 w/e
Surfing may be a people’s sport, touted by beach bums and chilled out drifters, but Boardmasters isn’t for surf fans hoping to laze the day away. The high-octaine event is as adrenaline-fuelled as it is high-end. Household names Deadmau5, Chase and Status and James Bay headline, alongside beloved rock bands Catfish and the Bottlemen,  Kaiser Chiefs and Primal Scream. But don’t neglect the surfing aspect of the surfing and music festival – it’s one of the biggest and most respected events on the British surfing calendar, with surfers catching waves in seven categories of surf competitions. Expect to see British surfing’s biggest names hanging ten in the Cornish waters this weekend.

15) Bloodstock Open Air
Aug 11-14Walton on Trent, Derbyshire
Price: £139
In which 10,000 metallers gather to salute their drum pounding, squiddly guitaring heroes. This time around, the riffmeisters include Twisted Sister, Mastodon, Slayer, Satyricon, Anthrax, Gojira, Rotting Christ and Venom.
www.bloodstock.uk.com

16) Boomtown Fair
Aug 11-14Winchester, Hampshire
Price: £170 w/e
Many are the festivals claiming uniqueness, very few are those qualified to do so. The debauched community that is BoomTown is most assuredly among them, a sprawling creative metropolis of nine distinct city districts – Oldtown, Whistlers Green, Wild West, Kidz Town, etc – wherein you’ll find a stage to match every mood. Besides a fine programme of cabaret, comedy, spoken word, anarchist theatre, and such like, you’ll find a musical bill featuring Madness, Damian Marley, Leftfield, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Parov Stelar, Levellers, Afro Celt Sound System, Asian Dub Foundation, Babylon Circus, Beardyman and lots more.
www.boomtownfair.co.uk

17) Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Aug 11-14Ashton Court Estate, Bristol
Price: free
Before Banksy, before Massive Attack, before the Stokes Croft revival, before pretty much anything else you might list as having helped put Bristol on the map, there was the Balloon Fiesta. And it began in a very recognisably Bristol kind of way. “It seems terrible where these ideas happen, but the Balloon Fiesta was born in a pub,” recalls event founder and pioneering balloon manufacturer, Don Cameron. “I’d just done a balloon flight across the Atlantic – well, nearly, I landed a hundred miles short – and was invited to address Bristol’s Junior Chamber of Commerce. In the
pub afterwards the idea started. We never dreamt this little meeting with 12 or 15 balloons would get to where it is today.” Where it is today is its 38th birthday, and a size second only to the huge event held in the Walter White-frequented desert west of Albuquerque: approx 150 balloons take to the skies in a series of 6am/6pm mass ascents, music soundtracked night glows, air shows, fairground, live music, displays, tons more besides. Still, though, its chief appeal remains the simple-but-awesome pleasure of seeing all those beauteous craft sailing silently across the city.
www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk

18) Bulldog Bash
Aug 11-14Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Price: £30 w/e
Centred on very fast motorbikes careening up the Long Marston drag strip. Besides a generally heavy rocking music bill, other ‘entertainment’ has generally included topless bike washes, wet T-shirt contests, etc. If that’s your kind of thing, head to the website and read on, but we’re just going to go over here.
www.bulldogbash.co.uk

19) Cropedy Convention
Aug 11-13Cropredy, Oxfordshire
Price: £120
Who knows where the time goes? It’s fully 40 years since Fairport Convention played the back garden gig from which their own fully-fledged festival evolved. Though still predominantly a folk affair, the line-up is nevertheless broader than you might expect: Madness, Bootleg Beatles, Ralph McTell, Sound of the Sirens, Steeleye Span and Hayseed Dixie all feature.
www.fairportconvention.com

20) Lakefest
Aug 11-14Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
Price: £85 w/e
Fifth year for a festival boasting surrounds as glorious as its name suggests, and altogether great for kids (and parents, given that there’s a crèche). Music-wise you can expect to hear the sounds of Primal Scream, We Are Scientists, Molotov Jukebox, Altern8, Starsailor, Afro Celt Sound System, Big Country, The Coral and lots more.
www.lakefest.co.uk

