Webcuts Music

As European Summer festival time approaches, some of you are probably wondering where to go? Shouldn’t I really be doing something better with me time than standing in the burning sun watching some terrible band yawn into their instruments while wondering what it was I just ate, or less cynically, having the time of your life with your mates and maybe pulling some random Swedish lady/gent. You really don’t go to a festival just to watch bands do you? Don’t worry as Webcuts will try (successful applications pending) to be your ears and eyes this Summer.

Our favourite, perhaps because they treat us so nicely, is the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden on 12 – 14 August. While Gothenburg isn’t one of the more prettier cities in Sweden’s crown, the allure of Way Out West resides in its impeccable selection of artists over this 3 nights of club shows and 2 days of outdoor festivities. Last year was an exercise in trying to cram too much in at once till the early hours of the morning and this year does not disappoint, with bands so far announced including Pavement, La Roux, Girls, The xx, Real Estate, Surfer Blood, The Radio Dept., Beach House, LCD Soundsystem and Cymbals Eat Guitars.

Ticketing and further information about Way Out West can be found here.

Next on our ‘can we mum, can we mum, can weeee???’ list of choice festivals is Primavera in Barcelona, Spain on 27 – 29 May. Oh my, oh yes. Festival virgins in this particular part of the world, Webcuts has eyed the Primavera line-up with barely contained jealousy. With six stages and some of the stages ‘situated on the beach’ as the travel brochure teases, Primavera is the perfect festival + vacation combination. With a line-up that includes the mightiest triumvirate of P’s in music history with Pet Shop Boys, Pixies, Pavement, there is also Wild Beasts, Cold Cave, Spoon, Mission of Burma, Built to Spill, The Charlatans, Wire, Broken Social Scene and Atlas Sound to whet your appetite.

Ticketing and further information about Primavera can be found here.

For those who can’t be bothered going too far outside London, let alone getting on a plane, there’s always the Reading Festival on 27 – 29 August. Reading has been a long standing event on the English festival goer’s calendar for many a year, yet for some reason it always seems to amount to the less exciting, less appealing line-up of the big name festivals. Reading isn’t as eclectic as other festivals and appeals to your average music fan who doesn’t mind a little Wild Beasts with their Limp Bizkits. Bands set to stun at Reading this year include Guns n’ Roses, Arcade Fire, Blink 182 with the re-formed Libertines, QOTSA, Modest Mouse, Paramore, Weezer, Klaxons, and LCD Soundsystem.

Ticketing and further information about Reading can be found here.

The annual Lovebox Weekender, now in it’s 7th year at Victoria Park, has been recognised as one of the major events in the London Festival calendar. With the festival now expanded into a proper three day event, the focus has broadened to include a wide range of acts that would appeal to both Lovebox fans new and old. In past years, the headliners have included Groove Armada, Duran Duran, Goldfrapp and Sly & The Family Stone, but for 2010, the organisers have secured the talents of Dizzee Rascal, Roxy Music (playing their first shows in 5 years) and the enigmatic and unpredictable Grace  Jones.  With additional acts across the three days in the form of Mark Ronson, Paloma Faith, Chase & Status, Wild Beasts, Chew Lips, Yeasayer, Hot Chip and Peaches as well as DJ sets and live PA’s from club and radio DJ’s, 2010 is expected to be the biggest Lovebox Weekender yet.

Ticket and further information about the Lovebox Weekender can be found here.

For those who still wear denim jackets with heavy metal patches sown on them and are probably more inclined to beat up an indie kid than take one home to meet your mother, Download is for you. Situated in the legendary Donington Park, home of many a metal meltdown, Download is held over three days between 11 – 13 June. This years selection for the hearing impaired include the almighty AC/DC, Rage Against The Machine, Aerosmith, Motorhead, Billy Idol, Bullet For My Valentine, 30 Seconds To Mars, Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots and Megadeth.

Ticket and further information about Download can be found here.

Keeping in the same head-banging vein and battling for your born-to-be-wild bucks is Sonisphere. Held over three days in Knebworth between July 30 and August 1, Sonisphere gives you enough time to for the Download hangovers to settle and the bruises to heal before going back into the frontline again. With a punishing line-up, Sonisphere in my books has the edge on Download. You want some true hard rock and heavy metal, this is where you want to be. Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Iggy & The Stooges, The Cult, Anthrax, Slayer, Papa Roach, Alice in Chains, Gallows, Placebo, Henry Rollins doing the old spoken word, and much, much more.

Tickets and further information about Sonisphere can be found here.

We’re going back to Spain again for Benicàssim or what the Spanish call ‘Festival Internacional de Benicàssim’. Either way, it’s another three day, wait four day holiday in Spain masquerading as a music festival! If what I’ve read is true, you get nine days of camping with your Benicàssim ticket, so see the bands and stay as long as you need to lose that hangover or get your hearing back. This year, festival goers will be treated to the sounds of The Prodigy, Kasabian, Vampire Weekend, Leftfield, Dizzee Rascal, Hot Chip, DJ Shadow, Goldfrapp, Ian Brown, The Courteneers, The Cribs, Ellie Goulding, Julian Casablancas.

Ticketing and further information about Benicassim can be found here.

This list will probably be added to as more festival line-ups are finalised, so keep checking back.