UK Festivals Guide 2017: England & Wales

Live at Leeds
Various Venues, Leeds, 24-28 Apr
Buy a wristband. Wander round Leeds’ music venues. See a shedload of great shows. Pretty straightforward, no? Rag’n’Bone Man, Slaves and Wild Beasts are all sitting pretty among the bigger names on offer, but as every with club festivals, Live at Leeds is also a great chance to catch your new favourite band in an intimate space, shortly before they go stratospheric: it’s the ‘ones to watch’ that are the ones to watch. £32.50, liveatleeds.com

The Great Escape
Brighton, 18-20 May
Founded in 2006, The Great Escape is an annual three-day music festival which hosts around 300 bands across 30 different venues in Brighton, not all that dissimilar to Austin’s SxSW. While bigger names do appear on the bill, this festival is more about discovering new up-and-coming talent from all over the world – find a host of our favourite up-and-coming Scottish acts on the bill including Be Charlotte, Shogun, and The Van T’s. Let the adventure commence! £60, greatescapefestival.com

Liverpool Sound City
Clarence Dock, Liverpool, 25-28 May
Got the birthday cake ready? The ever-reliable Sound City has been around for ten years now, and day one of their anniversary edition kicks off with a synthpop special starring The Human League, before John Cale (!) delivers his sole European performance of The Velvet Underground & Nico the following day. After that it’s business as usual, as The Kooks, Metronomy and The Cribs head up a mighty gathering of indie favourites, old and new. A fine way to hit double figures. From £35, liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk

Love Saves the Day
Eastville Park, Bristol, 27-28 May
Love Saves the Day returns to Bristol's Eastville Park this May for its sixth instalment. This veritable love fest combines the best of Bristol’s thriving underground with pioneering artists from across the globe. The line-up spans across genres of pop, grime, electro and R&B and performers include Kate Tempest, NAO, Little Dragon, Kano, Mura Masa, Bonzai and more. Love is the message, and we're loving this line-up! From £44, lovesavestheday.org

Field Day
Victoria Park, London, 3 Jun 
What could possibly beat a delightful summer’s afternoon in London’s Victoria Park? Well, how about if that afternoon also featured the company of techno maverick Aphex Twin, genre-defying turntablist extraordinaire Flying Lotus and gloopy avant-garage rockers Thee Oh Sees? Oh yeah, and then there’s the small matter of some little old rap duo who go by the name of Run The Jewels… yeah, we know. Not too shabby, is it? £64.50, fielddaylondon.com – win tickets to Field Day in our competition [closing date 16 Apr]

Field Day

Gottwood
Anglesey, Wales, 8-11 Jun
Come one, come all to Anglesey, where we shall do naught but dance all night to some of the best sounds around. Not for nothing did we describe Gottwood as “the undisputed champ of the small festival circuit” following last year’s five-star spectacular: this year alone sees them gather the likes of Perlon record label founder Zip, The Black Madonna – Mixmag’s 2016 DJ of the Year – and techno’s favourite rising star Helena Hauff. £165, gottwood.co.uk

M.I.A.’s Meltdown
Southbank Centre, London, 9-18 Jun
Don’t worry, rapper, producer, director and visual artist M.I.A. isn’t having a meltdown, but she is curating the 24th edition of Meltdown festival this June in London’s Southbank Centre. With her influences ranging from nu rave and dancehall to electro and hip-hop from around the world, the line-up features Mykki Blanco, Young Fathers and Crystal Castles, with M.I.A. herself bringing festivities to a close. Prices vary, southbankcentre.co.uk

Parklife
Heaton Park, Manchester, 10-11 Jun
Look, there are ‘festival headliners’ and there are FESTIVAL HEADLINERS. We really shouldn’t have to go into too much detail to explain which camp the mighty Frank Ocean falls into. Manchester’s Parklife favours a more pop-centric flavour than your average summer festival, with The 1975, A Tribe Called Quest and Fatboy Slim getting the vibes a-flowing this year. Still though: Frank Ocean. FRANK. OCEAN. See you down the front. From £59.50, parklife.uk.com

Africa Oyé
Sefton Park, Liverpool, 17-18 Jun
The largest festival celebrating African music in the UK, famously – and all for the princely sum of… oh, that’s right, it’s all for free. This year's line-up features Angolan songwriter Bonga, rumba and highlife ace Dobet Gnahoré, plus Dizzy Mandjeku & Odemba OK Allstars, Jupiter & Okwess International and Mokoomba, plus the usual family activities and food markets. Oh, and did we mention that it’s free? IT’S FREE. africaoye.com

Manchester International Festival
Manchester, 29 Jun-16 Jul
Ok, this is a good ‘un. As you’d expect, the scope of what’s on offer at MIF is wide and varied, with a wealth of must-see events across the arts, but this year’s music programme is essential. Some events are already sold out (Arcade Fire, Bonobo), but electro-soul star Sampha, sax-wielding virtuoso Colin Stetson and spine-tingling experimentalist Holly Herndon make for a mere fraction of a remarkable bill. Our tip? Don’t miss local hip-hop collective LEVELZ. You’ll regret it if you do. Prices vary, mif.co.uk

