THE SUN HAS GOT ITS HAT ON: 2007 festival list

This summer is set to be very interesting. After a decade or so of money grabbing bastards running events with no soul and legislation making life difficult for the ‘real’ festivals, the grass roots have been getting their act together the last few years and we now have a healthy scene flourishing once more, with events being run efficiently by people who know what a festival is supposed to be. On top of this we have a few old faces returning to the scene; Back To the Planet, Radical Dance Faction, AOS3, Omnia Opera, Tribe of Cro and Billy Childish will be back with us this summer; add to that old favourites like Ozric Tentacles, Eat Static, Pronghorn, Space Ritual, Tarantism, P.A.I.N. and newcomers like Sick Note, Molara and Alienoidz .. the summer is already looking HOT.

Below is a list of some of the events coming up. It is by no means exhaustive, but is a good starter for ten, for the best listing you will need to track down a copy of festival eye which is getting bigger and better each year. If you know of anything worth adding to our list, please let us know (Events highlighted in RED come with a special reccomendation from the Iguana crew)

6 May BLOWOUT: Cardiff: Indoor thing with festival vibe, Dreadzone, Sick Note, 808 state, physycists, kilnaboy and many more warming up for the summer

25/26/27 May OFF THE TRACKS: Donnington: First of two festivals in the grounds of a hotel just off the tracks of Donnington

25/26/27 May GLASTONBUDGET: Leicester. Lots of up and coming bands together with a stage just for tribute bands

25/26/27 May STRUMMERCAMP: Manchester: Joe Strummers mates in the hood

26 May THE FULL PONTY: Pontypridd: Big one dayer with the likes of The Lost Prophets

28 May KINGSTON GREEN FAIR: Kingston upon Thames: One day green community event

31 may 1/2/3/4 June SUNRISE: Somerset. Back for another go after last years premier.

1/2/3 June WYCHWOOD: Cheltenham: low key but high quality event on the race course

2 June STRAWBERRY FAIR; Cambridge. Yes THE Strawberry Fair, still going strong

8/9/10 June DOWNLOAD: Donnington: Noisy mutha, held on the site of Donnington racecourse, take ya ear plugs and sleep with one eye open

8/9/10 June LLAMA: Devon: Community arts and music thing

8/9/10 June ISLE OF WIGHT Isle of Wight: Jimmi is unlikely to turn up, but the Stones will be (gawd help us!)

9/10 June ROCKNESS: Loch Ness: Alabama 3, Groove Armada, Manics, Chemical brothers etc

15/16/17 June HAWKFEST: Donnington: Spaced out man

20/21 June STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATIONS: Stonehenge (maybe?)

22/23/24 June GLASTONBURY MEGAFEST: Pilton: not as good as it used to be, but still sells out in 9 minutes

29/30 June/1 July WORKHOUSE: North Wales: Stay away, we don’t want your sort spoiling this awesome little event

5/6/7/8 July ROSKILDE Denmark: Europes answer to Glastonbury

6/7/8 July BLISSFIELDS: Hampshire; in a field full of bliss we assume, don’t know much about it

6/7/8 July T IN THE PARK Scotland: Big corporate thing north of the border

7/8 July CORNBURY: Oxfordshire: David grey, Suzanne Vega, Blondie…. Wipe your feet on the way in

7/8 July OXEGEN: Ireland: Probably the biggest festi in the emerald isle

11/12/13/14/15 July LARMER TREE FESTIVAL: Dorset: Well run civilised little folky/world music event in the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset every July. Excellent facilities, and usually has a few good names on the bill. Ideal festival for people who do not like festivals. ALWAYS sells out and always has pronghorn close on the Sunday night.

13/14/15 July SMALL NATIONS: Mid Wales: Mostly local stuff with one or two surprises to make it worth travelling

13/14/15 July GUILFEST: Guilford: Festival for Radio 2 listeners who do not like campfires and late night music, but do like proper bogs.

