49 festivals happening in August 2018

We’re well into festival season now but some of the best local, national and international events are still to come. Here’s our roundup of the ones you don’t want to miss this month:

Local

Aug 2-5
Fieldview Festival
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Price: £75 w/e
www.fieldviewfestival.co.uk
Twelfth outing for this charity-giving, keenly green fest. There’s a predominantly local feel to the lengthy music lineup – the splendid Eva Lazarus, for example – plus shisha bar chill-out areas, busking, crafts and workshops.

Aug 2-5
Green Gathering
Chepstow, Wales
Price: £100 w/e
www.greengathering.org.uk
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 and solar panel wiring; how to set up your own co-operative housing; live music; permaculture; healing area and a musical lineup with an old school festival feel. Headliners include 3Daft Monkeys, Nik Turner, The Majestic, Echo Town, Poisoned Electrick Head and Dragonsfly.

Aug 3-5
Outcider Festival
Compton Martin, Somerset
Price: £69 w/e
www.outciderfestival.co.uk
Fifth anniversary for the happy splicing of sounds and cider, where a brace of barns host 30+ acts including Random Hand, Funke & The Two Tone Baby, Skimmity Hitchers and The Scribes.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 3-5
Valley Fest
Chew Valley
Price: £110 w/e
www.valleyfest.co.uk
Hobbyhorse gymkhana, Junior Jungle, Mr Potato Head sculptures, loads of fancy dress – yes, this is a seriously family friendly affair. Food is key, as befits its organic farm location.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 4
Redfest
St George’s Park, Redfield
Price: free
www.redfestbristol.co.uk
After last year’s spilling out along Church Road, the lovely community fest returns to one of Bristol’s most under-appreciated spots, the glory that is St George’s Park. Expect to find 20,000 fellow festival-goers,  drawn by multiple stages of music and performance.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 9-12
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Ashton Court Estate, Bristol
Price: free
www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk
People come in from all over the world for this one, and not just the pilots. After Albuquerque, its mass ascents of approx 130 balloons is the biggest number to be found anywhere – hence the crowds of half a million who annually flock to see it. Not bad for an event with its roots on the back of the proverbial fag packet. “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.” Weather permitting, the ascents for the 40th fiesta will take place at 6am/6pm, augmented across the weekend by music-soundtracked night glows, air shows, fairground, live music, displays, tons more besides.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 16-18
ArcTanGent
Compton Martin, North Somerset
Price: £99 3 days
www.arctangent.co.uk
A magnet for all those music lovers who are hard of easy listening. Long time experts in bringing in bands with a penchant for angularity, abrasiveness and/or complicated time signatures, organisers have rather excelled themselves this year. Thus, UK festival exclusives from Glassjaw, Shellac and Pelican, the first ever show in Europe – just the 17 years after forming – by Massachusetts math rockers GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES!, plus And So I Watch You From Afar, LA Dispute, Arcane Roots, Alpha Male Tea Party, Rolo Tomassi, Jamie Lenman and lots more.

Aug 16-Sept 2
Castell Roc
Chepstow
Price: various
www.castellroc.co.uk
Traditionally like a curate’s egg without the nice bit, this annual series of one-off gigs lines up in 2018 with: Dr Hook, the Magic of Motown, King King, Leo Sayer (pretty sure that one could be hyped as a festival exclusive), Alabama 3, The Shires, The Dualers, Craig Charles, tributes to George Michael and Michael Jackson, plus a Led Zep tribute band billed as “A chance to head back to the headbanging days of the 80s and 90s…” The castle is lovely, mind.

Aug 31-Sept 2
Didmarton Bluegrass Festival
Kemble Airfield, Glos
www.didmarton-bluegrass.co.uk
Evergreen local fest with a tried and tested formula: lots of bluegrass, blues, Americana, rockabilly, folk, plus instrument workshops, Appalachian dance displays.

