Festival fever strikes Britain, many hungover.

Glastonbury

Yes, once again, it’s that time of the year. Summer is rapidly approaching and with it comes press release after press release pimping the lineups of the nation’s festivals. We’re lucky in Britain to have experienced such a vast proliferation of small independent festivals alongside the normal Glastonbury/Reading/T in the Park troika, so let’s take a look at some of the contenders for your yearly time-in-a-tent quota, along with a couple of one-day and city-based festivals that have piqued our interest.

April

Hinterland (3rd, Glasgow)
Glasgow pulled a stunner with this one last year, and this year is shaping up nicely too, with British Sea Power, The Wave Pictures, Johnny Foreigner, The Boy Who Trapped The Sun and Pulled Apart By Horses all performing.

May

Wood (21st-23rd, Oxfordshire)
Truck sister festival looking good for this year, with Frank Turner, Tunng, Peggy Sue and Fionn Regan.

July

Latitude (15th-18th, Suffolk)
As already reported today, shaping up to be a decent year, with Belle & Sebastian, Grizzly Bear, The National and Rodrigo y Gabriela all lined up.

2000trees (16th-18th, Gloucestershire)
The festival that’s inciting heart palpitations and heavy breathing from the SK team, this year featuring Frank Turner, Chris T-T, Crazy Arm, The Dawn Chorus, Jim Lockey, Bombay Bicycle Club (and so forth…)

Secret Garden Party (22nd-25th, Cambridgeshire)
Another eclectic lineup here: Mercury Rev, Gorillaz Sound System, Marina and the Diamonds, Panda Su, and Pearl & The Puppets.

Truck (23rd-25th, Oxfordshire)
Details are still sketchy, but the Oxfordshire festival rarely disappoints. All we know at this stage is that Danish eccentrics Mew have confirmed.

Field Day (31st, London)
As one-dayers go, Field Day is up there with the best of them. This year, expect Phoenix, Lightspeed Champion, No Age, Esben & The Witch, These New Puritans and more.

September

Bestival (9th-12th, Isle of Wight)
A quite ridiculously expansive lineup, including (among others) Four Tet, Tunng, Gil Scott Heron, The xx, Mumford & Sons, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Beth Jeans Houghton and Three Trapped Tigers.

Disappointingly, nothing yet to be heard from Big Chill, Y Not, Cambridge Folk Festival or Wickerman. You’ll know when we do.

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