48 festivals happening in June 2018

Your guide to the festivals happening in Bristol and further afield this month.

Local

June 1-30
Bristol Refugee Festival
Price: various
www.bristolrefugeefestival.org
A series of events evidencing just how much we have to gain from welcoming refugees and asylum seekers to our fair city, culminating in a festival-style takeover of Queen Square on June 24 with music, food, dancing and family-friendly fun for the whole community.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 1-3
Wychwood
Cheltenham Racecourse, Glos
Price: £165 w/e
www.wychwoodfestival.com
14th outing of the event that regularly scores a fleet of Best Family Festival nominations come awards time. Thus, a welter of making and playing workshops – puppetry, circus skills – and a dedicated kids’ literature festival welcoming authors and illustrators for a bit of chat and storytelling. Music-wise, you’re looking at the likes of Baxter Dury, Gipsy Kings, Shed Seven, The Go! Team and Field Music.

June 2
Let’s Rock Bristol
Price: £42
www.letsrockbristol.com
Just the single day of rocking the city back three decades this year, but it’s a bit of a treat while it lasts: The Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Marc Almond, Billy Ocean, ABC, Kim Appleby, The Blockheads and Fuzzbox are the pick of the bill.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 6-10
Bristol Comedy Garden
Price: various
www.bristolcomedygarden.co.uk
Headliners at this comedy extravaganza, which takes over Queen Square for the week, include Adam Buxton, Ross Noble, Milton Jones, Nina Conti, Miles Jupp, Shappi Khorsandi and Alan Davies, amongst many others in a side-splitting line-up. Local girl Jayde Adams flies the flag for Bristol, and there are plenty of up-and-comers who you can say you saw here first.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 6-July 29
Bristol Shakespeare Festival
Price: various
www.bristolshakespeare.org.uk
For anyone who ever found Shakespeare a pain in the Pericles, this is an event determined to give you a different point of view. Thus, a volunteer-run festival with a long and proud history of taking the Bard beyond the boards and out into the city’s woods, studios, theatres, parks, caves, boats and pubs.

June 8-10
Corsham Walking Festival
Price: various
www.corshamwalkingfestival.org.uk
A small of scale but large of variety communal clomp-along, book onto the various guided walks around Wiltshire’s picturesque countryside, including tours of the old Corsham Quarry Tramways and a chance to catch the splendid vistas between Box and Monkton Farleigh.

June 8-10
Home Farm Fest
Chilthorne Domer, Somerset
Price: £50
www.schoolinabag.org/homefarmfest
160 bands including Daytona, Roswell, DJ Myth, The Underdogs and Wessex Big Band will play across eight stages. There are also five bars, a silent disco, funfair, dodgems and a children’s area. All in attendance will be helping to raise significant funds for the excellent School in a Bag – last year alone brought in £73,000 for the charity providing stationery for impoverished children.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 9-10
Bristol Festival of Nature
Price: free
www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature
The river-based tie-in with Bath is gone (it had its own fest earlier in the month), but the 15th Festival of Nature remains the nation’s biggest free natural history event. Expect a plethora of nature-themed events for everyone from the youngest child to the most clued-in academic, across interactive exhibitions, music, workshops, talks and more.

June 11-17
Bristol Food Connections
Price: various
www.bristolfoodconnections.com
“Instead of investing a whole lot of time and resources in a village of white tents in the city centre which is ‘here today, gone tomorrow’,” explain the organisers. “The Food Connections team is putting our energy behind supporting a citywide partnership event”. Thus, 70+ venues will host the fourth outing of the culinary congregation, boasting over 100 events from street markets to supper clubs, pop-ups to parties and, of course, the BBC Food & Farming Awards.

June 12-17
Blue Sky Festival
Corsham, Wiltshire
Price: various, some free
www.blueskyfestival.org.uk
Plenty of free and family-centric events in a programme venturing across music, art, talks, literature, theatre, comedy and the like. Musicians include Rachel McShane and the Cartographers, plus there are author talks from the likes of kids’ favourite Ian Whybrow and comedy from The Scummy Mummies.

