Summer is just getting started. These are the best music festivals to book this summer, by Adam Bloodworth
Forget Glastonbury — in music festival land, there’s been an even bigger story for 2024: 50 festivals have cancelled due to the cost of living crisis. The government “desperately” needs to intervene to support the industry by lowering VAT on ticket sales, say the Association for Independent Festivals. El Dorado, Standon Calling and 51st State are three of the long list of cancellations.
Yet, many plough on, exhibiting the exciting creativity of British festivals. Now might be the best time ever to book tickets to an event in July, August or September to help support an industry that brings so much joy but has been facing challenging times. Here are the festivals you should book that are still taking place this summer.
Read more: 15 amazing Glastonbury 2024 moments including Coldplay and Dua Lipa
NOISILY FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND ARTS, 11 – 14 JULY
This legendary Leicestershire kneesup is under two hours from London and has a brilliantly eccentric vibe. As much about electronic music as it is about wellness, there is a ritualistic opening ceremony where people dress up in madly creative fancy dress that carries on all weekend. Wandering through the woods that house the festival, it can look and feel more like a scene from Avatar than a field somewhere outside Leicester. Sound baths are included within the price rather than being add-ons so it’s brilliant value for money too, and there’s a diverse age range of guests, lending the event the feeling of Glastonbury: it’s not uncommon to see 60-somethings on the dance floor showing the Gen Zs how it’s done. It’s refreshingly free of major acts, so you may not recognise any of the DJs or acts on the line-up, but take a punt on this charming little event anyway for a weekend of unbridled escapism. It also takes place in a beautiful wooded valley almost totally unspoiled by permanent infrastructure, so the scenery itself is a good enough reason to go.
For tickets go to noisilyfestival.com Noisily takes place near Grantham in Leicestershire. Trains with LNER go from St Pancras to Peterborough where you change for Grantham. Taxis will take you the ten minute drive from Grantham to the woods.
HOUGHTON FESTIVAL, AUGUST 8 – 11
Until 2023, Houghton had developed a reputation as the sophisticates’ place to source hedonism. There is some live music and a bit of comedy, but set around a pristine lake, the festival’s DNA is dance music of all varieties. (There’s even an on-site ‘museum’ of sorts to explain the rich cultural heritage of the four-on-the-floor house beat that forms the basis of so many commercial tunes today.) There are named DJs but there’s an anti-headline slant, meaning stages aren’t named and the vibe is as energetic at two in the afternoon as it is at two in the morning. The idea is that you’ll wander and find new music rather than planning your whole day around seeing an act you already love. It’s a nice, if slightly pretentious, idea, but it suits the crowd at Houghton, who have encyclopaedic sonic knowledge and spend their free time diving for records in vintage stores and talking about the latest deep cuts. The stages are amassed in a beautiful, immersive woodland, perfect for getting lost.
That was until last summer, when Kate Middleton rocked up and went out on the sesh here. She’s friends with the Cholmondeley family, current seats at the Houghton Hall property within the estate, and happened to be having dinner on site last year on the same weekend the festival was going on. A few shaky phone snaps of HRH partying with a cap on was a bizarre meeting of worlds; Kate has never given off the underground electronic music vibe, and her university town of St Andrews in Scotland doesn’t even have a nightclub. But there she was, splashed all over the tabloids, and Houghton — against its will — was dragged into the Daily Mail’s Side Bar of Shame. Representatives for the festival have been playing up the fact that HRH was in attendance last year but when City A.M. asked how owners felt about the royal association we were told “no comment.” Maybe Queen Camilla will be dropping the tunes from behind the decks this summer, the line up’s so discreet that it’s anyone’s guess.
For information go to houghtonfestival.co.uk. It is within the grounds of Houghton Hall in Norfolk. Travel to King’s Lynn from King’s Cross with Great Northern.
SECRET GARDEN PARTY, 25 – 28 JULY, 5 – 12 AUGUST
City A.M. heralded Secret Garden Party as better than Glastonbury in our review last year — well, their outof-this-world drone show was anyway. The festival birthed the era of festivals not being just about music, but about a broader experience with art, nature and interconnectivity when they launched in 2004. A couple of rainy years pre-pandemic killed the festival off, but it made a surprising return after the pandemic and was a smash hit. It is famous for its wildly creative stages and experiences, like fields of sunflowers hidden behind fake portaloo doors. In a shake-up to the festival formula, SGP is returning with three events this summer: it made the news for revolutionising the way we think about festivals, and presumably three smaller events keeps the cost down. One for families, one the traditional SGP weekend and then one in September that is ‘invite only.’ Who knows whether it will be invite only or not, all we do know is that exclusivity sells, so perhaps it’s a clever marketing trick.
For information go to secretgardenparty.com. Take the train from King’s Cross to Huntingdon where it’s a short taxi journey
Read more: Prince Harry and King Charles were at Glastonbury (sort of)