21) Way Out West
Aug 11-13Gothenburg, Sweden
Price: £168 w/e
While the main event takes place in a big old park, much of WOW fans out across a plethora of clubs, churches and theatres. Some top-line fare, too: Lady Leshurr, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, PJ Harvey, SIA, The Last Shadow Puppets, Julia Holter, Daughter, Stormzy, Massive Attack, Young Fathers, Skepta, Jack Garratt and loads more.
www.wayoutwest.se

22) Brecon Jazz Fest
Aug 12-14Brecon, Wales
Apart from the confirmation of the date, little info on this lynchpin of the jazz fest as we go to press.Orchard Media and Events Group began operating the fest in 2012, but have announced the end of their involvement, leaving Brecon Jazz Club to state: “Plans for Brecon Jazz Festival 2016 have already begun involving local stakeholders, and further announcements will be made shortly.”
www.breconjazz.com

23) ArcTanGent
Aug 18-20Compton Martin, North Somerset
Price: £95 w/e
There’s a small but significant number of people who’d be much happier at festivals if the music wasn’t quite so, oh, I don’t know… simple. If that small number was 5,000, life would be perfect, for that’s the capacity at this gathering, dedicated to globally sourced acts sharing a love of angularity and complicated time signatures. Names confirmed so far include American Football, Toe, La Dispute, Caspian, Nordic Giants, Yndi Halda, Mutoid Man and Agent Fresco.
www.arctangent.co.uk

24) Castell Roc
Aug 18-29Chepstow S.Wales
Price: TBC
Not entirely sure the line-up always matches the genuinely spectacular surrounds, with each night’s respective headliners comprising The Wurzels, Fleetwood Mac tribbers, the Shires, the Proclaimers, Queen tribbers, the Blues Band, Jools Holland, Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, and tributes to Bowie and Lemmy.
www.castellroc.co.uk

25) Green Man
Aug 18-21Glanusk Estate, Wales
Price: £175 w/e
Among the first wave of smaller, not-then-called ‘boutique’ festivals, Green Man has long since established one of the most warmly received, loyalty
inducing events on the map. And rather a choice bit of the map, too. Framed by Sugar Loaf Mountain, the River Usk and the Monmouthshire Canal, the 20,000+ rolling acres of Glanusk Park plays home to Celtic standing stones, a family chapel, beautiful bridges, stable courtyard, and trees. Lots and lots of trees. It also plays home to a heck of a line-up, of the type likely to appreciate the late night communal bonfires and campfire songs. Among those offering over 400 performances across 17 stages are Belle & Sebastian, James Blake, Wild Beasts, White Denim, Battles, Julia Holter, Songhoy Blues, Ezra Furman, Jagwar Ma, Cate Le Bon, Fat White Family, Warpaint, Grandaddy, Kamasi Washington, and Yorkston/Thorne/Khan.
www.greenman.net

26) Tribfest
Aug 18-21Sledmere, East Yorkshire
Price: £85 w/e
The Floyd Effect, Happy Mondaze, Antarctic Monkeys, Green Date – all the pretend stars come out for this one. See feature on page 42.
www.tribfest.co.uk

27) Beautiful Days
Aug 19-21Exeter, Devon
Price:
Established by the Levellers as a family-centric affair, Beautiful Days scooped the Grass Roots Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards 2015. Inevitably, there’s a theme – stars, this year – besides all the other usual festival attractions. Naturally, the hosts are among the musical headliners, topping a bill also including the likes of Leftfield, James, Afro Celt Sound System, the Coral, the Proclaimers, Mariachi El Bronx, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Terrorvision, Billy Bragg, Baaba Maal, Ezra Furman and the Damned.
www.beautifuldays.org

28) Hamswell Festival
Aug 19-21Hamswell, Bath
Price: £85 w/e
Properly green local festival set in a natural amphitheatre, serving up “spades full of local produce”, and boasting drinking water sourced directly from springs (it feeds the solar-powered showers, too). The bill is remains TBA as we go to press, but expect live music, poetry, circus malarkey, graffing and more.
www.hamswellfestival.com