June 15-17
Bristol Volksfest
Birches Farm, Long Ashton
Price: £55 w/e
www.bristolvolksfest.co.uk
Mad Max is the theme for this year’s celebration of all things Volkswagen, taking in car demos, displays, BMX-ing, wall of death, urban art displays, and cinema. Musically-speaking you’re looking at the likes of Killer Queen, the Dutty Moonshine Big Band and The 45’s.

June 14-17
Forest Live
Westonbirt Arboretum, Glos
Price: various
www.forestry.gov.uk/MUSIC
Annually reliable branch of funding for the Forestry Commission. Singing out from beneath Westonbirt’s glorious canopy in 2018 we find, in order of headline night, The Script, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Paloma Faith and George Ezra.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 25-July 1
Keynsham Music Festival
Keynsham, Somerset
Price: free
www.keynshammusicfestival.co.uk
One of the largest free fests in the country – regularly pulling in 20,000 people – is right on our doorstep. Expect a programme ranging across all arts fields when the 2018 programme is announced. In the meantime, the one confirmed event is a biggie: a full-scale production of La Boheme in the park.

June 27-30
Cinema Rediscovered
Bristol
Price: various
www.watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered
Festival Co-curator Mark Cosgrove comments: “Other art forms have their temples – museums, galleries, opera house, theatres. For films, cinema is where they can truly come alive and be rediscovered.” Thus, a second running of the event putting classics and rarities back onto big screens at the Watershed, Cube and Curzon, among others. This summer’s festival includes a focus on Bristol-born director Mike Hodges (he of Get Carter fame), who will also be a guest at the weekend, plus a centenary celebration of influential French cinéphile André Bazin and a timely strand on female directors.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 30-July 15
Cheltenham Music Festival
Price: various, lots free
www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/music
Cheltenham’s loss is our gain: after a decade of programming one of the annual highlights of the classical calendar, Meurig Bowen put together this one last line-up before heading for more of similar at St George’s Bristol. More than 650 performers will be in town for this venerable fest, established in 1945, and beside the main events you’ll find talks and workshops, film screenings, and excursions into dance, world music, jazz, theatre and regular guided walks through the town. Some serious heft among the performances, including Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé bringing forth Elgar’s Symphony No 1; violin virtuoso, the Russian-born Israeli Maxim Vengerov, with a little Mendelssohn and Brahms; Sir András Schiff leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment through some wall-to-wall Haydn; Martyn Brabbins leading the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and former BBC Young Musician of the Year, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, in Elgar’s Cello Concerto; and supreme mezzo-soprano, Dame Sarah Connolly, with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.

June 30-July 1
Grillstock
Price: £53 w/e
www.grillstock.co.uk
Didn’t expect to see this one return after the restaurant chain went into administration last year, but a group of former company directors bought it out and here we are. Music from Black Grape, Brand New Heavies, Fun Loving Criminals, The Wandering Hearts and more will play to a backdrop of dozens of teams battling it out to become meat grilling champs. Plus attendees sampling the meat, craft beer, hotdog eating contests and more.

National

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 1-2
Field Day
Victoria Park, London
Price: £69 both days
www.fielddayfestivals.com
Back to being spread over two days, and with a new location – Brockwell Park, south of the river – to boot. The ‘Village Mentality’ area is thoughtfully designed to round up hipsters and any other overly hopped brain given to exotisising rural life (“Veg-heavy aesthetic, DIY village green stalls… milk the cow, anyone?”), leaving the rest of us free to enjoy a seriously good music lineup: Erykah Badu,
Loyle Carner, Tony Allen and Jeff Mills in collaboration, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Princess Nokia, Oumou Sangaré, etc.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 2
Camden Rocks
London
Price: £39.50
www.camdenrocksfestival.com
A concentrated day of wandering around some of the capital’s most esteemed stages – Electric Ballroom, Underworld, Dingwalls – and catching whatever you can from a 250-strong lineup. Among their number in 2018 we find Maximo Park, Public Image Ltd, Raging Speedhorn, Pop Will Eat Itself, Twin Atlantic, The Urban Voodoo Machine and Sonic Boom Six.

