Music Festivals Coming this Summer
The European Stage Takes over from the UK's Offerings
Choose the continent over Britain for music festivals this summer to discover quality, variety and a more authentic 'experience.'
With the advent of spring brings the beginning of the ticket rush for music festivals due to take place this summer. England will see music perfomances in all shapes and sizes, from fun with McFly at T4’s On The Beach to an‘alternative’ week at Glastonbury.
Each event may be defined in its advertisement by the bands and DJs that have been signed to grace the stages but the festival phenomenon has arguably always been about the atmosphere, excitement and experience that is uniquely created for its duration rather than just about the tunes which are played.
An Alternative Week at Glastonbury
Glastonbury’s reputation for providing the independent and the alternative is increasingly succumbing to the over-priced burger vans, electric fencing and high crime rates that characterise other English festivals. Far from the hippie crowd of bygone years, its fields are plagued by over-dressed (and over-sunglassed) celebs and the kids who want to look like them.
Throw in the now faintly ridiculous system of registering months in advance before even being in with the chance to acquire tickets (see http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/ for details) and the high possibility of living in an immovable mud-pit-slash-swamp for a week and the idea suddenly becomes less desirable. 2007 was another washed-out year and 2005 had a record storm in which two months worth of rain fell in several hours!
Now that ludicrous train fares in the UK mean that it is possible to venture to the continent for the same cost as travelling London to Manchester, the festival experience available in England has begun to look decidedly average in comparison to its European neighbours.
Not only is the number and range of festivals on the continent almost overwhelming in its scale but big bands and DJs are also being attracted across the water by the reputation of their festival ‘experience.’ Names that would demand premium ticket prices and competition in the UK are popping up at smaller, more unique events that remain unparalleled in Britain.
Events across the Channel
2007 saw many giants in the dance/techno industry defect to headline European festivals, even if Brits themselves.
The Prodigy rocked EXIT in Serbia and helped this relative newcomer to the scene seize the Best European Festival Award in November. However, whilst The Prodigy and other class acts such as Pendulum and Eric Prydz no doubt attracted the attendees to the venue, its success was based on the atmosphere of the festival itself. The awards were based on an international online vote sourced from those who attended the nominated events in 2007 and, considering the relatively small amount of tickets sold in comparison to other festivals such as Benicassim in Spain, EXIT's success pays testament to the effect it had on its audience.
EXIT retains a musical authenticity that is almost impossible to find in England, even at independently organised affairs like Glade, whilst its 25 stages offer the variety and originality of Glastonbury's own 17. In addition, both the ticket price (a mere 80 euro - see eng.exitfest.org/), the weather and the size are infinitely more manageable than the English equivalent.
Following this success and positive feedback, prominent English newspaper The Guardian recommends "Novi Sad in July" as one of the top 12 exciting destinations in the world for 2008.
Sonica in Italy is even more of a throwback to the original festival era and looks rather like Glastonbury used to at its conception in 1970, albeit on about a 100th of the scale. In the place of £10 burgers and £5 beers are clusters of tents selling pizza, fresh juice and various types of tea, wooden jewellery, psychedelic t-shirts…and an astoundingly bizarre range of hats that may or may not be made out of hemp. The ‘bars’ consist of rugs on the floor with crates serving as tables. And sober people mingle among the festival goers spreading their ideas about culture and philosophy.
Despite its relaxed atmosphere, Sonica is well-known for having had psytrance DJs Hallucinogen headline and is not short of celebrated names on its stages. Yet the tickets remain embarrassingly cheap and easy to get hold of from http://www.sonica25.com/.
The Glastonbury name will be enough to maintain the high price of its ‘experience’ in future times but with so many events like Sonica and EXIT to explore, venturing to the European side of the stage has never looked easier, cheaper or more exciting.
It’s time to ditch the crowds and the queues and enjoy what music the continent has to offer this summer.