29) Hevy Music Fest
Aug 19-20Newhaven, Derbyshire
Price: £84.50
Significant change of site this year, upping sticks from its former Kent home and out in the wilds of Derbyshire. The formula remain the same, mind: a bucketload of really loud bands. Step forward Enter Shikari, Refused, The Bronx, Sikth, et al.
www.hevyfest.com

30) Lowlands
Aug 19-21Dronten, Holland
Price: £140 w/e
There’s an awful lot of fun packed in this, a festival of sufficient scale to sustain/require its own newspaper. Thus, hundreds of events across street theatre, film, cabaret, comedy, ballet, literature, science and music. Sounds-wise, expect to see the likes of Muse, Disclosure, LCD Soundsystem, The Last Shadow Puppets, Oscar & The Wolf, Sigur Ros, Eagles Of Death Metal, Chvrches and Damian Marley.
www.lowlands.nl

31) Sportbeat
Aug 20-22Gloucester
Price: £47.50
Unusual fest this, mixing sport – volleyball is particularly popular – and music. Line-up remains TBA as we go to press but, as a pointer, last year included De La Soul, the Fratellis and Mista Jam.
www.sportbeatfest.com

32) V Festival
Aug 20-21Staffs and Essex
Price: £189 w/e
All about the music, this one, not least two of the very biggest stars on the planet: Justin Bieber and Rihanna. Beneath them on the bill, the likes of Sia, David Guetta, Faithless, Kaiser Chiefs, Bastille, Little Mix, Jess Glynne and Jake Bugg.
www.vfestival.com

33) Creamfields
Aug 25-28Halton, Cheshire
Price: £200 w/e
21st anniversary outing for the biggest dance fest in the country. If the 70,000-strong crowd leads you to think this might not be the happiest place for a person who takes their beats-led music with a little subtlety, then the headliners topping a gargantuan bill confirm you’re exactly right: Armin Van Buuren, the Martinez Brothers, Jack U, Above & Beond, Eric Prydz and Fatboy Slim.
www.creamfields.com

34) Frightfest
Aug 25-29Vue Cinema, West End, London
Price: various
Subtitled ‘the Dark Heart of Cinema’, and promising 60+ unsettling horror/sci-fi/thriller films.
www.frightfest.co.uk

35) Purbeck Valley Folk Fest
Aug 25-28Purbeck, Dorset
Price: £101 w/e
Friendly, farm-staged folk fest in the rolling countryside, and this year welcoming the Proclaimers, Eliza Carthy and The Wayward Band, Kathryn Roberts and Seth Lakeman, Rory McLeod and the Familiar Strangers, and the artist formerly known as Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, formerly known as aka Sam Duckworth, and trading as Recreations.
www.purbeckvalleyfolkfestival.co.uk

36) Shambala
Aug 25-28Price: £159 w/e
Northamptonshire
Unlike so many others, Shambala really can claim itself to be a pioneering festival, long since ahead of the curve when it comes to matters eco and ‘holistic’. If you’re the kind of person who runs towards an event promising to be a ‘special place where you play’, rather than recoiling in horror, then this one is very much for you. Big on participation and wood.
www.shambalafestival.org

37) The Big Feastival
Aug 26-28Kingham, Oxfordshire
Price: £157.50
If you’ve got a strong stomach, here’s an extract from the memoir of Blur bassist/artisanal cheesemaker, Alex James, talking about his move into the heart of the Chipping Norton set: “I was surprised how much I liked most of the people who lived nearby. Not just the nobs and the billionaires. We took on two gypsies from the trailer park as cleaners and they fascinated me. The younger one was very pretty …” The Big Feastival is an event he founded with Jamie Oliver. If any part of you think ‘Mmm, that sounds fun, tell me more’, I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave you to research it for yourself. Chances are you’ve got a woman from the village who comes in to do that kind of thing, anyway.
www.jamieoliver.com/thebigfeastival/

