music
Tickets for this years Glastonbury music festival sold out in just over 4 hours, over 8 hours quicker than last year, surely showing it is one of the most beloved and famous music festivals in the world. Though Glastonbury is the most famous it isn’t the only festival, with new festivals either expanding or being established annually. Now we are in the lead up to the summer months, so now is a perfect time to look forward at some of the diverse different music festivals coming our way this year.
Glastonbury
The full name for the festival is the Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, and though famous for having the biggest names in contemporary music perform there, it also home to every other genre and type of music and other art forms, like sculpture and performing arts like Poi. The festival is estimated to bring in over 100 million pounds to the British economy, making the festival a cultural and economic milestone. Held in the June of every year, this year is expected to once again, be a massive success.
Beyonce, U2, and Coldplay are just three of the most famous groups and singers performing at this years Glastonbury, but these are just three examples from the hundreds of confirmed artists performing from the 22nd to the 26th of June over the various different stages. Glastonbury has a reputation, that has been well earned, as the biggest and the best music festival out there, and this is the last festival before the break next year (for the Olympics) so the pressure is on the make it a truly extraordinary year, a challenge Glastonbury has risen to on previous occasions.
Global Gathering
Global Gathering is Britain’s leading dance and electronic music festival, it was started in 2001 when organizers decided to expand dance music from the clubs, to the traditional festival formula. Voted best U.K. festival by DJ magazine twice, 2010 being one of these times, this festival in the last weekend of July every year and has been growing in popularity. This is due, according to James and Neill Moffat, that they communicate with their fans every year, something the internet has helped with immensely. They told U.K.’s DJ Magazine “There’s so many festivals out there now and the fittest survive so we’re always keeping ourselves on our toes.”
With acts like Pendulum, Tinie Tempah, Axwell, Eric Prydz, and Beardyman performing this year, and the Global Gathering festival going international with Global Gathering branded festivals being set up worldwide, it has been truly established as one of the U.K.’s best and most popular festivals.
Download
Download is a 3 day music festival held annually at Donington Park, and was set up following the end of the Monsters of Rock festival. It is usually the festival of choice for rock fans, with some of the biggest names in rock and metal showing up to perform. Created at a time when music piracy via the internet was rife, the festival was named Download to attempt to reinvigorate the music industry, with original tickets giving festival goers the chance to download the songs played by acts at the festival, though this idea was dissolved it is indicative of the attitude of festival organisers.
Being headlined this year by Linkin Park, System of a Down, and Def Leppard and with performances from other rock legends like Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie the Download festival has gone from strength to strength. Though a relatively young festival, it has become the premier rock festival in Britain.
Leeds and Reading
The Reading and Leeds festivals are held, obviously, in Leeds and Reading, and both share the same billing. The Reading festival preceded the Leeds festival, in fact it is the oldest popular music festival in the world starting in 1961. Though the festivals are on two separate grounds, they share the same branding, sponsors and musical acts. Having gone through a number of phases, each focusing on different musical styles, this years headliners are My Chemical Romance, Pulp, The Strokes and Muse, just a few of the many famous acts which have performed at the festival.
Reading and Leeds festivals are also famous for a number of controversial events, including Kurt Cobain being wheeled on stage in a wheelchair, in an attempt to mock allegations made in the press concerning him having a mental illness. The festival is also infamous for having an aggressive audience with more than one act being bottled off the stages, including 50 Cent, Panic at the Disco, and Bonnie Tyler way back in ‘88. Though the festival has gone through various stages of decline and improvement, after opening up its admission guidelines to a more eclectic list, the popularity and financial viability of the festival has been improving every year.
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