Festivals By Month / festival guide
5 festivals happening in April 2018
Your guide to the festivals happening in Bristol and further afield this month.
Local
April 18-30
Cheltenham Poetry Festival
Cheltenham
Price: various
www.cheltenhampoetryfest.co.uk
Celebration of all things stanza-related, including slam specialists competing for the Cheltenham Poetry Festival Cup at the eighth annual Slamageddon, Fiona Sampson outlining her Map of Contemporary British Poetry and the splendidly-titled Write More Depressing Poetry with Miserable Malcolm. Anyone seeking a little hair of the doggerel is steered towards the pub-based Bar Room Bards, wherein Gloucester Uni performing arts students recite “alcohol-inspired poems by intoxicated dead poets”.
Bristol24/7 recommendation:
April 20-22
Bristol New Music
Bristol
Price: various
www.bristolnewmusic.org
Excellent lineup of forward-thinking musicians pushing their respective envelopes all over the shop. Most intriguingly, Charles Hazlewood’s Army of Generals and the British Paraorchestra take the sonic opportunities afforded by Colston Hall’s foyer to new heights, with musicians installed on all four levels to explore the mechanics of Steve Reich’s The Four Sections. Elsewhere, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith takes her electronic pioneering into the former IMAX for some fully immersive visuals, Albuquerque natives A Hawk and a Hacksaw put Eastern European folk through a New Mexican filter, the Bristol Ensemble play out compositions from local uni graduates, there’s a musical recalling of the slave trade as Thierry Pécou’s Outre-Mémoire is played by Ensemble Variances, Evan Parker illustrates the joy of sax, and loads more besides.
National
April 14-15
Porthcawl Jazz Festival
Porthcawl, Wales
Price: individually priced, £10-£25
www.porthcawl-jazz-festival.com
Aka the Big Seaside Jazz & Blues Weekender. Shorn of a day this year, the better to follow a simple formula: Saturday is Jazz Day (headlined by the Darius Brubeck Quartet feat Dave O’Higgins) and Sunday is Blues Day, when Mississippi bluesman Sicknote Steve tops the bill.
April 20-23
Soul Weekender
Butlins, Minehead, Somerset
Price: £75 w/e
www.bigweekends.com
Excitingly, this year’s seaside soul meet is headlined by the singer of the finest ever British contribution to the genre: Red Light Spells Danger, by Billy Ocean. Tons more hits from him, of course, plus more from the likes of Shalamar, Jimmy James & The Vagabonds, Heatwave, Shakatak and Gwen Dickey-fronted Rose Royce.
International
April 13-15 & 20-22
Coachella
California, USA
Price: $429 w/e
www.coachella.com
Beyoncé returns to the Colorado Desert for what has become a regular Coachella headline slot, this time joined atop the bill by The Weeknd and Eminem.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