June 6-July 7
Eden Sessions
Eden Project, Cornwall
Price: various
www.edensessions.com
It’s getting on for 20 years since the Eden Project first opened its domes, and it’s still thrillingly unlike anything else on the planet. The same might be said of the mighty Bjork, headliner on the closing night of this year’s run of gigs (July 7). Your other 2018 options are the ironically-taxing-on-the-ear Gary Barlow (June 6); some plucky up-and-comers from Bristol called Massive Attack (June 15 and 16); an away leg for the Beautiful Days out fest featuring The Levellers, New Model Army, Reef, Dreadzone and Ginger Wildheart (June 23) and the insomniacs’ friend, Jack Johnson (July 5).

June 7-10
Eden Festival
Raehill Meadows, Dumfries and Galloway
Price: £119 w/e
www.edenfestival.co.uk
300 acts across 12 stages will feature in this, the tenth anniversary of this properly friendly non-profit fest. The seriously beautiful site hosts “auld Celtic drinking dens”, hammocks, dance and art sessions, cabaret and workshops, kids’ area, and a musical lineup including Groove Armada, Submotion Orchestra and, straight outta Croydon, DJ Super Hans.

June 7-17
Festival of Voice – Gŵyl y Llais
Cardiff
Price: various
www.festivalofvoice.wales
Second instalment of the festival dedicated to larynx love, and boasting quite the line-up: An Evening with Patti Smith, the world premiere of Super Furry Gruff Rhys performing with the 90th birthday-celebrating BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Laura Veirs, the Ivor Novello Award-winning Passenger, and an opening night celebrating Voices of Protest with Billy Bragg and Nadine Shah. Diverse community participation projects are central to the event, not least the one being undertaken by public art specialists, Artichoke, and 14-18 NOW: Processions will be a mass participation artwork to celebrate one hundred years of votes for women, with females of all ages invited to march through Cardiff’s streets to “create a living portrait of women in the 21st century”. Women and girls can register now via www.processions.co.uk.

June 7-10
Gottwood
Llanfaethlu, Anglesey
Price: £165 w/e
www.gottwood.co.uk
And so to the singular thrill of Gottwood. (Regulars: presumably the urge for innuendo becomes more flaccid over time? Because, to be honest, we’re finding it a bit hard.) Beauteous site, this, all set amid woodland sandwiched between coast and landscaped lake, where this year’s lovers of all things electronic will find the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Axel Boman, Mr Scruff Ben UFO and the Crazy P Soundsystem.

June 8-10
Download Festival
Donnington, Derbyshire
Price: £210
www.downloadfestival.co.uk
Unfailingly heavy-hitting heavy rock gathering, as evidenced by a 2018 bill headlined by Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne and Avenged Sevenfold, and an undercard featuring the likes of Marilyn Manson, Bullet For My Valentine and Black Stone Cherry.

June 8-9
Lemonfest
Newton Abbot Racecourse, Devon
Price: £48 w/e
www.lemonfest.co.uk
Initially all-dayer with a camping chaser, this is now a proper-job festival boasting six stages and a lineup featuring The Sugarhill Gang, the Hackney Colliery Band, Slamboree, Crazy P, Chali 2na & Krafty Kuts and plenty more.

June 8-10
Wimborne Minster Folk Festival
Wimborne, Dorset
Price: £50
www.wimbornefolk.co.uk
64 Morris dance teams already confirmed at press time for this fully old school folk fest, and that’s not including the likes of Appalachian clog dancing aces, Spank the Planks. Far as the music goes, the bill is headed by a trio of duos: Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman, Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar and Josie Duncan & Pablo Lafuente.

