UK Summer 2005 Festival Guide

So ‘The Summer’ is almost here again, you may already have your tickets to one of this years top festivals. Chances are if you don’t have yours yet, the only way you might get one is to search for some via the following link Got Tickets?. Every year festival tickets seem to sell quicker and quicker, with the Glastonbury sales a must mention for Trevor McDonald on the 10 o’clock news. What was the rate Glasto-tickets were sold at this year? – I heard a quote of “an average of 10 per second”, now that’s impressive. But for benefit of both the lucky haves and interested have-nots here’s a quick review of what this years festival scene has to offer…

The first recognised summer festival is at the very end of May, in the south and one that many may would consider to be a drug n’ dance music meet. Its Homelands, and its getting bigger and seems to be becoming more mainstream and diverse with every passing year. If the headliners at the Hampshire based event are anything to go by, with extremes from The Streets and Roots Manuva to the Human League, Homelands looks as if it may well become a more rounded music festival, whilst retaining its dance founded roots. Certainly a few may be tempted to Homelands’ Mattersley Estate venue by two of Zane Lowe’s hot picks for 05; in The Bravery and the almost genre straddling alt dance geek Mylo.

As we move into the warmer months we come to a the first of Summer 2005’s two weekends with coinciding shows. On the second weekend in June; at either end of the country we have the Download Festival, Donington (which for the uninitiated is near Derby) and the Isle Of Wight Festival. A first look at the Download line-up pretty much sums up this gig, a metal feast with Feeder thrown in for good measure to balance out the old school howl of Iron Maiden and Motorhead, plus loveable foul mouth fronted and reformed Black Sabbath. Megadeth bring more metal, whilst a weekend highlight could be System of a Down exemplified by the all round nuttiness of enigmatic vocalist Serj Tanakian. Isle of Wight Festival boasts a much broader mix of music. Whilst Ozzy is singing about his paranoia up North, island hoppers will be treated to an assorted line up. Varying from chart touching melodies with Feeder and Embrace to the beats of Faithless, and boasting the unmistakable voice of Michael Stipe and his world famous headliners REM, Isle of Wight Fest is the everyman of the season. Although perhaps not the strongest line-up of recent years (particularly after 2004’s appearance by The Who!) the Newport outskirts based event has a great relaxed atmosphere and is steeped in the memory of the its famous 1960’s origins. While not as high profile as its peers in Somerset and Berkshire, it’s a good bet for your money for overall summer festival experience. As a two time veteran (my parents didn’t meet till the late 70’s!) I can highly recommend the IOW festival for having a great location, in that you travel there by ferry, your always close to the beach and thus feeling like a short holiday. At the time of writing weekend tickets are still on sale, so grab yourself a ticket and enjoy.

The third weekend in June again has overlapping concerts; in the relatively newborn Hyde Park show Wireless 2005 and the Summers’ biggest and arguably the worlds most prestigious outdoor concert – GLASTONBURY (you all know the name). Firstly (and shortly!) Wireless will no doubt have a large turnout in its green London setting, with accompanying background music from Keane, New Order, Basement Jaxx and buzz band Kasabian. With additional bands still to confirm its also a lower priced choice (£35 per day - day ticket only), but has no campsite – the money saved could well be spent on a London hotel (or trip to Soho?). Moving on to the biggest hitter, what can we expect from this years Glasto, perhaps this year no mud? I could carry on about superb previous years or the Glastonbury history, but I’ll leave that for the usual (and pretty similar year after year) TV coverage to describe in June (and lets face it TV is where most of us will watch it - the speed it sold out). All I’ll do is describe what’s whetting my appetite with a few simple sentences…

i) This year the line-up is so big its almost a ‘who’s not here’ list, quality throughout (check the full line-up here).
ii) Arguably 2004’s biggest breakthrough (and perhaps most anglicised Americans?) The Killers are headlining.
iii) Possibly the country’s biggest band are the top billing, and likely to be showing off new material – do I need to name them? The singer has a child named after a fruit?

Moving into July we have our Northernmost festival T In The Park, the premier Scottish summer music event. For those that don’t know T in the Park takes place in Kinross, which is a small town near Perth in east Scotland. Fest-goers cooking haggis over the camp fire will be treated to Green Day, The Streets, Keane and Kasabian. The highlight of this tartan show may be the soon to be octogenarian James Brown strut his stuff on stage, for both the music and spectacle.

Closing out the season in the final weekends of August are arguably the two most commercial festivals, both have northern and southern legs. V95 was the first V Festival and after a couple of location changes V2005 celebrates a tenth anniversary now settled in Chelmsford, Essex and Weston Park near Telford. From a cast featuring Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Embrace (yes they’re here too!) and Maroon 5, the immediate jump outs are Oasis and Dizzee Rascal. It will be interesting to see how the London based Mercury prize winner we be received, but could prove a real surprise high spot. With top billing, Oasis’ highly lauded new material and great back catalogue, their Sunday evening set could prove a real building block on the Gallacher brothers rise back into the front of the public minds and ears. There is certainly the right kind of buzz in guitar driven music at the moment, meaning this could be one of the most eagerly anticipated performances of the year.

The alternative (in both senses of the word) festival with stages in both the North and South is the Carling Weekend, or Reading and Leeds to most people. This year in addition to the three days of main stage and as yet unconfirmed Carling Tent action, there is a comedy tent and more importantly a Radio1 tent, which showcases upcoming highly rated rock including recent US breakthrough Arcade Fire and potential “new UK band of 2005” - Bloc Party. This year the promoters appear to have left off a possible bottle throw inducing act such as 50 Cent (or is it Fiddy?), though there are rumours of Snoop and Pharrel being added, I think they could carry it off intact. Headline wise Carling Weekend has The Killers wanting to cement a UK fan base, Foo Fighters with Dave Grohl itching to perform new material and Marylin Manson to give the complete performance even if your not a fan.

Overall the range and quality of festivals seem to be growing each year, the demand is certainly there, and this coupled with a rebirth of British rock (and ‘real music’) seemingly upon us - things seem to be looking up big time. I hope this was interesting reading, on a personal note I can now sit and await the sun with my Summer choice - an Isle of Wight ticket in hand, I just hope I don’t get so sunburned this year!

Matt signing off.