13/14/15 July FFLAM; Swansea: A new comer to the circuit with big names and big ambitions

13/14/15 July LOUNGE ON THE FARM: Canterbury: Reasonably priced little do with the Alabama 3 (don’t they ever stay still?)

14 July CHAGSTOCK: Dartmoor: One dayer with Saw Doctors type shenanigans

14/15 July ASHTON COURT: Bristol: if you dont know the score.. where you been all these years?

19/20/21/22 July TROWBRIDGE VILLAGE PUMP; Trowbridge: A beer festival with
some cracking music

20/21 July WICKERMAN: Scotland: counter culture vibe of festivals from a bygone era, apparently

20/21/22 July EASTERN HAZE: Suffolk: this is shaping up to look a little bit UNMISSABLE. Old skool with amazing line up

20/21/22 July GLADE FESTIVAL ?? the dudes that run the glade field in Glastonbury

20/21/22 July SHEEP MUSIC FESTIVAL: Mid Wales: bring wellies and a rope

26/27/28/29 July SECRET GARDEN: Huntingdon: shhhh… it’s a secret!

26/27/28/29 July ROCK AND BLUES CUSTOM SHOW: Derbyshire: Get your motors running

27/28 July GLOBAL GATHERING: Warwick: Glowsticks, whistles, bandanas and prancing about doing the ‘big box little box’ thing.

27/28/29 July SHAMANIA: Lancashire: Shamanic tribal celebration with mostly DJs and live dance stuff

27/28/29 July WOMAD: Wiltshire: World Of Music And Dance, too cool for one country

2/3/4/5 August WICKHAM: Hampshire: Jethro tull, the Hamsters and all that sort of thing

4th August CELTIC BLUE ROCK West Wales: you will be surprised how cool West Wales is these days!

1/2/3/4/5 August BIG GREEN GATHERING: Somerset; Big and Green

3/4/5 August BIG WEEKEND: Cardiff: Fun fair, lots of crap music, but always at least one band worth seeing every day… free

4/5/6 August BIG CHILL: Eastnor: Big rip off

9/10/11/12 August BULLDOG BASH: Stratford upon Avon: Biker Heaven

10/11/12 August ENDORSE IT IN DORSET: Dorset: probably the best festival in Dorset. Old skool and wicked, a must do

10/11/12 August SUMMER SUNDAE: Leicester: Indie thing

10/11 August TARTAN HEART: Scotland; 70 squids, so there must be some big names… don’t know who though

16/17/18/ August BLOODSTOCK: Burton on Trent: Metal bloody metal, for fans of tinitus

17/18/19 August GREEN MAN GATHERING: Brecon: cool classy and always sells out

18/19 August V FESTIVAL: Chelmsford: more corporate nonsense from the man that brought you tubular bells and virgin cola

17/18/19 August BEAUTIFUL DAYS: Devon: the Levellers and friends go back to their roots

24/25/26 August SHAMBALA: Plymouth: return of one of the coolest events on the circuit.

24/25/26 August SOLFEST: Cumbria: One of these days we are gonna make the effort to drive that far north

24/25/26 August CARLING WEEKEND: Reading and Leeds: Mean Fi**ler commercial nonsense for kids to line Vince Powers' pocket

25 Auguust CARDIFF CALLING: Cardiff: Streets only festival appearance this year, plus local boys the Super Furies

26 August SOUTH WEST FOUR: Cardiff: Same site as Cardiff Calling, different promoter (Metro newspaper), mostly DJs and stuff

25 August CREAMFIELDS; Daresubry: big name line up for rave by organisers who have never been to a rave

30/31 August 1 September OFF THE TRACKS (AGAIN) Donnington: probably the best facilities of any festival on the circuit

14/15/16 September KNOCKENGORROUGH: Scotland: a sort of world dubby ceildih type north of the border in September. Those Arran jumpers will come in handy!