June 9
Junction 2 Festival
Boston Manor Park, London
Price: £45
www.junction2.london
Joy Orbison, Len Faki, Dixon, Nina Kraviz, Carl Cox and Adam Beyer are among those gathering beneath a motorway bridge and pretending to keep an eye out for party-busting cops in this evocation of original M25 rave culture.

June 9-10
Parklife Weekender
Heaton Park, Manchester
Price: £109.50 w/e
www.parklife.uk.com
In which Liam Gallagher returns to the site of a gig that helped define Oasis in their pomp. The xx, Skepta, N.E.R.D, A$AP Rocky, Lorde, Bonobo and Justice stand alongside at the summit of a very large bill indeed.

June 14-17
Sonic Rock Solstice
Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Price: £60 w/e
www.sonicrocksolstice.com
Wall-to-wall fuzz guitar and motorik riffing at the 16th annual space-rock extravaganza, this year lining up with bands including Capt Roswell & the Lost Alien Tribe, Evil Blizzard, Senser, Quantum Fantay, Sister Sandwich, Astralasia and Sonic Black Holes.

June 15-17
Goldcoast Oceanfest
Croyde, Devon
Price: £54 w/e
www.goldcoastoceanfest.co.uk
Chase & Status, Jess Glynne and Razorlight headline the 20th anniversary running of the jewel in Croyde’s event crown. But it isn’t all bad news – this fest is as much about the beach as it music, meaning plenty of opportunity for surfing, beach volleyball, beach soccer, surf life saving, open water swimming, etc.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 15-24
Meltdown
South Bank Centre, London
Price: various
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
“I am honoured and excited to be curating the 25th Meltdown,” says The Cure’s frontgoth, Robert Smith, pledging to bring forth “more than 30 of my all-time favourite artists – some of the most exciting, inspirational, intense and influential performers of the last 40 years”. It’s a weighty mantle to carry. MIA’s tenure last year was a return to the event’s historically cutting-edge formform after Guy Garvey’s 2016 beigefest, altogether more in keeping with a curator lineage including Jarvis Cocker, Patti Smith, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Ornette Coleman, Massive Attack, Nick Cave and John Peel.

June 15-17
Middlewich FAB Festival
Middlewich, Cheshire
Price: various, lots free
www.midfest.org.uk
FAB = folk and boat, wherein narrowboats and folk music folk converge for a big old weekend of traditional song and dance, street theatre, town parades, juggling, stalls, and so forth. No word on the lineup at press time, save for the unlikeliest headliner of this or possibly any other year: New Order and Joy Division covers, courtesy of the bands’ original bassist, Peter Hook and his new group, The Light. Surely worth it for Morris dancers attempting to wave hankies in the air like they just don’t care to, say, Atrocity Exhibition, or that dinky little paean to violent epileptic seizure, She’s Lost Control.

June 16-24
Polperro Festival
Polperro, Cornwall
Price: free
www.polperrofestival.co.uk
The tiny old fishing village generally sees around 50, mainly folk-centric acts play over the festival’s nine days. No word on who they might be at press time, but it’s probably a safe bet you’ll see an appearance from local faves the Polperro Fisherman’s Choir. Plus wares from the thriving art community, dance, and such splendid local traditions as a great big bonfire.

June 15-17
3 Wishes Faery Festival
Torpoint, Cornwall
Price: £99
www.fairyfestival.co.uk
“Every time a child says ‘I don’t believe in fairies,’” wrote J. M. Barrie, “there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.” We’d best get them replenished then, thought the organisers of this insufferable ‘gathering of the celtic faerie clans’. Much as we’re tempted to head to the courts in a bid to get the wretched thing closed down for false advertising – it promises ‘real unicorns’ ffs – we’re ultimately forced to recognise that it’s a free country and, if people want to spend their hard-earned and/or trust funds on faery school, who are we to stop them? See also faery meditation, faery procession, faery dog show and, because not even the most devoted faeryphile can stomach an entire weekend of the fluttery bastards, ‘mermaid magic’. That being said, and all attempts at live and let live aside, we’re pretty sure that ‘faery handfasting at the stone circle’ is a criminal offence.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 16-17
Afrika Oyé Festival
Liverpool
Price: free
www.africaoye.com
This is one of those festivals of such intrinsic quality that the line-up is almost secondary: the largest celebration of African music and culture in the country, entirely free, annually drawing crowds of 80,000. Quite some venue, too, entirely worth taking the time to explore in its own right: the 200 acres of graciously rolling landscape that is Sefton Park, including the historic glass-panelled Palm House. Expect music, DJs, dance, workshops and food stalls.

