Rock Oyster is a 4-day festival and camping holiday taking place from 27 to 30 July 2023.
A voyage of culinary discovery, there’s mouth-watering food from Michelin-starred chefs to creative kitchen wizards, a musical line-up from internationally acclaimed artists, topped off with an adventure and wellbeing programme and plenty of family entertainment for everyone, all in the ultimate UK summer holiday location.
Headliners this year are:
GROOVE ARMADA [DJ SET]
NILE RODGERS & CHIC
SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR
ALSO ON THE LINE UP ARE:
THE BIG MOON | HOUSE GOSPEL CHOIR | GWENNO
DON LETTS | CRAZY P SOUNDSYSTEM
HOLLIE COOK | DR MEAKER| FERRIS & SYLVESTER
ALONGSIDE A STAR-STUDDED CHEF LINE-UP INCLUDING –
ANDI OLIVER | HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL | JACK STEIN
MARK HIX|SIMON STALLARD | CLAIRE THOMSON |
Kicking things off on Friday night, Rock Oyster welcomes the almighty dance legends Groove Armada.
They’ll be joined by the legendary Nile Rodgers & CHIC and kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis Bextor as headliners. They’re joined on next summer’s bill by London four piece The Big Moon, Gwenno and Don Letts.
Boardmasters, is back this year from 9 to 13 August 2023.
2023’s headline acts are bigger than ever and make the Newquay festival essential for music lovers, surfers, or let’s face it, anyone who wants a good time.
LIAM GALLAGHER
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE
LORDE
ALONGSIDE 30+ WORLD-CLASS ARTISTS
LITTLE SIMZ | FOUR TET | EXAMPLE | BEN HOWARD | CYPRESS HILL performing BLACK SUNDAY |
DYLAN | RAYE | BOB VYLAN | DERMOT KENNEDY | SG LEWIS | YARD ACT |
CONFIDENCE MAN | EVERYTHING EVERYTHING | THE REYTONS
See you at the beach next summer for another cracking festival…
Liam Gallagher is heading to Cornwall this summer for a UK exclusive festival headline slot. You’re sure to see him swaggering through his solo material, with a few Oasis gems chucked in. C’mon You Know – this is going to be something special.
Sunday will bring the love when Florence + The Machine draw Boardmasters to an unforgettable close with her ethereal vocals and a catalogue of truly timeless singles including Dog Days Are Over, Say My Name and Shake It Out.
Global pop superstar Lorde is the final headliner revealed for Boardmasters. New Zealand’s most exciting pop export comes armed with a sizzling cocktail of hits including ‘Royals’, ‘Green Light’ and ‘Solar Power’, as well as major awards wins including the Billboard Music Awards, two BRIT Awards, two Grammy’s, an MTV VMA, and an NME Award to name but a few.
Elsewhere on the line-up is special guest Ben Howard, while Cypress Hill are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Black Sunday. Summer Festival Guide favourites RAYE and Little Simz also join the lineup, alongside Dermot Kennedy.
It’s not only the music to enjoy at Boardmasters, as the festival name suggests. The World Surf League returns to Cornish shores. Competitions include the Boardmasters OPEN men’s and women’s division and the Boardmasters Longboard Pro men’s and women’s division.
NASS festival returns in July with an epic line up bringing together some of the world’s most exciting artists.
NASS is the UK’s biggest celebration of music, street art, skate and BMX, located at the Bath & West Showground, near Bristol.
This years line-up includes an eclectic mix, including grime, hip hop, garage, drum & bass and house.
Headliners this year include:
CHASE & STATUS LIVE
LITTLE SIMZ
WU-TANG CLAN with ‘ENTER THE WU’ 30TH ANNIVERSARY
ALONGSIDE OTHER WORLD-CLASS ARTISTS
ANNE MARIE | BRU C | EXAMPLE | GREENTEA PENG | EASY LIFE |
SHY FX | KOJEY RADICAL | EXAMPLE | JOEL COREY | NATHAN DAWE
HEDEX | PROBLEM CENTRAL | FLAVA D | JACK SAUNDERS
Chase & Status Live will be headlining the main stage on Friday, with their cutting edge dance music. The duo are ready to delight fans with an unmissable live set packed with their biggest hits, including Blind Faith, End Credits, Mixed Emotions and many more.
