THE SUMMER IS ALL ABOUT MUSIC
By Strings Direct – 29 August, 2023
Slam Dunk Festival – 28th – 30th May
Three dates at three different venues. This year it’s Slam Dunk’s 10th anniversary and taking headline spot is Panic! At the Disco which is a great choice as their latest album is pretty sweet. Personally I am loving the line up this year; my ‘must sees’ are The Qemists, The One Hundred, We Came As Romans, Hacktivist, Cancer Bats, Young Guns and Mallory Knox, to name just a few. This festival has a great vibe, with a number of stages both inside and outside. I will be going to the Hatfield date, which is held at Hertfordshire University. It’s well set out so you can leg it round and make sure you don’t miss the bands you want to see. There are also plenty of bars scattered round so you won’t get thirsty! They also have a stage dedicated to new acts, so make sure you go and support the up-and-coming.
Camden Rocks – 4th June
A one-day festival that takes over North-West London filling a range of different venues in Camden with live music. It is great how it brings a huge number of music lovers and supporters to one town to help all the smaller music venues and local talent. This year some of the bands playing are Sikh, Young Guns, The Qemists, We are the Ocean, Blood Youth, New Years Day, Forever Never, The Dirty Youth, Counting Days, The RPM’s and Press to Meco, with soo many others! If you fancy voting for ‘Killatrix’ to play this year then please do – the band and I would love to be on the bill this year :P :P. But we all know how great London is for music and having this festival set in the iconic venues of Camden town makes it something quite special and every year it feels like it is getting bigger and better!
Download Festival – 10th – 12th June
Arrrr, Download! The perfect place for all metal lovers. The monsters that are Rammstein, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden are headlining this year but there are plenty other, smaller bands that make this festival one of the best yet. So far the ‘must sees’ are Escape the Fate, Don Broco, Billy Talent, Architects, Bury Tomorrow, Skindred, Twin Atlantic, All Time Low, Beartooth, Atreyu, Halestorm, Alien Ant Farm, Shinedown, Sixx:AM and looadssssss more… This to me is more than just a festival but a holiday (when it doesn’t rain). You can camp up to 5 days if you don’t mind skipping showers and cleaning your teeth with Strongbow each morning, but believe me you will have so much fun with the other campers and plenty of stories to tell the grand kids. Or if you worry too much about your hair (like some people I know) you can get a hotel, you will still have an awesome time, as the atmosphere is always brilliant even if you end up knee deep in mud!
Stone Free Festival – 18th – 19th June
New festival at the O2 for classic rockers! The mighty Alice Cooper is one of the headline acts along with Rick Wakeman! Some other great acts too including: The Darkness, Blackberry Smoke, Marillion and Lounge Kittens. Looking forward to this one and will be interested to see if it gets the response it deserves.
Of course there are also the gargantuan likes of Reading &Leeds Festivals, Glasto, V Fest, Brownstock, T in the Park, The Great Escape but there are some pretty awesome smaller, more local festivals that you should be attending as well.
This year I will be attending Southend’s Purple Festival again. It rocked last year, so many different bands and a great atmosphere all along the Golden Mile on Southend seafront and every year it’s getting busier and bigger. Make sure you come out for this, join in the fun, bring the family as there is a huge mixture of acts that play!
Also BayDays Festival in Chelmsford 22nd – 24th July – a small intimate festival full of local talent including us (Killatrix), F.O.X, Kloq, Never Means Maybe, Bearfist and Buried by the Thousand, I cannot wait for this! I have attended this a few times now and it is great to see the amount of people who come to the event on all 3 days. This little festival has been growing steadily over the last 8 years and really shows off local talent. Come along, grab a pint (or a lemonade for the kids), watch some great music and spend your weekend doing something a bit different! Hope to see you there :)
There are so many others, far too many to write about, but I will definitely be at these ones. The summer is all about music so I will see you in the mosh pit!
SinDii Blue x
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