Green Day on the NME/Radio 1 stage at Reading
We’ve still got a couple more festivals this year, but with Merthyr Rock behind us, Punktastic’s summer of festivals (our biggest yet!) is pretty much done and dusted. We’ve been far and wide, seeing the best and worst of the weather, gaining varying levels of awful tans (see: Tom Aylott post-anything) and generally attempting to be the centre of the party as much as often.
As the content from the festivals keeps coming in, here’s a sort of debrief in words (brief, promise) of how this summer has reduced our life expectancy considerably, and exactly why it was worth it.
Hit The Deck
What: Multi venue punk/rock/hardcore/pop punk all-dayer in Nottingham
Where: Nottingham
When: 22 APRIL
Who: Kids In Glass Houses, The Wonder Years, Cancer Bats
Why: For sheer volume of great bands, Hit The Deck looks like becoming a tidy rival to the slightly different set up of Slam Dunk North and South in the next few years. The venues are all very close together and we had a fantastic day watching some of the UK’s finest. It’s a great way to kick off festival season WAY ahead of usual.
How: We came from London on the train and it was fairly pain free. Book in advance at a hotel and enjoy the day rush-free – be mindful that bands can start before check in does on the day!
Groezrock
What: Europe’s earliest and (arguably) bestest punk rock festival
Where: Geel/Meerhout (Belgium)
When: 28 + 29 APRIL
Who: Refused, Rancid, Lifetime
Why: For sheer volume of great bands, Hit The Deck looks like becoming a tidy rival to the slightly different set up of Slam Dunk North and South in the next few years. The venues are all very close together and we had a fantastic day watching some of the UK’s finest. It’s a great way to kick off festival season WAY ahead of usual.
How: Of the many ways to get to Belgium from the South East, the most enjoyable has been on road trips. If you’ve got at least four people in the car, it’s cheap as chips. Eurostar tickets to Belgium include travel to your destination station in Beligum (top tip), so you can also have that as an option and board one of the “party trains” that will be filled with eager English punks. It gets -cold- at night sometimes at Groez because it’s not quite summer yet, so back a roll mat and a coat/thick hoody even if it’s warm in the day.
Camden Crawl
What: A multi venue, multi genre industry fest in London
Where: Camden, London
When: 04, 05, 06 MAY
Who: And So I Watch You From Afar, Marmozets, Rolo Tomassi
Why: Largely full of hype bands and quirky indie upstarts, there are hidden gems all across Camden during the crawl, and there’s little excuse needed to get stuck into one of London’s silliest areas.
How: Camden is very close to Euston (one tube stop!) and King’s Cross (two tube stops!) in London, and you’ll have no problem getting there from any of the bigger London stations. If you’re gonna go and hotel it, just make sure you’re in North London rather than south, but there’s so many places to stay within a short bus ride or tube journey that you’ll be spoilt for choice (even on a budget). Be prepared to spend £4 a pint at all times (go to Wetherspoons near the lock if you’re after cheap-o deals), and make sure you go early for those bigger artists – or you will come away dissapointed.
Slam Dunk North / South
What: The #1 pop punk/punk/rock all-dayer in the UK
Where: Leeds / Hertfordshire Universities
When: 26 + 27 May (North and South respectively)
Who: Motion City Soundtrack, Funeral For A Friend, Say Anything
Why: Every year, Slam Dunk is ridiculous. Since the introduction of the Hatfield site, trying to do both days without having a heart attack (2 hours sleep in Leeds to catch the early London train is constantly HELL) is a badge of honour, and it’s always a laugh. It’s the perfect summer kick off and many people wont see a better day all year long.
How: Hatfield is stupidly easy to get to from King’s Cross, and Leeds is nice and easy too on the train. Parking at both is a pain in the arse, and get those hotel rooms early in Leeds to avoid sleeping in the streets / staying up all night. We recommend making friends on the forum that live in Leeds and then stealing their sofas. Way cheaper.
Crash Doubt
What: Intimate Hardcore Gathering in Lincoln (of all places)
Where: Lincoln Showroom
When: 02 + 03 June
Who: Heart In Hand, No Trigger, Crazy Arm
Why: Loads and loads of bands in one place (about 20 seconds between the stages), and all in a place that desperately needs more tours stopping by it. There’s a few tweaks left to get the festival pumping, but it’s got all the signs of being a great alternative to your more commercial Slam Dunk / Hit The Deck events.
How: Get the train or drive and just suck up the walk from the station to the venue. If you drive, there’s free on-site parking, so take your pick and book a hotel super early if you think you’re gonna need one. Lincoln hotels were surprisingly expensive!
