Alternative festival guide 2014

Sick of Bestival, Reading and Glastonbury? Looking for something a bit different for a music festival?

The Tab has done its research and sorted out some of this summer’s alternative festival destinations, both in the UK and abroad.

For the UK…

Parklife

 

• When – 7th June – 8th June
• Where – Heaton Park, Manchester
• Cost – £79.50 for weekend, £49.50 for Saturday or Sunday only.
• Notable Acts – Snoop Dogg, ASAP Rocky, Foals, Disclosure
• Go here if – You want summer festy vibes without the refugee camp camping vibe. Parklife is a laid-back festival for people who don’t take themselves too seriously, the crowd is dominated by good looking students (rather than hemp-wearing oldies), and you can actually see Snoop Dogg.

The Great Escape

• When – 8^th May – 10^th May
• Where – Venues all over Brighton
• Cost – £60 for three day ticket. (Single day tickets sold out)
• Notable Acts – Example, Wild Beasts, Kelis
• Go here if – You’re into discovering the next big thing, as Great Escape claims to be the leading festival in Europe for discovering new acts. Expect performances from small time artists travelling all the way from North America as well as some good headliners.

Hijacked Festival

• When – 29^th May
• Where – Exeter, Devon
• Cost – £29-£35 depending on release
• Notable Acts – Karma Kid, Gorgon City, Bondax
• Go here if – You need a way to celebrate exams immediately…or have a break in between them!

Move quickly, as tickets are in high demand. Get them here.

GottWood

• When – 19^th-22^nd June
• Where – Anglesey, Wales
• Cost – Weekend Camping, £105 (Final Release)
• Notable Acts – Basically any unheard of House DJ you want to show off to your mates
• Go here if – You need to show you are the real deal when it comes to small time DJ’s and not just stumbling across them accidentally on SoundCloud.

The Beat-Herder Festival

• When – 18^th-20^th July
• Where – Ribble Valley, Lancashire
• Cost – £118-126 depending on release
• Notable Acts – 2ManyDjs, Hot Since 82, Eton Messy
• Go here if – You want a cheaper, smaller festival that has a great variety in music and vibe. Expect to be considered the youngest demographic!

Secret Garden Party

• When – 24^th-27^th July
• Where – Nearest city is Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
• Cost – £180 for Weekend
• Notable Acts – Sub Focus, King Charles, Public Enemy
• Go here if – You’re looking for a festival that has a stage on a boat (I kid you not). It doesn’t have ‘big’ acts like Reading & Leeds/Glastonbury but the atmosphere and alternative stage destinations make up for it.

Something a bit more exciting abroad…

Sónar

• When – 12th-14th June
• Where – Barcelona, Spain
• Cost – A Sónar Pass which gives you access to the festival by day (Fira Gran Via) and night (Fira Montjuïc) costs €195 (~£161).
• Notable Acts – Massive Attack, CHIC feat. Nile Rogers, Rudimental, Lykke Li, Boyz Noize
• Go here if – you want to experience an experimental weekend of advanced music and multimedia art at one of the most well established major music festivals in Europe.

Sonic Bloom

• When – June 19th-22nd (held during Summer solstice)
• Where – South Park, Colorado
• Cost – For general admission go for the Tier 2 tickets, including free camping. These are $195 (~£116) plus fees
• Notable Acts – Opiuo, The Polish Ambassador, Michal Menert Big Band, OTT., Random Rab, Quantic
• Go here if – you want to feel like you’re in an episode of South Park while you’re actually in South Park at a festival. Aside from the novelty, the panoramic mountain backdrop to the festival is certainly a lot more appealing than spending a weekend in a muddy field.

Open’er Festival

• When – 2nd-5th July
• Where – Gdynia, Poland
• Cost – A standard four day ticket with camping costs approx €151 (£124)
• Notable Acts – Bastille, Ben Howard, Foals, Foster The People, Haim, MGMT, Rudimental.
• Go here if – you don’t care about exploring the city to work off your hangover. Open’er opens at 4pm, so it’s perfect for festival goers who want to enjoy their music by drinking all night and sleeping it off for most of the day.

Arenal Sound Festival

• When – 31st July – 3rd August
• Where – Burriana, Spain
• Cost – Tickets go on sale May 5th and start for as little as €58.50 (around £48)
• Notable Acts – Azealia Banks, Knife Party, Crystal Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Miles Kane, Placebo, Die Antwoord
• Go here if – you want to experience an exciting new addition to the European festival calendar. Arenal only launched in 2010 but attracts over 100,000 revelers to Arenal’s sandy beaches for four days of pop-rock, indie, and electronic music complemented by beach volleyball.

Sziget Festival

• When – 11th-18th August
• Where – Budapest, Hungary
• Cost – A weekly pass includes 7 days at Sziget, including camping costs €209 (approx £172)
• Notable Acts – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Outkast, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Dead Mau5, Lily Allen, Manice Street Preachers, The Prodigy, QOTSA
• Go here if – you want an international festival experience that allows you to chill and not just be grossly hungover in a cold rainy tent. Camping by the beautiful Danube River with cheap beer and a massive chill out tent is infinitely better than losing all your money and your disposable raincoat on your way to the portaloos.

Electric Picnic

• When – 29th-31st August 2014
• Where – Stradbally Estate, Ireland
• Cost –  €154.50 (~£127) if you can prove you’ve been to 3 or more Picnics, €174.50 (~£144) if you can prove you’ve been to the Picnic once/twice before , or €194.50 if you haven’t been before (~£160).
• Notable Acts – Portishead, Outkast, Beck, Foals, Pet Shop Boys, Paolo Nutini, Lily Allen
• Go here if – You fancy something a bit more whimsical. As well as their musical headliners, EP boasts a spoken word arena, Mindfield, where “among the ancient trees on the lawns of Stradbally Hall you’ll find an oasis of literary readings, political debate, performance poetry, science experiments and news quizzes”.

Berlin Festival

• When – 5th-7th September
• Where – Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin
• Cost – Early bird tickets are now available for only €74 (~£61)
• Notable Acts – Editors, Woodkid, Darkside, Chase & Status, Warpaint, Crystal Fighters, Kid Ink
• Go here if – you want a laid back, alternative festival experience that also allows you to experience Berlin itself, as 2 day tickets come with free entry to over 30 clubs in the city. Plus, the setting in a huge defunct airport is pretty cool and makes sure that there won’t be any noise complaints from the locals.

Unknown Festival

• When – 8th-12th September
• Where – Rovinj, Croatia
• Cost – Prices start from £129 + booking fee for a standard ticket
• Notable Acts – Disclosure, London Grammar, Clean Bandit, Chvrches, Chic feat. Nile Rogers
• Go here if – you want to celebrate the last days of summer by soaking up every last ray of sunshine and enjoying some excellent music while you do it. It’s summer – September’s still definitely summer, right?