Alternative UK Rock Festival Guide
A Look at Some of the UK's Less Well Known Rock & Indie Festivals
Apr 7, 2008
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 2008: 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: 4th-6th July
Where: Stoke Park, Guildford
Headliners: The Levellers, Blondie, Australian Pink Floyd Show
Best of the rest: Kula Shaker, Cerys Matthews, Freak Power, From The Jam, Bowling For Soup, Dodgy, The Damned, Dreadzone
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 decent comedy line-up, including stand-up and the Whose Line Is It Anyway? improv show.
When: 30th May-1st June
Where: Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire
Headliners: The Proclaimers, The Divine Comedy, The Imagined Village featuring Billy Bragg
Best of the rest: Robyn Hitchcock & The Psychedelic Trams, Dreadzone, John Hegley, The Epstein, The Blockheads, Palladium, Transglobal Underground
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: 25th-26th July
Where: East Kirkcarswell, near Dundrennan, Southwest Scotland
Headliners: Gary Numan, others to be confirmed
Best of the rest: Dodgy, Dub Pistols, Sonic Boom Six, Alabama 3, The Cuban Brothers, Hugh Cornwell, Miles Hunt, Dream Machine
The Bulldog Bash: Line-up and Details
What: Run for bikers by bikers (the Hell's Angels-run security consistently ensures the event is both safe and far more trouble-free than other events of its size), The Bulldog Bash is about more than just bands. Yep, there'll be grizzly rock acts aplenty but they'll be competing for attention with drag racing, stunts, custom bikes and decidedly un-PC attractions like the topless bike wash and wet T-shirt competitions.
When: 7th-10th August 2008
Where: Shakespeare County Raceway, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Headliners: None confirmed as yet.
Best of the rest: See above and watch this space.
The Rip Curl Boardmasters Unleashed 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: 8th-9th August
Where: Watergate Bay, Newquay
Headliners: Groove Armada, The Pigeon Detectives
Best of the rest: Audio Bullys, Morcheeba, Natty, The Black Seeds, The Futureheads, Reverend and the Makers, The Young Knives
Click here for updated 2009 line-ups and details.
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