On Saturday, Wu-Tang Clan, arguably one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time, will be headlining. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of their classic ‘Enter The Wu (36 Chambers)’, they’ll be playing some of the biggest hits including Protect Ya Neck and C.R.E.A.M. Truly one of the best headliners of the summer festival season and one not to be missed.
Little Simz will bring Sunday to an epic close, with songs from her award winning ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, and new album ‘No Thank You’.
Also added to the incredible line up are Anne-Marie, bringing her chart-smashers from over the years including ‘Ciao Adios’ and ‘2002’. Elsewhere Shy FX will be bringing special guests for a unique show, while Easy Life will be bringing their indie-pop to the Bath & West showground.
Recently added are Summer Festival Guide favourites Example, Joel Corry, Nathan Dawe and Kojey Radical.
Further details of the impressive line up can be seen above.
Gwen Stefani has announced that she will be making her highly-anticipated return to the UK this summer.
The six dates will see Stefani perform a series of huge outdoor shows, taking place at Warwick Castle, Harewood House in Leeds, Bolesworth Castle in Chester and Broadlands Estate, Romsey. Dates are shown below – So What You Waiting For?
Pop royalty Gwen Stefani also joins P!nk at BST Hyde Park 2023. Fans will be treated to Gwen’s catalogue of chart-toppers from her solo career, as well as unforgettable hits from No Doubt.
A multi GRAMMY® Award winner, Gwen Stefani has achieved global success as a songwriter, performer, charismatic frontwoman of No Doubt, and as a multi-platinum solo artist.
To date, she’s sold more than 60 million units worldwide, including her four-times platinum debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. – that delivered the hit singles “Rich Girl,” “What You Waiting For?” and the Pharrell Williams produced No. 1 hit “Hollaback Girl.”
Her sophomore album, The Sweet Escape, featured the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 single “Wind It Up” and the unforgettable anthem “The Sweet Escape.”
GWEN STEFANI – 2023 UK DATES:
Friday 23 June: Warwick Castle, Warwick
Saturday 24 June: American Express presents BST Hyde Park, London
Sunday 25 June: American Express presents BST Hyde Park, London
Boomtown, the 66,000 capacity festival set in the Hampshire hills, has launched its official trailer for the latest offering in their immersive storyline, Chapter Two: The Twin Trail. This can be viewed on YouTube below:
The festival takes place for five days from August 9th 2023, and is famed for its film-like sets, winding streets and high production stages and shows.
The Twin Trail follows on from last years’ Chapter One: The gathering, where the festival defined a new era after two years of cancellations. In the characteristically cinematic trailer, attendees are invited to follow the journey of The Twin Trail, which delves deeper into how a person interacts with themselves, and how they give back to the world.
Megan Clifton, Head of Narrative Design at Boomtown, said:
“Boomtown is known for satirically mimicking the society we live in, and too often our dystopian visions have come closer to reality than we ever imagined possible. With The Twin Trail, we wish to go deeper and turn our focus inwards.
“The Twin Trail represents the two paths we all have to walk in our lives; the inner and the outer path. Without addressing our inner world, learning and accepting every part of ourselves – even the darker parts – how can we address the darker parts of society?
“We know that we have an opportunity to use the fun, interactive and immersive experiences we offer to enable actual shifting of mindsets, real-world change, and for people to take something that they learnt at Boomtown home with them.”
After the success of withholding the musical line-up until shortly before the show in 2022, Boomtown will be keeping this under wraps once again, but its ‘citizens’ can expect to see some of the biggest names in hip-hop, plus worldwide artists spanning the electronic spectrum. They have already been leaving clues as to what to expect in a recent video update.
