And it’s hopefully somewhat less dodgy than running over an old fisherman and hiding his body.
With the live music scene absolutely exploding at the seams there are a staggering number of events to pick from over the summer months this year. As well as a bumper crop of UK festivals, there are tons abroad and it’s the time of year when you may want to be considering backing your summer hols up with a few days banging your head in front of a stage.
Well, do we have a (non-comprehensive) list for you. We know there will be events coming up we don’t know about which won’t be on here, so if you’re involved with one then fling it over and let us know! The range of music is ridiculous, and we’ve tried to include independent 1-dayers through to massive international events hosting tens of thousands.
In something approaching date order…
Uprising (23rd – 24th May)
Yup, next weekend in Leicester! The 23rd is the “night before” event at Firebug with the main event on the Saturday at the O2 Academy. Friday has Giant Walker topping the bill along with Forlorn, and Vnder A Crvmbling Moon. Saturday’s lineup includes Earthtone9, Esoterica, Lowen and more.
Always a great atmosphere and one I know a bunch of our writers and photographers will be at!
Fortress Festival (31st May – 1st June)
Definitely aimed at fans of the the darker metals, and located in Scarborough at the Spa, this primarily two-stage event promises no clashes so you won’t have to decide which black metal ritual you’d prefer to attend. Agalloch play their first UK show since 2015, and 1349 are the other headliner.
This year there is the addition of a third stage which will be candle-lit. Playing here will be Darkher, Osi And The Jupiter and Sylvaine.
Mystic Festival (4th – 7th June)
This one’s in Gdansk, Poland and features the likes of Kind Diamond, Sepultura, BFMV, Paleface Swiss, Eyehategod… 94 bands in total! Four-day tickets are gone, but three-dayers are still available. Another cheap country a short flight away, we’re sure this will be a fantastic event to attend.
They have recently announced a playable classic video game “museum” on site, including games on the Amiga, SNES, N64 and more!
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Arguably the UK’s biggest rock and metal festival, several stages and the chances of drowning fairly high. Every year they get abuse from the usual “why are they headlining?!” crowd, and yet there’s never a shortage of other bands on the bill for anyone prepared to look below the three table-toppers. At a guess there’s around 120 bands on this year, an eclectic mix from Green Day and Sleep Token to Airbourne, Myles Kennedy, Apocalyptica, Anaal Nathrakh, Whitechapel, Archers…
I mean, come on. Pack those wellies and sun cream so you’re prepared either way and enjoy the music.
Hellfest (19th – 22nd June)
One we’ve covered over the last few years, and always enormous (and stupidly hot), Hellfest is another of the “mega festivals” and lines up the top names alongside a huge underbill of s. With four full days and two main stages you get a whacking eight headliners, this year including Korn, Scorpions, Muse, Electric Callboy, Within Temptation, Judas Priest and Falling in Reverse.
The Warzone, Valley, Altar and Temple stages give you plenty to do if you feel the urge to see Gutalax, Eisbrecher, Fit For an Autopsy, Orange Goblin, Knocked Loose or any one of dozens of other bands. 184 of them in total. Bloody hell.
Ghostfest (21st June)
A one-day event at the student union in Leeds, Ghostfest has been missing from the calendar since 2015 having previously run steadily since 2005. The lineup is sure to cause bruising with Party Cannon, Demoraliser, Ingested and more.
BST Hyde Park (27th June – 13th July)
Not so much a festival as a series of huge 1-2 day events with a widely ranging list of artists, all taking place (surprise) in Hyde Park. The headline acts this year include some you’d expect to find on these pages (Neil Young, ELO), some middle ground (Noah Kahan, Zach Bryan, Stevie Wonder) and those we’d not normal consider but who we have a lot of respect for (Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo).
Full lineups for most days are still to be released, but if the weather holds up these are bound to be a great day out for fans of the headliners with the other bands playing liable to be massaged to fit genre-wise.
RADAR Festival (4th – 6th July)
Housed at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, RADAR has Carpenter Brut, Bob Vylan and Underoath headlining with an equally wide-ranging bunch of bands filling the bill across the 3-day weekend. Other highlights include Vukovi, Tiberius, As December Falls, Mother Vulture… it’s a strong lineup!