National

Aug 2-5
Bestival
Lulworth Estate, Dorset
Price: £171 w/e
www.bestival.net
Second year at Lulworth for the former Isle of Wight get together. Anyone with a fear of forced jollity is advised to approach with caution, but anyone with a penchant for partying it up in day-glo, glitter and sequins is liable to have a ball. And should take note that this year’s fancy dress theme is ‘the circus’. Music-wise, acts include M.I.A., Jimmy Cliff, Chaka Khan, Grace Jones, Plan B, First Aid Kit, Thundercat and Idles.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 2-5
Cambridge Folk Festival
Cambridge
Price: £175.50
www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk
54th outing for this venerable institution, having launched at the height of the British folk boom, and thus the daddy of the modern folk fest. A tad stuffy by reputation, it’s changed quite a bit over the years to become more forward-thinking than some of its traditionalist peers – see, for instance, 2011’s establishing a dedicated stage – The Den – for young performers to showcase their talent. And then there’s The Hub, where young musicians can take part in workshops, sessions and perform. Old school ties haven’t been broken  – The Club Tent is a link to the local folk club scene cross the country – but the new broom extends to the main music bill and the commissioning of guest directors. Rhiannon Giddens from Grammy-scooping Carolina Chocolate Drops takes on the role this year, taking an admirably broad definition of ‘folk’ to bring on Patti Smith as festival headliner, backed by the likes of John Prine, Rosanne Cash, First Aid Kit, Janis Ian, Eric Bibb, Songhoy Blues, Kate Rusby and  Eliza Carthy.

Aug 2-5
Wilderness
Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire
Price: £179.50
www.wildernessfestival.com
At Wilderness there’s a tent with a “hyperrealism theme” hosted by Veuve Clicquot. Pub bands playing off the back of a flatbed truck it ain’t. Instead, a long-table banquet hosted by Nuno Mendes, nature walks, literary talks, panel debates, circus stuff, as much pampering as you can shake an organic hemp towelling robe at, and music including Nile Rodgers, Baxter Dury, Bastille, Jon Hopkins and Kamasi Washington.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 3-27
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Price: various
www.edfringe.com
The figures are staggering. Last year’s 70th anniversary running of the event saw 53,232 performances of 3,398 shows at about 300 venues; sales topped £4.3m and audiences surpassed 450,000. Unsurprisingly, then, it’s the centrepiece of the year for pretty much any comedian or theatre company you care to mention. You don’t even have to visit to benefit from it, as Wells Comedy Festival founder, Ben Williams, explains: “This country is different to others because we have the Edinburgh Fringe, and people are trying to write a new hour of material to take there. In America, people hone their eight minutes for years until it’s the best it can be for a spot on Conan O’Brien or whatever, but over here comedians are constantly churning out material.”

Aug 3-27
Edinburgh International Festival
Price: various
www.eif.co.uk
This is the 71st anniversary of a festival that pulls together an awful lot of theatre, dance, music and comedy. Highlights from all ends of the spectrum include City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Django Djang, Nicola Benedetti, St Vincent, captivating family-friendly dance from Hocus Pocus and a production of Waiting for Godot that has been called it “greatest production for 25 years”.

Aug 3-10
Sidmouth Folk Week
Sidmouth, Devon
Price: £135 w/e, £307 week
www.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk
Grand old lady of the folk fests, having begun in 1955 and today boasting over 700 events. Main acts are ticketed – Fairport Convention, Cara Dillon, Eliza Carthy, Kathryn Tickell, Jim Moray,  etc – but hang around the town and you’ll find gratis ents aplenty, from morris sides doing their thing up and down the promenade to some proper-job finger-in-the-ear singarounds in local hostelries. You’ll also find ceilidh dances, processions, social dance bands and callers, and a children’s fest.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 4-6
Brighton Pride
Brighton
www.brighton-pride.org
Britney’s playing this year. Did you hear? The biggest Pride event in the country offers a Pride village party, Pride diversity games, Pride pleasure gardens and a new venture: LoveBN1Fest 2018 (Aug 5, £27.50) will be headed by Nile Rodgers and help raise funds for the Pride Social Impact Fund.

