It’s getting hotter, the sun’s staying out longer and I
don’t even remember what the moon looks like. Yes, summer is here and you know
what that means, its festival season.
I adore festivals but have never attended one but see that
year after year festivals get better and better. My obsession with festivals
started with my fascination with the 60s and being a full time hippy, here I
love everything about the greatest festival ever, Woodstock of 1969. Here
greats such as Jimmy Hendrix and The Who poured their souls into their
instruments in order to protest for peace as a response to the violence the
world faced the years and decades before. Billed by supporters as “three days
of peace and music” Woodstock attracted 450,000 fans, here the festival was
such a success, that it needed a whole raft of new state laws to ensure it
would never happen again. Now that was a festival.
Great things happen at festivals as Woodstock has a legacy
of its own. Although it was for three days, those days are now known as three glorious
days in the history of culture as Jimmy Hendrix blew the audience away with his
own interpretation of America’s national anthem. I’ve seen footage of it on
YouTube and I swear even the hippies had to put down their marijuana to embrace
its beautiful portrayal.
This year will see great concerts, festivals and musical
events that will make its’ own stamp on history as there are so many to look out for. There are many to choose from
given that Wireless festival, V festival, Love Box festival, The Underage Festival, Download festival,
Reading festival, Liverpool Sound City and Wood festival are just a few to mention
as there are over a hundred festivals lined up this summer in the U.K alone.
But don’t forget about those abroad like Coachella Festival 2012, New Orleans’s
jazz festival or the Wango Tango one overseas.
But with all these choices and lack of money how do you
decide which ones to see, well go for your favourite band, artist , genre or
venue as Isle of Wight alone is a good enough reason to attend the festival
2012. But even if your flat broke, working all summer or your parents won’t let
you travel to a big field to get stuck in three feet of mud, there are other
options. Go to ones closer to home and what about getting it on DVD or watch it
on TV as I know for a fact that you can watch full coverage and highlights of Radio
1 Hackney Weekend on B.B.C. or online. And with more festivals still to come
like Leeds and Reading as well as the Camden Crawl festival, it is a sure sign
that the festival season is still not over. Hey you can always make a festival
at home and it does save you having a sweaty man’s hairy armpit in your face or
being attacked by insects. But if you want to give it a go, get some money, sun
screen together with wellies and get ready for some great music, I know I will.

xxxxxx