Max Golfar, Music Programmer at Boomtown, said:
“We’ll be bringing the freshest acts in post-punk, to the dons of the reggae world, through to disco divas and afrobeat royalty. As well as all of this, next year marks 50 years of hip-hop. It’s going to be insane.”
Boomtown is at the Matterley Estate in Hampshire, 9th-13th August 2022. Instalment plan tickets are available from £45.
End of the Road is the UK’s most diverse medium-sized music and arts festival.
The line-up proved the Dorset event continues to attract a high calibre of artists and musicians from all over the world. From Tinariwen, who came all the way from the Sahara Desert region of Northern Mali to Sudan Archives from Los Angeles, the line-up was as wide-reaching as it was eclectic.
This year, there was also the introduction of the disco ship – a boat eerily abandoned in the middle of the woods, serving as a pirate station for late night DJ sets, including 6 Music’s Tom Ravenscroft.
Headlining the opening night was Khruangbin, with their effortless psychedelic funk from Houston, Texas. As well as their own engrossing guitar noodling, they mixed in classic instrumental covers of Warren G’s ‘Regulate’, Snoop Dogg’s ‘Nuthin’ but a G Thang’, and Bowie’s timeless ‘Let’s Dance’ – well it would have been rude not to throw some shapes.
On Friday, the wealth of music, arts and cinema at Larmer Tree gardens really opened up. Durand Jones & The Indications continued the retro-soul revival on the main Woods Stage. Later, Tinariwen were an inspired booking with their nomadic desert blues and beautiful heartfelt delivery, which wouldn’t have been out of place headlining nearby Womad festival.
Elsewhere, across the weekend, literature talks and comedy were welcome at the Talking Heads stage…author Tom Cox discussed his new novel which combines his love of three things, which could also describe the festival treats on offer – music, nature and folklore. Later, soul legend and First Lady of Soul, PP Arnold tried to cram in all her life adventures in a talk on the same stage, but regrettably had to be cut short due to her extensive and abundant charm.
Headlining Friday night was a clash between Fleet Foxes on the Woods Stage and Black Midi, who entered the Garden Stage to the sound of Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma. Until you see them live, you won’t appreciate the energy of the insanely tight music.
Saturday began slowly which gave chance to explore the myriad of art exhibitions, workshops, life drawing and more importantly, exquisite food stalls for breakfast. The Wave Pictures stepped in for a late cancellation mid-afternoon, much to the delight of the crowd. Later, The Weather Station played to beaming sunshine despite the forecasts incorrectly predicting thunderstorms.
Arguably (and definitively the correct answer in any debate), the highlight of the weekend was Perfume Genius. Fresh from a surprise Q&A session earlier at the mysterious piano stage, Mike Hadreas confessed the name of his band was pure nonsense, but the music was a pure electrifying display. Mixing in disco pop crowd pleasers such as On The Floor, with his dramatic Queen, he went from an initially reserved showing when he entered the stage to a transformative tour-de-force by the time he wrapped himself in his stage dressing at the end.
Very few bands could match or outshine Perfume Genius. Pixies came close, beginning their set with classics for forty minutes, but soon after, they began to make the awful festival mistake of playing so many songs from their new album, not those anthems which made Bowie such a fan of one of the most inspirational bands of all time. As the last show of their two month tour, Pixies still had an abundance of energy and finished with Neil Young’s classic, Winterlong.
Sunday began in full energy with angry Glaswegian poet Stephen Durkan & Acid Commune before the unmistakeable Deathcrash blew away the hangovers with their post-rock.
Later Hurray For The Riff-Raff celebrated the outsiders and supposed weirdos who don’t fit in, while Kurt Vile brought his unique stoner Americana to the main stage. The real treats lay on the Garden Stage with Lucy Dacus delighting the crowd with her charming guitar playing again this year. It’s clear she’s as fond of End of the Road as the festival curator and the crowd are of her, as she described the Larmer Tree Gardens as her second home.