Aug 8-12
Boardmasters
Newquay,Cornwall
Price: £154 w/e
www.boardmasters.co.uk
Catfish & The Bottlemen, Chemical Brothers, George Ezra, Annie Mac, Songhoy Blues, Craig David’s TS5, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Kano, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man and Grandmaster Flash are among the musical guests at this year’s venture to the Cornish coast. Expect a mix of  seaside fun – surf, skate, BMX and fuckloads of oysters – with your more traditional festival fare including a holistic tent and yoga.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
August 8-12
Starry Skies
Near Usk, Monmouthshire
Price: £159
www.starry-skies.net
Lovely new site on a family farm, familiar USP: “Where the kids run free,” goes the festival’s tagline, with the organisers adding: “We want Starry Skies to be the place that parents finally get some ‘me-time’; time to relax, unwind and rejuvenate. Or even better do nothing, pour yourself a drink, close the zip of your tent and get stuck into that book that’s been gathering dust on your bedside table.” Those roaming options are rather fine: the site is set in acres of beautiful woodland, and boasts an Iron Age fort, rolling green meadows and a rustic old barn. Ents of a more organised nature come in the form of an all-ages Forest School, offering drama, dance, fancy dress and a family sports day. That, and extra-curricular fun such as canoeing, orienteering, giant sandpit, talent show, woodland playground, yoga, arts and crafts, storytelling, live music, etc. Important note for attendees: this year’s fancy dress disco theme is ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’.

Aug 9-12
Bloodstock Open Air
Walton on Trent, Derbyshire
Price: £145
www.bloodstock.uk.com
Gathering of metal clans, where Judas Priest, Gojira and Nightwish are the headline draws.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 9-12
Boomtown Fair
Winchester, Hampshire
www.boomtownfair.co.uk
The tenth chapter of this happily debauched affair sold out six months ahead of party time. Guess we’ll all have our own views on whether that’s because Limp Bizkit are headlining.

Aug 9-11
Cropedy Convention
Cropredy, Oxfordshire
Price: £135
www.fairportconvention.com
Fairport Convention’s own fest offers a return to the more overtly folky after last year’s Divine Comedy/ Petula Clark/Trevor Horn Band excursion, bringing forth the likes of  The Levellers, Kate Rusby, Richard Digance, Oysterband, Al Stewart and Afro Celt Sound System. And as, er, convention dictates, the hosts will bookend events with a wee acoustic set on the Thursday and more indulgent farewell on the Saturday.

Aug 9-12
Lakefest
Ledbury, Herefordshire
Price: £95 w/e
www.lakefest.co.uk
Seventh outing on the old Big Chill site for this festival nestled at the foot of the Malvern Hills.  The Darkness and The Waterboys headline, along with with The Proclaimers, Marc Almond, Reverend and the Makers, Dub Pistols, Pop Will Eat Itself and Toploader.

Aug 9-12
Houghton
Norfolk
www.houghtonfestival.co.uk
Festival big on art and sculpture, as well as music, which will come from the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Craig Richards, Seth Troxler, Optimo and Joy Orbison.

Aug 10-12
Brecon Jazz Festival
Brecon, Wales
Price: various
www.breconjazz.org
35th outing for this venerable old gathering of parpers and plinkers, with the likes of the  Rhys Taylor Dixie Band, Andy Nowak Trio and Darius Brubeck Quartet taking to the stage.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 10-13
Solarsphere
Builth Wells
Price: £45
www.solarsphere.events
Very fine idea – and an awfully reasonable price – for a weekend’s festivalling. Making the most of its dark sky location, this is an astrocamp offering the opportunity for beginners and experienced amateurs to learn about all kinds of space-related topics via talks, workshops, photography and, naturally, loads of looking up. The only disappointment is the lack of wall-to-wall space rockers providing the musical element, which is in no way intended as a slight on Access All Areas, Dirty Flowers, our own Alien Stash Tin, or anyone else booked to add sonic accompaniment. Free camping if you arrive early enough.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 16-19
Green Man
Glanusk Estate, Wales
Price: £180 w/e
www.greenman.net
Consistently one of the loveliest festivals on the circuit, be it for the Sugar Loaf Mountain backdrop, the late night communal bonfires, the inbuilt Welsh beer and cider festival, or the attention to detail of offering things like a dedicated teen area and a science-focused area called Einstein’s Garden. There’s the option for a seven-day Settler’s Pass (£225) with discounts to local museums and organised walks to local waterfalls amongst other things. The calibre of the acts this year is impressive too: expect Joan As Police Woman, John Grant, Dirty Projectors, Public Service Broadcasting, Cate Le Bon, Teleman, The War On Drugs, Fleet Foxes, Jane Weaver  and our very own Beak>.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 16-19
Purbeck Valley Folk Fest
Purbeck, Dorset
Price: £106 w/e
www.purbeckvalleyfolkfestival.co.uk
The Richard Thompson Electric Trio is the clear musical highlight here, though four more visitors to the farm have been nominated for BBC Folk Awards: Siobhan Miller, O’Hooley & Tidow, Elephant Sessions and Sam Kelly & the Lost Boys. Other ents include a poetry slam and a beard off (categories including fullest beard, most creative facial hair, etc).