Download
What: Large Rock Festival
Where: Donington Castle
When: 8 + 9 + 10 June
Who: Black Sabbath, NOFX, Rise Against
Why: As Reading becomes more “indie”, Download becomes more punk. A behemoth festival that’s equally as fun as it is packed with stuff to watch! The Pepsi Max stage has been amazing for the last few years, and with Sonisphere coming back for more in 2012 (apparently), it’ll be interesting to see what Copping picks for next year…
How: Generally, Download is a total pain in the arse to drive to / get a train to. Plan way in advance and just suck it up and camp rather than getting a hotel. It’s way more difficult than Reading to escape from on the Monday as well, so be prepared to take your time.
Hellfest
What: Large Metal Festival
Where: Clisson, France
When: 15 + 16 + 17 June
Who: Death Angel, Refused, Walls Of Jericho
Why: Download’s gotten too soft for the true metallers, so why not take a trip to France the week after to have your mind blown by the loudest and heaviest music on the planet? This year, we left Hellfest with memories of pyrotechnics on the bars, the drunkest people in the world, classic hangbang and the heaviest metal there is, and we also left with ringing ears. The sun was beaming for most of the weekend and it’s an absolute blast.
How: Hellfest is admittedly a bit of a shit to get to. London to Clisson was King’s Cross -> Gatwick -> Nantes (Airport) -> Nantes Station -> Clisson -> 30 minutes walk, but we’re sure there’s more effective ways of doing it. Namely going an extra day early and booking a cab to Clisson from Nantes in advance through the festival website. Fully recommend taking a Disneyland trip on the way back to calm down a bit as well – it’s an intense festival that runs mid-morning to 2am and you’re gonna need plenty of stamina to get through it all.
Hevy
What: Wet dream for every alternative music fan in the country
Where: Port Lympne
When: 03 + 04 + 05 August
Who: Descendents, Converge, Glassjaw (+ loads)
Why: Hevy is simply watching hardcore/metal/punk rock in a field. For 3 days. And it’s nice and compact. And noisy. It’s our favourite weekend of the year, and we loved it so much that we took on the second stage in 2012. We had loads of fun and can’t wait to see where the festival goes. It’s turning into the best thing we have in the UK line-up wise, and you’d be mad not to go next year.
How: Get yourself down in a car or get a taxi from Ashford International station (30mins from London) and get your tent set up ASAP. There’s been problems catching the first few bands on the last few years on the Friday, but hopefully this will be sorted next year with a few tweaks.
Reading/Leeds
What: Just, you know… because
Where: Reading / Leeds (duh)
When: 24 + 25 + 26 August
Who: Less Than Jake, Billy Talent, At The Drive In
Why: Every year, everyone bitches about the line up. Every year it fills out nicely. Every year it’s a total blast. We’re referring to Reading because Punktastic is scared of seeing what a campsite in the North looks like, but it’s really hard not to have a good time at Reading or Leeds. These days, it feels like home towards the end of a festival summer, and there’s nothing quite like watching the main stages as a giant of rock brings it home on a Sunday night.
How: As with every big festival, getting the train is a total pain in the arse. If you can go Wednesday, go Wednesday and leave yourself plenty of time on the Monday. Take only the essentials and just have a blast. There will be dickheads, but laugh at them instead of them laughing at you by calling them cunts when they can’t throw their faeces at you.
WTFest
What: Southampton punk weekender – great value and good venues
Where: Southampton
When: 30 + 31 August, 01 + 02 September
Who: Polar Bear Club, Tellison, The Flatliners
Why: One of the best value weekenders that you’ll see all year, WTFest had an excellent line up in 2012, and has been for the previous three incarnations!
How: If it takes your fancy, get a train down to Southampton and get yourself a hotel for the weekend and a weekend ticket for less than a Reading ticket! Southampton’s pretty well connected by motorways too so you could pretty easily drive it and find somewhere to park (might take a while to find cheap parking though).
Merthyr Rock
What: Wales has bands and stuff and they are good
Where: Merthyr Tydfil (The Valleys, Wales)
When: 31 August, 01 + 02 September
Who: Kids In Glass Houses, A, Skindred
Why: An absolute steal for a compact festival, Merthyr Rock has been excellent fun, and is always a fairly relaxed affair. We had a great time in 2012, and it’s going to be one to keep an eye on in the future as it gains popularity.
How: There’s nowhere to park at the festival, and though the festival is fun, Merthyr isn’t somewhere to leave a car too long unattended! Grab yourself a hotel down the road and have a great time. If you’re after late night things to do, then it’s probably not the best one to do as it’s all done by eleven.
So, that’s how our summer has been! We’ve got two festivals left this year (SWN in Cardiff and Fest 11 in Gainesville, Florida), and we’ll be back for more festivals in 2013. We’ll see you on the other side.
To see ALL of our festival content, just head to our Festivals section for Galleries, Sessions, Interviews, Reviews and News.
TOM AYLOTT