UK FESTIVAL GUIDE 2018

inSYNC UK Festival Guide 2018

Isle of Wight Festival – 21st-24th June – Seaclose Park, New Port, Isle of Wight

The elder of the UK festival scene, Isle of Wight Festival has a rich history dating back to 1968. Boasting former lineups with some of the world’s best artists, including Jimi Hendrix, the festival has built a stellar reputation for booking the globe’s biggest and best musicians. Despite the festival being cancelled in 1971, due to new licensing laws banning events of more than 5,000 from happening on the island, Isle of Wight Festival was revived in 2002.

This year, Isle of Wight will celebrate its 50th anniversary. To make sure the party doesn’t go unnoticed, festival organisers have curated another jam-packed lineup of international musicians and bands. Starting a bit closer to home, Leicester rock giants Kasabian will head up Friday’s bill. The four-piece have not seemed to of stopped since their closing headline set at Glastonbury in 2014. 2018’s Saturday night at Isle of Wight is set to be huge with the addition of two headline artists! Electronic group Depeche Mode and former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher will head up proceedings. Last but not certainly not least is The Killers. The Las Vegas rock band will close this year’s very special IoW Festival celebration. The group returned at the end of 2017 with a brand new album, and now they’ll take on their first UK festival headline slot in a number of years.

Limited tickets available at https://isleofwightfestival.com/

Farr Festival – 5th-8th July – Newnham Woods, Newnham, Hertfordshire 

High quality underground electronic music is becoming a bigger and bigger feature at festivals of today. Set in the beautiful heart of the Hertfordshire woodland, Farr has organically grown from its humble beginnings just nine years ago. The festival’s ethos stays true to everything we know and love about dance music culture bringing a hedonistic party to the Hertfordshire countryside. Farr Festival hosts some of the most inspirational electronic artists across six uniquely designed stages. 

2018 will see the festival grow to four days for the first time, starting the party early on Thursday afternoon and running right through until Sunday. The festival’s lineup really has been thought out, placing each artist at the most appropriate time. Jaques Greene will perform a unique live set to kick off Thursday evening. The weekend continues with a mouthwatering Friday bill; electronic duo Mount Kimbie, jazz multi-instrumentalist Tom Misch and producer Daphni (AKA Caribou) will all make appearances. The weekend continues with a bucket load of artists from across the electronic music spectrum. Production duo Maribou State will be performing one of their infamous live sets alongside tech wonder man, Dixon, making for an incredibly exciting Saturday night. The weekend will be topped off by Hunee and Antal as well as Zip, who will be performing a very special four-hour extended set.

Limited tickets available at http://www.farrfestival.co.uk/

Truck Festival – 19th-22nd July – Milton Hill, Steventon, Oxfordshire 

Once dubbed as “the Godfather of the small festival scene”, Truck is one of the UK’s brightest festivals. Organisers of the event have hosted a party every July since 1998 bringing some of the best emerging talent to the quaint Oxfordshire countryside. As well as being shortlisted for the ‘Best Small Festival’, Truck has previously hosted some of the world’s biggest artists. Past star-studded artists include The XX, Two Door Cinema Club, Foals, Biffy Clyro and The Libertines!

Truck has once again set themselves up for a successful year pulling in some great names on the UK music scene. After a significant hiatus, electronic trio Friendly Fires are back with new music and have popped up on a number of lineups across the country. The group will take the Friday night headline slot at this year’s festival. National treasure George Ezra will help to enrich the weekend with his happy-go-lucky feelgood pop music. 2018’s event will be closed by Manchester Brit rock group Courteeners. De La Soul, Circa Waves, Everything Everything and The Amazons also join the bill among many others.

Limited tickets available at https://truckfestival.com/

Bestival – 2nd-5th August – Lulworth Castle, Lulworth, Dorset

After a turbulent couple of years and increased competition from nearby events like Boomtown, Bestival has struggled to keep itself on top as one of the UK’s most dominate festivals. The brand is in a strong position with six festivals taking place throughout the year in three different countries, however, the flagship festival seems to be struggling to attract party-goers in large numbers like it used to. In 2017 the festival downsized to 25,000 capacity and moved from its thirteen year home on the Isle of White to Lulworth Castle in Dorset, the home of Bestival’s sister family festival Camp Bestival.