Aug 16-19
Tribfest
Sledmere, East Yorkshire
Price: £85 w/e
www.tribfest.co.uk
Founded in 2007, and one of the biggest ‘let’s pretend’ ventures on the circuit, boasting more than
150 acts, unsigned tent, comedy tent, acoustic stage, silent disco, kids’ area, etc.

Aug 17-19
Beautiful Days
Exeter, Devon
Price: £142.50 w/e
www.beautifuldays.org
Six stage, family friendly affair established by the Levellers in 2003. The hosts will close the main stage on the Sunday, with Manic Street Preachers, The Hives, Gogol Bordello, Jazzy B, Suzanne Vega and British Sea Power on the bill too.

Aug 17-18
RiZE Festival
Hylands Park, Chelmsford
Price: from £115 w/e
www.rizefestival.co.uk
Newbie event moving into the site and calendar date of the late, unlamented V Fest. Similar kind of lineup, too, featuring the likes of Liam Gallagher, Rita Ora, Stereophonics, James Bay, Craig David, Bastille, Plan B, Manic Street Preachers and Rag’N’Bone Man.

Aug 23-26
Creamfields
Halton, Cheshire
Price: £220
www.creamfields.com
Old DJs never die, they just become increasingly likely to be booked for Creamfields. Among those struggling to remember whether they left the gas on are Fatboy Slim, Leftfield, Armand van Helden, Annie Mac, Carl Cox, Rudimental, Faithless, Goldie, Mistajam and Roni Size.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 23-27
Frightfest
Leicester Square, London
www.frightfest.co.uk
A plethora of unsettling horror/sci-fi/thriller films make up the programme, including the wonderfully-named Ghost Mask Scar, Wolfman got Nards, and The Man who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot. You couldn’t make it up.

Aug 23-26
Shambala
Price: £189 w/e
‘Secret Location’, Northamptonshire
www.shambalafestival.org
There’s  a theme, of course. ‘Avant Garden’ this year, with organisers willing you to “think human venus fly traps, troops of iridescent disco dancing beetles and a ballet of nectar-drunk, neon hummingbirds”. All reeling around a dozen-ish stages holding 200 acts, including This is The Kit, Gentleman’s Dub Club, DJ Krust, Last Poets, Ozomatli ft Chali 2Na and Zara McFarlane. Everything is very green-focused, naturally, and there’s a particularly fine kids’ area in the shape of Playtopia.

Aug 24-26
The Big Feastival
Alex James’ Farm, the Cotswolds
Price: £179.50
www.thebigfeastival.com
Alex James and Jamie Oliver run this one. So, with only the scantest of apologies, last year’s overview of this event is no less pertinent in 2018 and we’re going to run it again. It begins with an extract from the memoir of the Blur bassist/artisanal cheesemaker, 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 …” If any part of you thinks ‘Mmm, he sounds like a lovely host, 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.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 24-27
Greenbelt Festival
Boughton House, Northamptonshire
Price: £155
www.greenbelt.org.uk
One of just three UK fests to win a three-star rating from A Greener Festival (2017 saw an impressive 16 per cent reduction in fuel use), this young person-focused gathering is the kind of event that threatens to give religion a good name. Ostensibly a Christian music festival, in essence it’s a brilliantly programmed festival aimed at giving inquisitive minds plenty to think on.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 24-27
Manchester Pride
Price: various
www.manchesterpride.com
A long-established Pride, based around the lovely canal-side gay village, and including a big old parade (Aug 25) and candlelit vigil (Aug 27).

Aug 24-26
Reading & Leeds Festivals
Berks and Yorks
Price: £205 w/e
www.readingfestival.com
A full decade on from Jay Z topping the Glastonbury bill and still there’s a sludge-brained section of festival goers opposed to hip hop headliners; such was the general takeaway from the reaction to Kendrick Lamar being announced as heading the 2018 lineup. Except it isn’t about hip hop at all, because Eminem headlined last year and there wasn’t even a murmur. So, what couldit be..?