38) Greenbelt Festival
Aug 26-29Kettering, Northamptonshire
Price: £135
Notionally a Christian music festival, but in essence a haven for young, inquisitive minds, looking for intelligent debate and speakers to match. Thus, guests including poet Lemn Sissay, peace activist Satish Kumar, radical economist Eve Poole, climate change activist Bill McKibben, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
www.greenbelt.org.uk

39) Manchester Pride
Aug 26-29Manchester
Price: various
Centred around the city’s rather lovely, canal-side gay village, and one of the biggest and longest established Prides in the country. The Big Weekend starts on Friday, parade is Saturday, vigil on Sunday.
www.manchesterpride.com

40) Reading & Leeds Festivals
Aug 26-28Berks and Yorks
Price: £205 w/e
Remember the ‘shy Tory’ explanation for the 2015 election result? Reading/Leeds is the festival equivalent: one of a handful of genuine festival heavyweights, packs them in year in, year out, and do you ever hear anyone giving it more than the most grudging appreciation? Sir, you do not. Those who have no choice but to admit their attendance include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Biffy Clyro, Fall Out Boy, Foals, Disclosure, The 1975, the Vaccines, A$AP Rocky, Haim, Jack Garratt, Eagles of Death Metal, Slaves and Savages.
www.readingfestival.com

41) Rock en Seine
Aug 26-28Paris, France
PrIce: €119 w/e
Held in a lovely park just outside the capital, this is one of France’s biggest annual festivals. No line-up details as we put the guide to bed, but previous festivals have been graced by the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Green Day, the Black Keys, System Of A Down and Nine Inch Nails.
www.rockenseine.com

42) Sea Change
Aug 26-27Totnes, Decon
Price: £45
Ideal little place for a festival, Totnes, this one curated and presented by the award-winning Drift Record Shop. Confirmed appearees include British Sea Power, Heavenly Recordings, TOY and Yorkston/Thorne/Khan.
www.seachangefestival.co.uk

43) Stroud Fringe Festival
Aug 26-28Stroud, Gloucestershire
Price: various
Long a left-leaning oasis in the middle of beauteously sweeping Cotswolds countryside populated by high Tories, higher rock stars and royalty, Stroud boasts one of the country’s most well-established fringe fests. Now into its third decade, it takes the decidedly artsy nature of its populace by the scruff of the neck, and plonks it onto sundry stages and gallery walls, and invites the likes of BBC Introducing along to share in it all.
www.stroudfringe.co.uk

44) Towersey Festival
Aug 26-29Thame, Oxfordshire
Price: £140
Proper old stager on the folk fest circuit, about to celebrate its 52nd anniversary, though admirably willing to adapt to modern trends. Thus, new this year, a forest school for your younger clan members to learn such outdoorsy skills as den building and knot-tying, plus a good old-fashioned camp fire and storytelling session. A Creative Quarter, meanwhile, offers such drop-in activities as clay modelling, sack races, paper planes, dressing up, giant games, talking tubes, and junk percussion. Still, music remains the bedrock on which the rest of the festival is built, offering plenty for folk purists and (slightly) wider taste souls alike. This year, that means appearances from Billy Bragg, the Wonder Stuff, Kate Rusby, Midge Ure, the Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain, Tom Robinson, 9 Bach, Nizlopi, Nell Bryden, Roy Bailey, Nancy Kerr, Andy Kershaw, etc.
www.towerseyfestival.com

45) Watchet Live
Aug 26-28Watchet, Somerset
Price: £72.50
Tenth anniversary of a friendly fest that punches way above its weight: UB40, The Feeling, Peter Hook & The Light, Dreadzone, 3 Daft Monkeys, Geno Washington and the Real Thing are among those slated to take part. Pro tip: take the time to explore this underrated coastal town, starting in the free-but-fascinating boat museum, then around the corner for fish ‘n’ chips on the sheltered harbour, next to the statue dedicated to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner.
www.watchetfestival.co.uk