June 18-30
Gregynog Festival
Various venues, chiefly in Powys
Price: various
www.gregynogfestival.org
Evocative tale behind this, Wales’ oldest classical music festival, founded by sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies at their magnificent home – Gregynog Hall – in 1933. The philanthropic siblings had long since been trying to help develop music education in Wales, initially planning to establish a conservatoire. When the Great War put paid to that, Gwen and Madge contented themselves with endowing the future Master of the King’s Music, Henry Walford Davies, as first Gregynog Professor of Music at the University College of Wales. By 1929 they’d converted the billiard room into something altogether more suitable for music making and played host to the enduring giants of British classical music, Elgar, Holst and Vaughan Williams. A themed programme of music will run alongside drama, poetry, film, talks and exhibitions.

June 20-July 1
Edinburgh Film Festival
Edinburgh, Scotland
Price: various
www.edfilmfest.org.uk
Full of history – stretching back 71 years, it’s the world’s longest continually-running film festival – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t forward-looking. Right now, for instance, it’s clearly chuffed to announce Karen ‘Amy Pond’ Gillan as Patron of its The Young & the Wild strand, offering screenings and events for young audiences interested in filmmaking and the moving image industries. The programme isn’t due to be launched until the end of May, but we know the gist: 1,400 industry delegates, filmmakers and press folk convene for screenings of all that’s new in cineland.

June 21-24
Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight
Price: £209
www.isleofwightfestival.com
It’s fully 50 years since Jefferson Airplane headlined the inaugural Isle of Wight fest, sharing the bill with likes of Arthur Brown, The Move, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Fairport Convention. Here’s to Van Morrison remembering 1968 was also the year he released Astral Weeks and giving it a good live airing when he shows up for this year’s shindig, where he’ll be joined by Kasabian, The Killers, Depeche Mode, Liam Gallagher, Manic Street Preachers, Chase & Status, Nile Rodgers, Rita Ora, etc.

June 22-24
Black Deer Festival
Tunbridge Wells
Price: £140
www.blackdeerfestival.com
Inaugural outing for this Americana fest, “on a mission to not only bring real roots-inspired music to the UK, but also the way of life”. Iron & Wine, Passenger, Jason Isbell, Ward Thomas and Eric Bibb are among the first visitors.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 22-24
Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival
Falmouth, Cornwall
Price: mostly free
www.falmouthseashanty.co.uk
All hail Stan Hugill aka the Last Working Shantyman. In 1961 his epic work Shanties of the
Seven Seas collected all the songs he’d learnt directly from sailors and helped save folk’s most boisterous strand from obsolescence. This magnificent gathering finds it in rude health, one of the biggest maritime music festivals in Europe, welcoming 50+ shanty groups singing out on pubs and quaysides all over town. Plenty of beer-swilling, of course, oft soundtracked with appropriate songs to wash the grog down, but it’s by no means all about the booze. Besides loads for the kids to do, the fest takes its role as cultural guardian seriously, celebrating seafaring communities and minority languages along the Atlantic seaboard. Thus, the opportunity to learn shanties in Cornish, Basque, Welsh, Frisian, Scots and Irish Gaelic.

June 29-July 2
Southcider Festival
Burton Bradstock, Dorset
Price: £60 w/e
www.southciderfestival.com
Third outing for the scrumpy be-sozzled gathering, where the music comes courtesy of the likes of Whiskey Shivers, Holy Moly & The Crackers, Bad Touch, Captain Accident and The Disasters.