In an attempt to reignite Bestival’s past fire organiser Rob da Bank has announced the festival’s annual theme as ‘Circus’ and a tiptop lineup to go alongside it. The Bestival team have also announced that the festival would now no longer hold its place as the end marker for the UK festival season but would instead take place on the first weekend of August. Bestival’s Friday night headliner is a UK festival exclusive; Mark Ronson and Diplo’s new project known as Silk City. Saturday will see indie pop trio London Grammar head the bill with female rapper M.I.A closing on Sunday evening. Other big-name artists include producer Mura Masa, singer/songwriter Grace Jones and rapper Plan B. Not to mention the wealth of dance music that is sure to be on offer.

Limited tickets available at http://www.bestival.net/

Boomtown Fair – 9th-12th August – Matterley Bowl, Winchester, Hampshire

For the past five years, Boomtown has seen exponential growth to become one of the UK’s biggest, best and most popular festivals. The festival’s huge focus on production, artistry, its unique separate districts – each like a festival of their own – and immersiveness offers party-goers a truly different and unforgettable experience. After a site move from Bristol to Winchester, the festival now seems settled and has grown to a whopping 60,000 capacity. Boomtown is not just a run-of-the-mill festival but the event is governed by a running storyline that develops year-on-year. This unique element to the festival pulls you into the story further and allows you to discover and explore even more.

2018 will see Boomtown celebrate its tenth anniversary and organisers are expected to make the festival even better than previous years. The festival is known for its unusual lineups pulling in genres that aren’t normally supported by mainstream events; reggae, drum & bass, ska and hip-hop to name just a few. At the end of last year, the festival announced that Gorillaz would be headlining the Friday night of 2018’s event. South African hip-hop group Die Antwoord will top the bill on Saturday with US nu-metal band closing Boomtown’s tenth-anniversary celebration.

Limited tickets available at https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/

Houghton – 9th-12th August – Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, Norfolk

This August will only be Houghton’s second year on the UK festival circuit but it has already made a lasting impact. After a sell-out event last year and some amazing reports of it being one of the best festivals the country has ever seen, it’s meant Houghton has already hit capacity months early. Curated by DJ/producer Craig Richards, and produced by the team behind Gottwood Festival, Houghton is set in the picturesque grounds of Houghton Hall in Norfolk. The site is sat in verdant British woodland with a large lake at its centre. The nature of the site means no neighbours and is one of the only UK festivals where music doesn’t stop creating a heavenly ravers utopia. 

Every artist on the lineup has been personally invited by Richards to perform at the festival. The festival’s website states, “Spontaneous back-to-back sets will be encouraged and longer DJ sets will be the norm.” Horse Meat Disco, Midland, Mr Scruff, Ricardo Villalobos, Roman Flügel and Seth Troxler are just a small fraction of the DJs on offer across the weekend.

Limited tickets available at https://www.houghtonfestival.co.uk/

Lost Village – 23rd-26th August 2018 – Woodland, Norton Disney, Lincolnshire

Now in its fourth year, Lost Village is another new event to the UK festival scene. And, one that has firmly cemented itself as a mainstay during the summer season as one of the UK’s best and brightest small festivals. Set in the heart of Lincolnshire, Lost Village welcomes all for an interactive music experience on August bank holiday weekend. The festival is utterly immersive and lovingly crafted giving festival-goers a truly unique experience with the addition of not just an incredible and well thought out lineup of musicians and DJs, but also an eclectic roster of top comedians, great food, live talks, workshops, hot tubs and so much more. The lineup is reflected as an ingenious mix of UK favourites.

This year organisers have pulled out all the stops once more announcing electronic trio Friendly Fires, producer Four Tet and Manchester indie band Everything Everything as this year’s headliners. Tonnes of other big names will also grace the festival including Mount Kimbie, Dixon, DJ Harvey, Ben UFO and Gerd Janson.

Limited tickets available at https://lostvillagefestival.com/

Festival No.6 – 6th-9th September – Portmeirion, Gwynedd, Wales

Described as a festival like no other, Festival No. 6 is an advocate for arts, culture and music located in the picturesque North Welsh coastal town of Portmeirion. The multi award-winning festival features an eclectic mix of iconic and the best new artists. The festival’s main stage is a Mediterranean-inspired, Grade II-listed fantasy village, surrounded by an estuary, mountains and woodlands. During the festival, the village and surrounding woodlands come alive as a unique series of surreal and inspiring venues. Festival No. 6 is a unique experience that combines both urban festival elements and traditional field-based events.

This year’s fulfilling lineup boasts The The, electronic group Friendly Fires and Scottish indie rock outfit Franz Ferdinand as headliners with Jessie Ware, Everything Everything and The Charlatans offering support. Many more artists are also included in the lineup. Don’t turn down the opportunity to experience something different!

Limited tickets available at https://festivalnumber6.com/