Didn’t manage to get a Glastonbury ticket? Don’t care, actually, didn’t want to go anyway? Fear not – there are plenty more fish in the sea. The
UK is the
music festival’s spiritual home, and this summer there is something to suit all tastes, from bubblegum pop to death metal, real-ale tents to spa treatments, day raves to five-day family camping trips. Soak in a hot tub at Wilderness, discover world music at Womad, headbang your heart out at Download, surf at Boardmasters or boogie at Secret Garden Party – here’s our guide to the best weekend parties this year, all over the country, that you can still buy tickets for now. Love Saves the Day Love Saves the Day is a joyful celebration of dance and electronic music in Bristol. This year, The Streets, whose first studio album in 12 years was released in 2023, and DJ Subfocus headline the Sunday, while Rudimental and Camelphat are up on Saturday. Buy day tickets or a weekend package and soak up the city in the meantime. Day tickets from £68, weekend packages from £120 Mighty Hoopla The
London pop festival Mighty Hoopla has gained a reputation as the biggest LGBTQ party of the year. Full of sequins, nostalgia, divas and big beats, the two-day event in Brockwell Park, which features as many DJs as live acts, is pure hedonism. This year the headliners are 2000s R&B star Nelly Furtado and modern disco icon Jessie Ware, while smaller stages feature the likes of B*witched, Bananarama, The Veronicas, Jodie Harsh and Cat Burns. Saturday is sold out, but you can still nab tickets for a Sunday bonanza. Sunday tickets from £70 Download A mecca for rock fans – from emo and pop-punk to grunge and death metal – Download delivers an all-star line-up every year, which sees 100,000 people flock to the midlands for a weekend of mud and headbanging. Heading up the main stage this year are Queens of the Stone Age, touring a 2023 album following a six-year hiatus, Fall Out Boy and Avenged Sevenfold, with other slots from Black Stone Cherry, The Offspring, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, and Bowling for Soup. Earplugs and eyeliner essential. Three-day camping tickets from £300; five-day from £322 Isle of Wight Festival Alongside Glastonbury, which takes place the same weekend, the Isle of Wight festival is a veteran in the UK music festival scene, with its first iterations taking place in the late 60s before a hiatus until 2002. It’s a mixed pop-rock line-up of classic festival fodder – with The Prodigy, Pet Shop Boys and Green Day headlining, alongside acts like The Darkness, Jessie J and Zara Larsson, there’s something for everyone. Weekend tickets from £270; reduced rates for locals and teens Outbreak Fest This small festival in Manchester, which launched in 2011, champions all things hip-hop, hardcore and alternative. You’ll be sure to discover plenty of hot new acts: on the bill to headline are US
Rapper Action Bronson, hardcore act Have Heart, and emo band
American Football with a 25-year anniversary set celebrating their debut album. This is a partly indoor affair, with no camping, and two-day packages or day tickets available; there’s also a market and street food onsite. Day tickets from £93.50 Love Supreme On the surface, Love Supreme is a jazz festival – but in reality it’s so much more. With multiple stages in a beautiful Sussex location, you are free to sit back in your camping chair all day as much as you could dance the night away. With big headliners (Chaka Khan, Olivia Dean, making her headlining debut, and Sananda Matreiya, FKA Terence Trent D’Arby, performing his first UK show in 22 years) and multiple smaller stages featuring the brightest and the best in global jazz acts, it’s a musical feast. Day tickets from £80; weekend camping from £190 Stendhal The island of Ireland’s largest independent festival takes place in Limavady, County Londonderry, and offers music, workshops and the arts for all ages. It’s set just off the coastal road so offers spectacular scenery as a backdrop for its acts, which range from indie rock to disco and soul. The line-up for this year is still TBA – last year’s featured The Wailers and
Irish rockers Bell X1 – but with street food,
comedy and art too, you won’t regret snapping up a ticket now. Camping tickets from £110 El Dorado Set in the rolling countryside of Herefordshire, El Dorado is a boutique dance music festival where you can expect to hear the best in house, techno, drum and bass, and everything in between. Billed as something of an immersive experience, festival-goers can party to the likes of “B.O.T.A” hitmaker Eliza Rose, Honey Dijon, Ross From
Friends and Horse Meat Disco. There’s also meditation, sound baths and hot tubs for the morning after the night before. Day tickets from £85; weekend camping from £230 TRSNMT For a big-name line-up in a city centre, you can’t go wrong with TRNSMT. There are old-school rockers like Liam Gallagher and Gerry Cinnamon, plus up-and-comers like Tom Grennan and