Finishing in the perfect way possible were Bright Eyes, encouraging everyone to finish the weekend with a dance & sing. Like the rest of the festival, it was the most beautiful experience.
Chaotic, loud, charming and inspirational, it was the perfect way to finish before heading back to the normality of the outside world. While regrettably, the end of the road for another festival season, it was the perfect way to finish.
Victorious Festival returned to Southsea with its most impressive line-up yet.
Incredibly, Victorious began each day with a band capable of taking top-bill at any festival.
On Friday, Primal Scream kicked off proceedings in their own unique style, having headlined Glastonbury earlier this summer. Taking to the stage in a red suit made from the classic Screamadelicasunburst album cover, Bobby Gillespie launched into Swastika Eyes – although the band began with with a few rarities, they soon launched into their singalong anthems, before being joined by the local Southsea Alternative Choir for a heavenly rendition of Come Together.
The only trouble with beginning a festival with a band so good as Primal Scream and a frontman as enigmatic as Bobby Gillespie is how to follow them…Self Esteem brought the choreography to the main stage, while Anna Calvi came with classic style and impressive guitar solos, but it wasn’t until 90’s legends James took to the stage that anyone came close to their stage presence. Diving into the crowd multiple times and even trying some crowd surfing, frontman Tim Booth is still at the top of his game, finishing inevitably with Sit Down.
Bombay Bicycle Club were fairly bland with their indie-pop, but Stereophonics reignited proceedings, for yet another triumphant headline slot at Victorious. Playing a mix of new songs from their brilliantly named album Oochya, along with classics such as Traffic and Thousand Trees, they left to a firework finale with the sublime Dakota.
Reiterating the point that headliners aren’t only there for the evenings, Sugababes began proceedings on Saturday lunchtime – no wonder the roads around Portsmouth and Southsea were gridlocked so early. Playing hit-after-hit, the original three girl line up reformed earlier this year with style, glitz and glamorous catsuits.
The Sugababes were definitely the highlight of the day, although Bastille were a close second, despite vocalist Dan Smith frequently reclining on a chez-lounge (yes) throughout his energetic set. During Shut Off The Lights, it was truly impressive to see all the iPhones (and Androids) flashlights fill the sky with stars, before the band finished with the pounding drums of anthemic Pompeii.
Sunday was arguably the best day of the weekend, with not only The Libertines taking to the stage at 1pm on the Common Stage, but Example opening proceedings on the separate Castle Stage. What a choice to make after breakfast at one of the hundreds of food stalls. Pete Doherty played the festival previously as a solo artist in 2017, but was far more coherent and in fine form with Carl Barat and the rest of The Libertines. Carl graciously gave a heartfelt shout out to local mental health charity Tonic also.
Sam Ryder followed with his amazing flowing locks, concluding with Eurovision runner-up song Space Man, joined by the local Portsmouth Batala band.
Suede later strutted onstage with their brattish attitude and swagger of their former selfs still seamlessly intact. Elsewhere, Becky Hill drew in a huge crowd at the Castle Stage after disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor brought the glitch, glamour and sequins.
Finishing off the weekend was a true battle of headliners. Sam Fender brought his strong Geordie accent and crowd pleasing rock to the main stage, while The Voice’s Anne-Marie took over the Castle Stage, with multiple songs about her numerous ex-boyfriends and catchy singalongs – she is clearly born to be a performer with no back up dancers or dance steps needed.
Camp Bestival is the best family festival of the year.
As well as being the ultimate festival for children of all ages, this year, Camp Bestival went one step further.
It smashed the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Disco Dance in Dorset!
In celebration of this year’s Desert Island Disco theme, on Saturday 30 July, 598 disco dancers headed to the festival’s giant glittering ball, where kitchen-disco legend Sophie Ellis-Bextor danced with the crowds into the record books, smashing the previous record by over 274 people.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor said in an interview “From my own Kitchen Disco to a fully-fledged all-sequin disco extravaganza in the glorious grounds of Lulworth Castle, I am so thrilled to have played a sparkling part in helping Camp Bestival achieve the official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Largest Disco Dance. Congratulations to all you fabulous disco Kings and Queens!”
