The British public have long been into their festivals, from the early days of classical and folk music to hippy and rock affairs such as The Isle Of Wight and Glastonbury. Here is a brief summary of some popular UK festivals.

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and attracts some of the biggest names in the music industry. It is a popular event which first formed in 1970 and has since gone from strength to strength.

Many different stages and tents cover all genres of music, from rock to reggae, dance to folk, all tastes are catered for. There is live T.V. coverage and the entire area becomes a medium sized city of around 130 thousand people with it’s own police force, medical staff and food markets.. you will have to use your imagination for description of the toilets. The event takes place towards the end of June in Glastonbury, England.

V Festival

Close on Glastonbury’s heels is the V Festival which is currently held simultaneously at two sites – Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex and Weston Park in Stafford, Staffordshire. The festival is run by the Virgin organisation and takes place over the penultimate weekend of August. V is primarily aimed at an indie rock audience and some people regard it as a “bit posh”.

The Isle Of White Festival

The Isle Of White festival sells around 50 thousand tickets and takes place at Newport on the Isle Of White just off the south coast of England. The festival inspired such events as Glastonbury and first took place in the psychedelic 60’s.

Early legendary acts to play include the likes of Jimi Hendrix (who made his first UK appearnace there), Bob Dylan, The Who and The Doors who all had to catch the sea ferry over to the Island. The event takes place during early to mid June and recent line ups include stars such as The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music and REM.

T In The Park

Considered my some to be the next best music festival after Glastonbury. Set near to Perth and Kinross, Scotland, the 2007 “T In The Park” event has sold 40 thousand tickets in February even though the event doesn’t take place until early July. Many renowned music acts play this festival with 2007 line up including the Arctic Monkeys, Mika, Rufus Wainwright, Interpol, Scissor Sisters and Lily Allen. Some call it the Glastonbury of Scotland and it is set in beautiful countryside surroundings.

The Carling Weekend

Formerly known as the Reading Festival, The Carling Weekend boasts a similar history to events such as Glastonbury. Great tunesmiths to have played include Nirvana, The Stone Roses and The White Stripes all adding to the events reputation. Mean Fiddler, ensures that since the event has been twinned with a Leeds version, fashionable indie types make up much of the audience with an emphasis on modern rock and Indie. Band lined up for the August bank holiday weekend include Smashing Pumpkins, The Horrors, Kings Of Leon and Razorlight.

One of the largest heavy metal and rock festivals in Europe is the Download Festival which takes place at Donnington Park, near Derby. The festival takes place during early June and also appreciates T.V. coverage. This event is popular with heavy metal maniacs.

For dance music enthusiasts there is the legendary Global Gathering event.

With an enormous 75 thousand revellers in 2006 and full coverage in the BBC this has to be one of the most renowned dance music events in the world. From Fat Boy Slim to Groove Armada, Faithless to Basement Jaxx, even the Red Arrows air display team are now listed as an attraction. Global Gathering takes place at Long Marston, Warwickshire during late July. Expect strange hairdos, furry boots and lots of whistles.

A bit more eclectic

Some of the more eclectic festivals worth considering include: Latitude which features rather lesser known indie rock bands and takes place in Henham Park, Suffolk in mid July, long established dance event The Big Chill at Eastnor Castle in Malvern (early August), Bestival which takes place at on the Isle Of Wight in early September and is curated by BBC funk and electronica DJ Rob ‘Da Bank’.

The alternatively folksy Green Man Festival takes place in the Brecon Beacons in mid August and the psychedelic Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham is set amongst the landscape that inspired Tolkien and takes place early September.

A few tips

For anybody not familiar with British weather, put it like this… the great Caesar of Rome visited these shores once and didn’t return. From John o’Groats to Lands end, the weather is totally unpredictable, sometimes not even the Met office know whats going on and for this reason the best advice is to be prepared for the worst.

Make sure you don’t camp too close to toilets for obvious reasons, if you would like at least one nights decent sleep then keep away from generators or anything that could be a distraction, pitching a tent next to a hedge can sometimes be a mistake as hedgerows can become midnight urinals at certain events. A pair of wellies, hat, poncho or rain mac, a cooler box and a few drink and food provisions (preferably stored in the car) would be worth a thought as well as sleeping mats and a bum bag or small rucksack to keep the essentials in, but make sure they fit comfortably.

On the rare occasion the sun decides to “shine on” be sure to have adequate sun cream to avoid ending up looking like a beetroot ready for pickling. Never leave valuables in your tent, even the safest of events will attract tent burglars.

The early days

The seeds of Hip Hop were first sown during the early 70’s by DJs such as ‘Cool Herc’ in the Bronx, U.S.A.

DJs would play parties with twin turntables and soon realised that by using two copies of the same record they could prolong their favorite breakdowns to the further enjoyment of the crowd.

Over these extended breakdowns MCs could tell or ‘rap’ stories along to the beat, whether it be about a woman they liked or about what they had for breakfast, it all added to the effect of the records and sometimes added a touch of light hearted entertainment in an otherwise difficult ghetto life.

Eventually the DJs started making their own records to rap over. By using Roland drum machines and electronic synthesizers that could be synchronized together, a new sound called ‘Electro Hip Hop’ was formed.

Breakdance & Graffiti

This music craze was accompanied by another new art form.. Spraycan Art or “Graffiti Art” which also originated in the Bronx but quickly spread across America and eventually Europe and the world.

Gradually a new way of dancing accompanied Hip Hop and Electro, it took wild moves from Jazz and other street dance forms and became known as ‘break dancing’. Breakers would form crews and use linoleum sheets or card to battle each other, sometimes in front of passers by.
The fashion was also important, b-boys would wear designer sports labels such as Nike, Puma, Adidas, Fila and Elise.. from head bands to trainers and caps to shell tracksuits.

The popularity of the sampler allowed hip hop producers to sample old funk and soul records to further experiment with break beats. By the late 90’s Hip Hop was reaching it’s zenith and artists such as BDP, Mantronix, Eric B & Rakim and De La Soul were finding great popularity.

Evolution

Even white punk and rock bands tried getting in on the act with artists such as Aerosmith and The Beastie Boys getting “DEF” and kids normally into heavy metal started wearing lace-less shell toe adidas trainers.
Hip Hop has since remained popular in two forms, on a commercial level which is more commonly associated with R&B and MTV but also it carries on in a more underground fashion with sub genres like grime, garage and bhangra.

Hip Hop will always be around thanks to a rich heritage laid down by such luminaries as Afrika Bambaataa and The Soul Sonic Force, hip hop continues to evolve.

Haabaa editorial team and the countries we cover continues to grow. We have a new dedicated Australia web directory, which goes live on Monday. The directory accepts sites from Australia and New Zealand. The submission is completely free.

Jack, the editor of the new Haabaa Australia Directory is an experienced software engineer and directory owner from Melbourne. Jack is the owner of UK Zone, a UK focused web directory. We look forward to benefiting from Jack’s editorial experience.