BBC Sound of 2024 winners The Last Dinner Party. To top it all off TRNSMT boasts some big-budget dance acts like Calvin Harris and Example; with four stages to choose from, you’ll forget you’re in the middle of Glasgow. Grab day tickets or commit to the whole weekend with a hotel package. Day tickets from £105 Latitude Middle-class it may be, but middle of the road it’s not – with hidden DJ tents in the woods, literature, comedy and multiple stages to choose from, Latitude is a cultural haven, with something for families, teens and grown-ups alike. Kasabian, London Grammar and Duran Duran – who in 2023 released their 16 th album – are on the bill this year – and don’t miss Jo Brand and Sara Pascoe in the always-packed comedy tent. Weekend tickets from £308, reduced rates for children and teens Secret Garden Party Lots of festivals promise surprises and mystique, but Secret Garden Party has managed to remain pretty… well, secret. With an undisclosed line-up and location, SGP diehards bank on a themed weekend of hedonism with a communal atmosphere and plenty of dancing. This year there is no main stage – and the theme is “Roots”, with SGP taking it back to something small and intimate, where it all began. Weekend tickets from £230 Camp Bestival For a sunny weekend of pop music you could do much worse than Camp Bestival, the cousin of the once-massive Bestival. Not quite as isolated or full-on as its ravier ancestor, Camp Bestival is down on the Dorset coast and focuses on feel-good acts – this year McFly, Paloma Faith and Pete Tong, along with the likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor and James Arthur. Pack a straw hat and grab a pint of West Country cider. Day tickets from £80, weekend camping from £232 Womad Womad is the UK’s biggest celebration of world music, and undoubtedly one of its most exciting and refreshing festivals. Headlining this year are 2023 Mercury Prize nominees (and former winners) Young Fathers, and on the line-up is a host of acts from every continent. An inclusive, joyful extravaganza of music. Three-day tickets from £210; four-day from £260; reduced rates for teens; u13s go free Wilderness Don’t be put off by the fact it’s David Cameron’s favourite festival. Alongside a stellar line-up – soul from Michael Kiwanuka, disco from Jessie Ware, electronic from Bicep and 90s rave from Faithless – it’s known for its excellent food and wellness areas, including spa treatments, exercise classes and wild swimming. A beautiful weekend in Oxfordshire of peace, love and, if you like, bougie brunch. Weekend tickets from £278 Boomtown Boomtown is a medium-sized festival that does things slightly differently – billed as a “city”, it’s structured around its different “districts” and huge number of diverse artists. It doesn’t release a line-up until closer to the time, but is known for booking the biggest and best acts across drum and bass, jungle, reggae and ska. This year’s theme is “Revolution of Imagination” – an excuse to dress up and get creative. Weekend tickets from £325 Boardmasters Nothing says “British summer” like the seaside, and nestled in beautiful Cornwall, Boardmasters is just the ticket. Its name says it all – right on the beach, it hosts surf competitions as well as music performances. This year it’s the laid-back home for big-budget pop acts like millennial pop superstar Sam Fender, plus grime favourite Stormzy and dance veterans Chase and Status. Day tickets from £95, weekend camping from £299 We Out Here A relatively new venture, having launched in 2019, We Out Here is quickly gaining a reputation as the UK’s coolest, most chilled-out festival. It’s uniquely placed for a day-to-night experience, with live acts Andre 3000, Sampha, Kae Tempest and Floating Points and DJs like Joy Orbison, Gilles Peterson and Shanti Celeste playing until the small hours. Go and enjoy the intimate boutique vibe before it gets any bigger. Weekend tickets from £240 All Points East Of all the day festivals that have popped up in London in recent years, All Points East is undoubtedly among the best. Taking place in Victoria Park, Hackney, each day offers a different vibe and draws a different crowd. This year, choose from Kaytranada, Loyle Carner, LCD Soundsystem, Justice and Death Cab for Cutie – or commit to a couple on the trot. Day tickets only, from £80 Reading & Leeds It’s gained a reputation for being the rowdy teen festival of choice, but there is still much to redeem Reading & Leeds: namely its consistently reliable line-up. Bridging the gap between Radio 1 stars and well-known rockers, this year’s headliners include blink-182, EDM darling Fred Again.. and Lana Del Rey, as well as Liam Gallagher, Catfish & the Bottlemen and Gerry Cinnamon. Festivals at the two locations take place at the same time, with the line-up altering only by day. Day tickets from £115; weekend camping from £325 Shambala Shambala festival, which celebrates a diverse range of music from around the world and markets itself as a multicultural, multicoloured party, has managed to retain an air of mystique. It undoubtedly draws a cool crowd of youngsters looking for a good time; equally, it takes its acts seriously and gives the opportunity to discover your new favourite band. The line-up is still TBA, but you can bank on lots of glitter and good vibes. Weekend tickets from £300 Victorious Victorious Festival in Portsmouth looks out over the sea. With off-site camping and day tickets, it’s more of a drop-in affair, allowing some respite from the crowds. As well as big-name party acts – Fat Boy Slim, Jamie T, Biffy Clyro, recently reunited Sugababes – there is a comedy headliner each night, this year Russell Howard, Frankie Boyle and Al Murray. Day tickets from £75; weekend camping from £210 End of the Road Marking the close of the season is the indie festival End of the Road, a relaxed, friendly paradise for music lovers, with a focus on local food and drink. It’s small, with only 15,000 tickets, and despite being almost 20, has managed to retain much of the folky feel it had when it began in 2005. Idles, Slowdive, Fever Ray and Bonnie Prince Billy are on the bill this year to round out the summer in style. Weekend tickets from £275