Malta Metal Weekend (4th – 6th July)
Clue’s in the name as to where this one is held! Opeth, Apocalyptica and Dream Theater are amongst the bands play at this year’s event on the lovely island of Malta. A cracking location for a holiday backed by a great soundtrack.
2000trees (9th – 12th July)
Hot Milk and Twin Atlantic were recently added to the bill for this year’s event, taking the total number of bands to get your heads around to 153 (if we counted correctly). Located at Upcote Farm in Cheltenham, we’ve heard good things about this event, and indeed it’s an award-winner!
For those who want to be a bit more comfy, there are beach huts, glamping and camper van options. Ideal for us older rockers!
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Rock la Mureș (11th – 12th July)
This small but lovely event is in the beautiful country of Romania and it was very much our pleasure to make everyone aware of the event last year, though for scheduling reasons we couldn’t attend. Romania is cheap as chips and not too hard to get to from the UK, and the scenery around the festival looks great.
No details of this year’s lineup as yet, but if last year is anything to go by it’ll be a great mix of smaller international bands – the ideal place to discover your new favourites!
Mangata Festival (12th July)
Spread over several venues in Nottingham though focused on Rescue Rooms, this event has a ton of great bands on – 46 of them, across five stages. The Raven Age, Red Rum, Esoterica, Blanket, Eschalon… plenty of variety!
A clashfinder is essential as are walking shoes!
Offal Fest (25th – 27th July)
Likely no surprise given the name but Offal Fest appeals to the more extreme end of the musical spectrum. This year they have a Friday “pre-show” featuring Foetal Juice, along with Skinless, Defeated Sanity and Internal Bleeding sharing the headline duties for the Saturday and Sunday.
Located at Rebellion in Manchester this isn’t a huge outdoor event, but rather a nice, dark, sweaty indoor one perfectly suited to the vile music on display.
Chania Rock Festival (26th – 27th July)
If you’re not allergic to heat, then heading to Crete in Greece may be for you. This two day event has gorgeous surroundings, and features a 10-band lineup from 7 countries including Stratovarius and Kreator.
Wacken (30th July – 2nd August)
If you’ve not already got tickets for this one then you’re already too late. One of the biggest metal festivals on the planet, and one of the best organised, we can vouch for how good it is after attending in 2019. Part of the large European festival circuit Wacken acts as a hub and you’ll see many acts who are also playing at the likes of Bloodstock, Hellfest, Graspop, Resurrectionfest, Summer Breeze and the like.
As long as the rain doesn’t hit like it did in 2023 you’ll have a blast!
Bloodstock (7th – 10th August)
The one we’ve been covering since 2016, with an amazing atmosphere. It’s a “mid-size” event which has settled in just the right niche to be friendly, busy and yet safe and easy to get around. Billed as more of a metal-only event, there’s almost always one or two rock bands sneaking onto the bill, but their reception has always been good.
This year’s headliners are Trivium, Machine Head and Gojira with around 80 other bands already announced with quite a few still to be revealed.
Bloodstock do like to promote smaller bands via their Metal 2 the Masses competition, and winners from that get a spot on their New Blood Stage. The even smaller EMP Stage hosts bands who maybe didn’t quite make the cut, or who the festival organiser happen to like. We’ve discovered some absolute pearls on there!
The fun starts on the evening of Thursday 7th August on the SOPHIE stage before all four stages roll into action on the 8th.
Arctangent (13th – 16th August)
105 bands are on offer at Arctangent this year, hosted as always near Bristol. Billing itself as a small festival, it’s big on putting on exclusive performances from exceptional, worldwide artists and ing new, exciting talent. This years wide range of offers includes Maybeshewill, Mclusky, God Is An Astronaut, Wardruna, Karnivool and Tesseract.
Beermageddon (21st – 24th August)
Stoke Prior Sports & Country Club in Bromsgrove once again plays host to a popular event, this year with bands such as Hidden Intent, GBH and Ramage Inc on the bill. Tickets are only £55 with free parking and camping, one of the only festivals we’re aware of that offers this.
100% independent, Beermageddon is now in its 13th year.
Pelagic Fest (23rd – 24th August)
Headlined by Ihsahn and located in the wonderful Dutch city of Maastricht, the lineup also includes This Will Destroy You, Psychonaut and many more. Almost all of the bands are on Pelagic Records own roster making this a largely in-house effort. Another event which would make for a nice short break alongside the entertainment.
Header photo by Katie Frost