Camp Bestival curator Rob da Bank added: “It was amazing to see families and people of all ages come together and show off their best disco moves under the dazzling glitter ball. As well as having a huge amount of fun, we’re incredibly proud that the attempt has raised funds for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. Huge congratulations to all dancers involved!”
From extreme bike battles, the world’s biggest bouncy castle, flying trapeze artists, a science tent, yoga retreats, through to educational workshops and an incredible musical line-up including Rag’n’Bone Man and Rudimental, Camp Bestival really does have something for everyone.
On Friday, festival favourites The Cuban Brothers shocked crowds with their own unique style of breakdancing mixed with semi-nudity, before joining the crowd in an attempt to create the world’s largest conga line. Unfortunately the Guiness World Record adjudicators weren’t on site to verify this hilarious attempt.
Later Jo Whiley played her crowd pleasing 90’s anthems, mixing all the best tracks from the arguably the greatest decade for music. Think Blur vs Oasis, Fatboy Slim, Primal Scream, The Verve, The Chemical Brothers, Faithless, The Prodigy and a whole lot more.
Saturday at Camp Bestival always begins with acts for the younger fans and this year was no exception with Mr Tumble, Brainiac Live, and Dick & Dom for the older kids who have never grown up or get tired of shouting ‘boggies’.
The disco theme continued throughout the day with the Earth Wind and Fire Experience and headliners Kool and the Gang – neither band understandably had the energy of their former years, but very few people in attendance would have even been born when both groups enjoyed their biggest successes in the 70’s.
Sunday at Camp Bestival is always a more relaxed family affair, but Mr Motivator ensured that everyone got on their feet and re-energised.
Shed Seven took to the stage in the late afternoon, and it appears the singer must have a fountain of youth in his garden and he doesn’t seem to have aged a day since their big hits in 1996. Saying this, at one point he thanked Big Feastival so possibly he didn’t realise where he was.
Clearly touched with emotion at the young crowd, while his own children were thousands of miles away in Australis, Example proclaimed this was the best family festival in the world. While he used a few extra expletives, he’s not wrong.
Rudimental played hit after hit before the annual fireworks are always such an amazing site over Lulworth Castle. The castle itself was lit up with images of the festival’s icon Lovebot, while One Love rang out.
Next year is the festival’s 15th anniversary and it’s clear why so many return each year.
I can’t wait for the next Camp Bestival, and fortunately the wait isn’t too long this year. As well as the annual festival which takes place in Dorset, the festival is expanding!
Those in Shropshire can now look forward to their own Camp Bestival later in August. With an incredible musical line-up including Fatboy Slim, Rag’n’Bone Man and Becky Hill, Camp Bestival Shropshire really does have something for everyone.
NASS is the hottest UK festival of the year…so far!
With an eclectic mix of BMX, street-skaters, grime, rap, hip hop and pop, NASS created the most exciting street culture event in the festival calendar, without question.
Friday highlighted the sheer variety of music on offer. Kurupt FM, fresh from their headline appearance at the Arcadia stage of Glastonbury drew a huge crowd within the Hanger at Shepton Mallet. Originally a comedy act from BBC mock series ‘People Just Do Nothing’, MC Grindah truly is one of the best MC’s on the scene. If the band had been formed in the heyday of garage at the start of the 2000’s, they would surely have been one of the biggest genuine acts.
Over on the main stage Willow Kayne stepped in for a surprise appearance with her FIFA-22 soundtrack hit ‘Two Seater’…later Mabel brought glamour with her pumped up-pop. Her bright and beaming tunes may not have been what the average NASS attendee wanted to hear, but it’s clear after her slot, she’ll be headlining in the future.
Speaking of headliners, this was first time Headie One has topped the bill at a UK festival. Although he played a mix of his own tracks, much of his set was made up of covers of his contemporaries, such as Dave and Notorious B.I.G. It’s a shame he didn’t play more of his own tracks to showcase his writing talents.