June 29-July 1, 6 and 8
TRNSMT Festival
Glasgow
Price: £260 for five days
www.trnsmtfest.com
Second year of the event apparently looking to replace the defunct T in the Park, although, as a series of single events with no camping, it’s hardly like-for-like. The tenor of the acts is similar, mind, with Stereophonics, The Script, James Bay, Kodaline, Jessie J, Liam Gallagher, Courteeners, Wolf Alice, J Hus, Krept & Konan, Gerry Cinnamon, Arctic Monkeys, Interpol, Blossoms, Nothing But Thieves, Declan McKenna, Miles Kane, and Tom Grennan, The Killers, CHVRCHES, Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, Jessie Ware, Lewis Capaldi and Hudson Taylor. Phew.

June 30-July 1
Exeter Respect
Price: free
www.exeter-respect.org
“The Respect ethos is a simple one,” say organisers. “Racism and prejudice often spring from fear, and fear is often based on ignorance, so let’s overcome ignorance by getting to know one another and sharing not shunning our cultures.” Thus, the 21st running of the tolerance-espousing event that generally pulls in 20,000 to watch a plethora of local acts take to some fittingly named platforms: Diversity stage, Inspire Stage, Stephen Lawrence Stage, etc.

June 30-July 1
Ramblin Man
Maidstone, Kent
Price: £156
www.ramblinmanfair.com
A classic rock festival in Kent? Sounds a bit peak Brexit for our liking. Still, between an awful lot of chugging guitars and synchronised ‘axe’ swinging, there are some decent musical highlights to be found here, including Mott The Hoople, The Cult, Steve Earle and – irony be damned, they’re straight up great – Chas & Dave.

International

June 7-10
Bonnaroo
Manchester, Tennessee, USA
Price: $324.50
www.bonnaroo.com
Welcome to a huge farm staging tons of acts from right across the arts spectrum: music, comedy, theatre, etc, plus parades, silent disco, classic arcade, etc. In many ways, then, it all sounds rather Glastonburyish. Couple of key differences. Firstly, getting to Tennessee involves a little bit more than pointing your car down the A37. In another respect, though, it’s kind of more accessible, what with it actually happening this year. Just comes down whether you think a bill headed by Eminem, The Killers and Muse is worth jetting off for.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 7-9
NoS Primavera
Porto, Portugal
Price: 105€ w/e
www.nosprimaverasound.com
Sharing both the Iberian Peninsula and a goodly number of acts, this is the seventh running for the younger sister of Barca’s big bash. Acts pushing on to Porto include Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The War On Drugs, Lorde, Father John Misty, A$AP Rocky, Jamie XX, , Mogwai and The Breeders.

June 25-29
Hideout Festival
Island of Pag, Croatia
Price: £139 w/e
www.hideoutfestival.com
Dance-centric programme of pool parties, boat parties, beach parties, all set to take place in close-to-guaranteed glorious climes on the Adriatic. Music-wise, you’re looking at the likes of Eats Everything, David Rodigan, Jamie Jones, Andy C, Chase & Status, etc.

June 27-July 4
Love International
Tisno, Croatia
Price: £135 eight day pass
www.loveinternationalfestival.com
Ben UFO, Joy Orbison, Bicep, Shanti Celeste, Crazy P Soundsystem, Four Tet and Horse Meat Disco will be among the visitors to this, the third running of a sun-kissed festival helmed by Love Saves The Day founders Dave Harvey and Tom Paine.

Bristol24/7 recommendation:
June 30-July 7
Roskilde
Roskilde, Denmark
Price: DKK 2100
www.roskilde-festival.dk 
Like Coachella or Primavera, Roskilde is one of those fests with almost as big a global profile as domestic. Thus, a 2018 bill featuring Eminem, Bruno Mars, Nine Inch Nails, Gorillaz, David Byrne, My Bloody Valentine, First Aid Kit, St Vincent, Fleet Foxes, Stormzy, Mogwai, etc.