Bluedot, photo: Sam Huddleston

Bluedot
Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, 7-9 Jul
Science + music = fun. That's the basic recipe for Bluedot, which returns for its second outing at Jodrell Bank this summer. The line-up features Pixies, Orbital, Alt-J, Warpaint, Factory Floor and SAY Award winner Anna Meredith, plus panel discussions on Darth Vader and Delia Derbyshire and chats with the likes of Frank Cottrell-Boyce. All that, plus giant space telescopes to look at. Weekend ticket £159, day tickets £59, discoverthebluedot.com  

Beat-Herder
Ribble Valley, Lancashire, 14-16 July
Despite its humble origins as a relatively small rave in the Lancashire woods, Beat-Herder has gone from strength to strength over the past decade. Almost as if to illustrate our point, this twelfth edition gathers the acid-tongued minimalism of Sleaford Mods, genre-mashing techno hero Trentemøller and the ever-righteous ska party of Toots & The Maytals to The Ribble Valley for a weekend of guaranteed good vibes and good times. Adult weekend tickets from £144.70, beatherder.co.uk

WOMAD
Charlton Park, Wiltshire, 27-30 Jul
...Or ‘World of Music, Arts and Dance’, to use its full name. The brainchild of prog survivor and ‘world music’ champion Peter Gabriel, it’s a multimedia celebration of the arts where genre and geographical origin form no barrier. This year’s line-up has yet to be announced at the time of writing, but with 2016’s edition having featured Akala, Immix Ensemble, George Clinton and Baba Maal, you’ve probably got a good idea of what to expect. Adult 4-day tickets £210, womad.co.uk

Green Man
Brecon Beacons, 17-20 Aug
If ever a festival had earned its reputation as one of the cheeriest, most welcoming and all-round best times around, it’s Green Man. It’s not solely down to their line-up, either (although let’s face it: alt country troubador Ryan Adams, awe-inspiring spoken word artist Kate Tempest and outsider pop veteran Daniel Johnston aren’t exactly ubiquitous this summer): their literature, comedy and workshop line-ups are pretty spectacular too. But yeah: Angel Olsen? Lambchop? Julia Jacklin? The music helps. Adult weekend tickets from £180, greenman.net

End of the Road
Larmer Tree Gardens, South Wiltshire, 31 Aug-3 Sep
The summer festival season’s traditional curtain-closer for more than a decade, End of the Road’s bread and butter tend towards indie rockers of a folk or alt country disposition (albeit with more than a few surprises added into the mix). Father John Misty’s sole UK festival appearance in 2017 is this year’s coup, with Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Lucinda Williams and The Jesus and Mary Chain spicing up a sumptuous sonic banquet. Adult weekend tickets £189, endoftheroadfestival.com

End of the Road, photo: Richard Gray

Bestival
The Lulworth Estate, Dorset, 7-10 Sep
Relocating this year to the much more easily accessible Lulworth Estate in Dorset, from Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight, husband and wife duo Rob and Josie da Bank’s Bestival aims to continue its and award winning schtick in style, hoping to inspire peace, love and dancing along the way. The line-up consists of The xx, A Tribe Called Quest, Justice, Dizzee Rascal, Danny Brown, Nadia Rose and Skinny fave Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon. Adult weekend tickets £170, bestival.net

Festival No. 6
Portmeirion, North Wales, 7-10 Sep
Festival No. 6 are celebrating six years of throwing their annual art and music party, taking place in the beautiful Welsh village of Portmeirion. Heading the 2017 line-up are The Flaming Lips, Bloc Party and Mogwai, with acts like Wild Beasts, Steve Mason, Charlotte Church, Public Service Broadcasting, Honeyblood and Jarvis Cocker taking centre stage further down the bill. Also, you could stay in a tipi, yurt, snuggery (whatever that is), or even in a boathouse at this one. Woah. We’ll see you in Portmeirion then. Adult weekend tickets from £180, festivalnumber6.com

Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia
Baltic Triangle, Liverpool, 22-23 Sep
More mind-bending music, spell-binding visuals and general exploration of the consciousness from the ever-excellent Psychfest. Now in its sixth year, this year brings together the likes of The Black Angels, Loop and Songhoy Blues among the acts announced thus far (not to mention former Stereolab polymath Laetitia Sadier). Add to this the usual array of spectacular visuals and impressive local talent, and you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect: a unique and wonderful affair. Weekend tickets from £88, liverpoolpsychfest.com

No Bounds Festival
Sheffield, 13-15 Oct
A brand new festival hitting Sheffield for its inaugural outing this autumn, No Bounds are currently playing their cards pretty close to their chest when it comes to what's in store. What we can tell you is that they've lined up on hell of a launch party in the meantime – taking place on 9 June across various city venues (1pm-7am, it says here, and we admire their stamina), it's an all-day affair with Nina Kraviz, Helena Hauff and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith among the many, many acts appearing. With a mighty line-up of music, art, talks, workshops, installations, exhibitions and performance, it's practically a festival in itself. Launch party tickets from £15, noboundsfestival.co.uk