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 24-25
Sea Change
Totnes, Decon
Price: £69
www.seachangefestival.co.uk
Gwenno, Lost Horizons, The Weather Station, Hookworms, Josh T. Pearson, Andrew Weatherall and Sweet Baboo are among the guests at this year’s discerning wee fest, with stages curated by the likes of Bella Union, Fire Records and Moshi Moshi. Also featuring restored film screenings, beer and cider festival, etc.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 24-27
Towersey Festival
Thame, Oxfordshire
Price: £129 w/e + £26 camping
www.towerseyfestival.com
The Proclaimers, Richard Thompson Electric Trio, Sharon Shannon Band and Martin Simpson are among those playing at the folk fest’s 54th outing. Tons for kids to do, and there’s a dedicated youth festival for attendees aged 12-25 (dance workshops, Roller Disco, themed dance nights, late night specials, comedy, etc).

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 30-Sept 2
End of the Road
Larmer Tree gardens, Dorset
Price: £179 w/e
www.endoftheroadfestival.com
Traditionally countryish/folkish/generally leftfieldish, though the bill seems to broaden in scope each year. Vampire Weekend, Feist, St Vincent and Yo La Tengo are the designated headliners, but there’s plenty to enjoy in the undercard, too: John Cale isn’t exactly promiscuous in festival land, then there’s Omar Souleyman, Ezra Furman, Jeff Tweedy, Fat White Family, Gruff Rhys, Julia Holter, Ariel Pink, This is the Kit, Hookworms and Idles.

Aug 31-Sept 2
The Big Fake Fest
Thoresby Park, Notts
Price: £65
www.fakefestivals.co.uk
Big bunch of tribbers including The Fillers, Oasish, Coldplace, The Police Force, New2 and Kings of Lyon.

International

Aug 1-11
Locarno Film Festival
Locarno, Switzerland
Price: various
www.pardolive.ch
Inaugurated in 1946 and welcoming up to 8000 cinephiles every year including everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Sir Anthony Hopkins, Quentin Tarantino to Jean-Luc Godard.

Aug 2-4
Wacken Open Air
Nr Hamburg, Germany
Price: 221€ w/e
www.wacken.com
The website homepage tells you a lot, where you’ll find a video of folk from across the world – the US, Kuwait, Chile, Russia, Japan and on – throwing the sign of the horns and gleefully proffering tickets for this magnet of the globe’s rock community; all drawn to eight stages hosting more than 100 bands, including Judas Priest, Nightwish, Running Wild, Sepultura, Skindred and Children Of Bodom.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 3-5
Off Festival
Katowice, Poland
Price: 290 PLN
www.off-festival.pl
Fully rounded arts fest – film, art, performance, poetry, etc – with music from the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Jon Hopkins, Aurora, Oxbow, Turbonegro and Grizzly Bear.

Aug 8-11
Brutal Assault
Prague, Czech Republic
Price: 84€
www.brutalassault.cz/en
Serving all styles of metal, with this year’s amp worriers including Ministry, Testament, Municipal Waste and the mighty Unsane.

Aug 8-15
Sziget
Budapest, Hungary
Price: 299€
www.szigetfestival.com
A full week of 1,000+ artists spread over 60 stages on an island in the middle of the Danube, this year playing host to the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Liam Gallagher, Lykke Li, Gogol Bordello, Wolf Alice, Dua Lipa and Arctic Monkeys.

Aug 9-11
Way Out West
Gothenburg, Sweden
Price: 1995 kronor
www.wayoutwest.se
Now here’s a trio worth travelling to see: Kendrick Lamar, Iggy Pop and Patti Smith. Slottsskogen park is the hub, but events fan out across many of the city’s clubs, churches, theatres and cultural centres, with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Lykke Li, Bonobo, St Vincent and Grizzly Bear also set to play.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
Aug 17-19
Lowlands
Biddinghuizen, Holland
Price: 165€ w/e
www.lowlands.nl
Temporary self-contained community boasting its own radio station, a daily newspaper, barber shop, campsites with hot showers and flushable toilets, etc, wherein 55,000 people congregate around 12 stages for a bunch of music, film, stand-up comedy, visual arts, literature, street theatre. Some decent fellow citizens, too, not least Gorillaz and Kendrick.

Aug 24-26
Rock en Seine
Paris, France
PrIce: 109€ w/e
www.rockenseine.com
One of France’s largest festivals, held in a park just outside the capital, this year headlined by Die Antwoord, Blackstar, Liam Gallagher, Justice, Macklemore, Post Malone and Bonobo.