Best Alternative UK Indie, Pop & Rock Festivals
A Look at Some of the UK's Less Well Known Rock & Indie Festivals
Apr 1, 2009
Tickets for Glastonbury sold out in a picosecond? Looking for an event attended by slightly less than the population of a small to medium city? Try this brief guide to some of the more overlooked dates on the UK festival circuit...
Guilfest 2009: Line-up and Details
What: A decidedly family-friendly festival (Guilfest won the Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards in 2006), this event boasts an extensive KidZone and mixes comedy, theatre and children's entertainment with rock, pop and alternative music for a truly eclectic line-up.
When: 10th-12th July
Where: Stoke Park, Guildford
Headliners: Motorhead, Brian Wilson, The Happy Mondays
Best of the rest: The Charlatans, The Wailers, Athlete, Nouvelle Vague, Imelda May, Eat Static, with many more to be added
The Wychwood Music Festival: Line-up and Details
What: Described by Time Out magazine as 'an excellent hybrid of the Big Chill, WOMAD and The Cambridge Folk Festival', the Wychwood is a chilled festival which also features a strong comedy line-up.
When: 29th-31st May
Where: Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire
Headliners: Super Furry Animals, Supergrass, Dub Colossus
Best of the rest: Super Furry Animals, The Wonder Stuff, John Jones, Danny & The Champions Of The World, Hoodlums, Alice Gun, The Beat, Kissmet, Bellowhead, Cara Dillon
Wickerman Festival: Line-up and Details
What: Like a mini-Glastonbury in its scope and eclecticism, this rapidly growing Scottish festival is set near many of the locations used in the classic 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man and culminates with the burning of its own thirty foot high wicker man on the Saturday – though without a screaming Edward Woodward inside.
When: 24th-25th July
Where: East Kirkcarswell, near Dundrennan, Southwest Scotland
Headliners: The Human League, The Zutons, Candi Staton
Best of the rest: Billy Bragg, Dreadzone, Zion Train, Utah Saints, The Dickies, Kid British, Pearl and the Puppets, Luva Anna, We Were Promised Jetpacks, UK Subs, Penetration
Relentless Boardmasters Festival: Line-up and Details
What: Running from 4th-10th August, Rip Curl Boardmasters is Europe's biggest combined surf, skate and music festival, incorporating the 2-day Unleashed music festival sandwiched in amongst the boarding action.
When: 5th-9th August
Where: Fistral Beach & Watergate Bay, Newquay
Headliners: The Streets, Cypress Hill
Best of the rest: Roots Manuva, The King Blues, Dan le Sac v’s Scroobius Pip, Master Shortie
Green Man Festival: Line-up and Details
What: A throwback to the hippy roots of the modern-day music festival, the site for the Green Man Festival has already been blessed by druids. This year’s festival will see more than 100 acts play psychedelia, folk, indie and americana across 5 stages, while they also promise that DJ’s playing everything from psychedlia, dub-reggae, modern electro and stoner rock will keep the party alive right through the night.
When: 21st-23rd August
Where: Glanusk Park Estate, Usk Valley, South Wales
Headliners: TBC
Best of the rest: Four Tet, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Three, Vetiver, Rodriguez, Andrew Bird, Joe Gideon & The Shark, The Phantom Band, Unicorn Kid, Beth Jeans Houghton, The Leisure Society, Wilco, Bon Iver, British Sea Power
Click here for a guide to the UK's bigger music festivals.
Or here for the biggest and best festivals mainland Europe has to offer.
