Culture

2013 festival picks

Debbie struts her stuff  ©Kew the Music

Didn’t bag tickets to Glastonbury Festival in the resale? Not to worry. There are so many more to check out around the country, and no country does music festivals quite like England.

Where else can you take a dip in a hot tub after dancing the night away at a masquerade ball, sing along with Elton John while dressed as an octopus and see 1980s icons perform in sub-tropical surroundings?

Kew the Music, London (9 – 14 July)

Head to Kew Gardens in South West London for a city festival with a botanic backdrop. The star-studded line-up takes place over six days and includes Blondie, Mod-rocker Paul Weller, pop princess Leona Lewis, new romantic icons Human League, boogie-woogie king Jools Holland, and folk band Bellowhead joined on stage by Billy Bragg. Add a VIP spin to your evening by booking a BBQ feast in the Pavilion Restaurant or really push the boat out with dinner in Marianne North Gallery, a newly refurbished former Victorian treasure house. If you don’t have the funds of a rockstar, you can munch on a pre-ordered picnic hamper instead while watching the ever-sultry Debbie Harry strut her stuff.

Sheep always steal the show at Latitude ©Festival Republic

Latitude Festival, Suffolk (18 – 21 July)

Pink sheep, award-winning comedians and big-name bands are all part of the package at this boutique festival in the Suffolk countryside. See Kraftwerk put on electrifying spectacle, roll around laughing on the grass as Sean Lock and Dylan Moran take to the comedy stage and dance the night away in the woods with late-night DJs. For those who’d rather be tucked up in their tipi by midnight, there’s an eclectic arts line up to check out too, including a theatre arena, a poetry tent and a pop-up cinema where you can indulge in all things David Bowie.

Crowd-surfing bands come as standard ©Georgina Martin

Tramlines, Sheffield (19 – 21 July)

Sheffield’s has a cracking live music scene, with Pulp, The Arctic Monkeys, Human League and Reverend and The Makers all harking from the Yorkshire city. Come summertime the city is transformed into a bustling festival site as over 80,000 music lovers get up close to famous bands, DJs and some of the finest up-and-coming local talent causing a raucous everywhere from local pubs to landmark venues. Tramlines, now in its fifth year, promises to be the best yet with the biggest line-up to date, an expanded dance music programme, street theatre area along with the return of the Folk Forest, the Buskers Bus and the Blues and Ale Trail. Oh and best of all, it will only cost you £6 a day!

Flags at the ready! ©VisitBritain

The Proms, London (July – September)

Admire the glorious sounds of Mozart, Bach and the likes at the world’s best classical music festival as sumptuous notes fill the summer air in London. The bulk of the events take place at the Royal Albert Hall, the beating heart of the Proms but there are a plethora of events taking place in surrounding London concert halls too. For a cheaper option, fill your picnic basket with sausage rolls and plenty of Pimms, drape yourself in Union Jack bunting and get ready for lots of flag-waving and sing-songs in Hyde Park. This patriotic party signals the end of the season, with a live video link-up to Albert Hall broadcasting a mix of classical andmodern sounds from high-profile orchestras and musicians.

It’s not all about the music ©Wilderness

Wilderness Festival, Oxfordshire (8 – 11 August)

A ticket to Wilderness is like a ticket to a mini paradise where art and nature collide. The creators of Secret Garden Party bring their utopian vision to the luscious Oxfordshire countryside every August, and it’s a vision alive with swirling trapeze artists, fanciful feasts and live theatre. Unlike other festivals, Wilderness gives as much attention to food, theatre, wellbeing, literary arts and the great outodoors as it does to live music. So not only can you catch the likes of Noah and the Whale and Ghostpoet, you can also but you can also flutter your fan at a masquerade ball, talk outer space with the Royal Observartory, whip-up culinary delights at a cookery school and relax in a spa perched beside a lake.

Dance the weekend away at Bestival ©Liz Gander

Bestival, Isle of Wight (5 – 8 September) 

Pull on your glad rags, douse yourself in glitter – Bowie style, and dance the weekend away at a three-day long party. Every September Rob da Bank’s Bestival sends off summer with an eccentric English bang. Where else can you find pole dancing robots, a Women Institute tea and cake tent, a Bollywood cocktail bus, a ‘Knees up Tent’ cabaret tent, an inflatable church and a cinema hidden in the forest all nestled together side by side on an island? And we haven’t even mentioned the annual fancy dress theme yet or the big name acts which this year includes Elton John, Snoop Dog and Franz Ferdinand.