Welcome to The Big Issue’s summer festival guide 2024! From intimate boutique bashes to culture-shaking iconic weekends, there’s going to be something to truly make your summer sing
MAY
HIDDEN DOOR
10-11 May Edinburgh £31 per day
This pop-up arts festival in the Scottish capital is celebrating its 10th birthday with two nights of partying in an underground car park. Driving an ambitious programme of music, visual art and performance are Maranta and their ‘art-electronica’ show Microsteria, pioneering electronic-slash-world-music DJ Auntie Flo and Eclair Fifi, one of Scotland’s most celebrated DJs.
hiddendoorarts.org
BEARDED THEORY
23-26 May Catton Hall, Derbyshire £210
Independent family festival Bearded Theory has pulled out all the stops for its 15th year. Alt-rock legends Jane’s Addiction and Aussie pub-rockers Amyl And The Sniffers top a bill that includes Future Islands, Sleaford Mods and Dry Cleaning, while Ibibio Sound Machine, Orbital and Roni Size are among the acts to keep you dancing all night.
beardedtheory.co.uk
JAZZ STROUD
23-26 May Stroud, Gloucestershire £85
It began as a low-key affair, caught the wave that was the UK jazz explosion, and is now a fixture in the festival calendar, bringing buzzing jazz acts to the Cotswolds town each year. Headliners include keyboard superstar Joe Armon-Jones of Mercury winners Ezra Collective, Birmingham’s experimental jazz/electronic outfit un.procedure and Stroud’s own Daniel Inzani.
jazzstroud.org
KNOCKENGORROCH
23-26 May Galloway, Scotland £155
Celebrate some of the finest music from the Celtic diaspora at this long-running festival that takes place in a stunning setting beneath the peaks of south-west Scotland. Acts include Banco de Gaia, Queen Omega, 808 State (DJ set), Ríoghnach Connolly & Honeyfeet and festival favourites Mungo’s Hi Fi.
knockengorroch.org.uk
GALA
24-26 May Peckham Rye Park, London Friday £59.50, Saturday/ Sunday £69.50
This dance festival celebrates the originators of club culture and those driving the sound forward. The festival does its bit for the surrounding area too, offering work to locals and raising money for charities such as the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. NTS, Adonis, Horse Meat Disco and Nicholas Daley with Woven Rhythms have all curated stages this year, hosting the likes of Loraine James, DJ EZ, Joy Orbison, Interplanetary Criminal and Novelist.
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