On Saturday, the BMX and street skate qualifiers began – simply, wow! The moves pulled off in the men’s and women’s competitions were truly breathtaking and the skills defied gravity. As well as International pro skateboarders, competing athletes included Olympic talent such as gold medallist Charlotte Worthington and Team GB’s Declan Brooks. With a combined prize purse of £60,000 it was impressive and sporting to see each talented participant cheer on their competitors while waiting on the ramps.
Saturday’s line up was arguably stronger than the opening day, with artists getting increasingly impressive as the sun shone down.
Bad Boy Chiller Crew were a second-rate Kurupt FM, with novelty tunes, a bassline, bucket hats and for some reason, sweltering balaclavas. Later, Gentleman’s Dub Club proved they are one of the ultimate festival bands with sharp suits and sharper notes.
Later the glamour truly took to the stage with Raye. She stated in an interview that ‘people know the songs, but they don’t know me’ – surely that’s all going to change. She’s currently not signed to a label and is an independent artist, but after this performance, it won’t be long until she’s signed and has a number one album. Her outfit malfunction was a little cheeky however.
Queen of pop Becky Hill followed, proclaiming that the crowd shouldn’t think they’re too cool for her brand of pop. It’s clear she’s a lover of Drum’n’Bass with chart-topping hits such as ‘Run‘. She’s must have now played every festival in the UK, but is always a crowd pleaser and won over many waiting for Saturday headliner, Loyle Carner.
Arguably the nicest bloke in rap, Loyle made multiple dedications to his mother. Not the coolest thing for the skater audience, but it was well intentioned.
After a hard day in the park, Saturday concluded with the thrilling ring of fire, which skaters fearlessly rode their boards through. Well… while some rode through it, others wiped out and others were less fortunate in catching the ring head-on. All in the aid of some much-needed beer tokens.
As usual at a festival, Sunday was a far more sedate affair. The temperatures soared, so many took shelter from the sun. Ms Banks and Ella Eyre played hot sets before Wilkinson delivered his fiery new album Cognition in full. Like the rest of the festival, the set relished in a mix and myriad of styles and genres across the musical spectrum.
Concluding the festival on a high was AJ Tracey with an impressive headline set. Closing out this year’s event in impressive style, with his legendary ‘Ladbroke Grove’ and ‘Thiago Silva’.
Early bird tickets for next year’s NASS go on sale on Wednesday 13 July.
With just over six weeks to go until Boomtown Fair, speculation about who is playing this year’s festival is igniting the imagination.
Boomtown Chapter One: The Gathering will unleash the biggest shakeup the city has ever seen. The festival have made the unusual step of keeping the line-up a secret – regardless tickets have already sold out. It’s easy to see why it’s sold out regardless of who is playing. Boomtown describes itself as a living theatre that ignites imagination and inspires the emergence of a better world through connection, creativity and celebration. Sounds good right – yes, it will be.
After many years of getting bigger-and-bigger, this year the attention is to get better-and-better. It’s shaping up to be the best event so far. Zipping up the boots and going back to the roots.
So who is rumoured to be playing? Well there’s the hardest wording band in the UK – Dub Pistols, led by Barry Ashworth. There’s fellow party-starters Gentleman’s Dub Club, everyone’s favourite Beans on Toast, reggae genius David Rodigan, and out of this world Henge.
On a different level, FourTet fresh from headlining Glastonbury’s Park Stage would be a real coup. Or how about People Just Do Nothing’s Kurupt FM? It’s probably hoping for too much, but Little Simz would be far too introvert to play such a festival surely? Finally on a wish list would be Idles after smashing up 2000 Trees festival in July, but they’re booked to play Boardmasters in Cornwall the same weekend…
Whoever headlines, it is definitely going to be a welcome return to Winchester. Discovering new music is always one of the highlights of any festival. But Boomtown never disappoints based on its independent origins.
