Distorted Sound’s Guide To 2019’s Festival Season
The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer and for music fans it means one thing; festival season is getting closer. We here at Distorted Sound are impatiently waiting for those summer days spent in fields around the country (or even abroad) watching the best bands perform on the biggest of stages. It’s certainly our favourite time of year and we’re sure the majority of people will agree of us. 2019’s festival season is one that is certainly whetting our appetites, with numerous festivals across the UK and on the European mainland boasting lineups that just demand your attention and the purchase of a ticket. With so many festivals to choose from, picking where to pitch your tent this summer is quite the task but fear not, as we present a guide to this summer’s festival season!
Download Festival
Let’s start with the big boys shall we? Arguably the biggest rock festival the UK has to offer, year in and year out, the hallowed grounds of Donnington put together a lineup covering absolutely everything that falls under the rock and heavy metal umbrella and 2019’s lineup is no different. Boasting three huge headliners in DEF LEPPARD (performing their classic album Hysteria in its entirety!), masked metal icon SLIPKNOT and the prestigious TOOL is a big statement of intent, but, look down the billing and there is just quality splashed across the entire festival. From BATUSHKA to CONJURER, AT THE GATES to BEHEMOTH, TRIVIUM to LAMB OF GOD, HALESTORM to SMASHING PUMPKINS and so many more; whatever your tastes within rock, Download more than has you covered.
Download Festival takes place from June 14-16th. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
Slam Dunk Festival
The biggest alternative party in the UK returns for another blockbuster year. Sure, the decision to no longer host a Midlands date may have irked a portion of the festival’s target audience but with every cloud comes a silver lining, and that is the fact that now both the North (Leeds) and South (Hatfield) dates are outside, enhancing that festival vibe to a greater level. Lineup wise, Slam Dunk Festival have pulled out all the stops and boasts a bill of bands that cover everything within the alternative, pop punk, metalcore and hardcore scenes. From staples like ALL TIME LOW, BULLET TO MY VALENTINE, LESS THAN JAKE and BAD RELIGION to emerging talent like EMPLOYED TO SERVE, SHVPES, MILK TEETH and PAGAN, if alternative music tickles your fancy, spend your May Bank Holiday at Slam Dunk Festival!
Slam Dunk Festival 2019 takes place on Saturday May 25th in Leeds and Sunday May 26th in Hatfield. Tickets priced at £59 are on sale now and can be purchased here.
Bloodstock Festival
The UK’s Mecca of metal, Bloodstock has been a safe haven for metalheads since it’s explosive inception back in 2005. Each year, the independently run metal bonanza has gone from strength to strength and 2019’s lineup reflects a festival that has really grown into what it is today. SABATON, PARKWAY DRIVE and SCORPIONS top the billing and reflect the festival’s ethos for giving bands a chance to prove it at the top (SABATON & PARKWAY DRIVE) as well as pulling in a old classic for the Sunday (SCORPIONS) is a real statement, one which confirms the festival’s vital place in the festival calendar. Elsewhere, looking across the lineup and the diversity of the bill comes out in full force as the organisers have catered to tastes across the heavy metal spectrum. ANTHRAX, DEATH ANGEL, CHILDREN OF BODOM and HYPOCRISY will bring the riffs, CODE ORANGE and THY ART IS MURDER will spawn countless mosh pits and the likes of SWALLOW THE SUN, TESSERACT and DEE SNIDER offer something that bit different to the rest of the billing. Throw in the exemplary Sophie Lancaster Stage and The Hobgoblin New Blood Stage, dedicated to bringing the next generation of talent forward, and Bloodstock offers the dream getaway for the heavy metal fan this festival season.
Bloodstock Festival takes place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 8th-11th August 2019. Standard weekend tickets, priced £145, are on sale now and can be purchased here.
2000trees Festival
Whilst it might not boast the same size and scope as some of the big boys on the festival calendar, 2000trees Festival is one of the highlights of our calendar every single year. Held in the tranquil and gorgeous setting of Upcote Farm in Gloucestershire, the festival boasts a lineup that is certainly mouth-watering. FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS, YOU ME AT SIX and DEAF HAVANA headline the festival, three British headliners that reaffirm the festival’s drive to promote homegrown bands, and across the lineup, the quality of bands just gets better and better with each look. WHILE SHE SLEEPS, CANCER BATS, MOL, CONJURER, NERVUS, THE BLACK QUEEN, A. A. WILLIAMS, the list goes on. If you crave a festival with a smashing lineup, held in an unique and picturesque location, 2000trees is the festival for you.
2000trees Festival takes place at Upcote Farm, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire from July 11th-13th 2019. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
UK Tech-Fest
As music fans who crave catered festivals rise, so has the number of niche and tailor-picked festivals. UK Tech-Fest is arguably the best of the bunch as every year, the festival curates a lineup features the best bands withing prog metal, tech death, deathcore and everything in between. 2019’s offering is no different as headliners DYING FETUS, MONUMENTS and LEPROUS instantly tick all the boxes whilst an undercard billing of VILDHJARTA, POLARIS, ARCHSPIRE, BLACK TONGUE, TIME, THE VALUATOR, Sarah Longfield and more reaffirms UK Tech-Fest‘s place as the vital place to divulge in everything tech and prog this festival season.
UK Tech-Fest takes place at the Newark Showground on the 4th-8th July 2019. Weekend tickets are currently available at a price of £74.99 + £20 Camping and can be purchased here.
ArcTanGent
Celebrating the weird and wonderful, ArcTanGent has become one of the most anticipated festivals of the summer season. Always boasting a lineup of eclectic, diverse and, at times, downright bizarre bands, it’s a festival for those who crave something a little bit more from their festival experiences. This year is no different as ArcTanGent has put together a lineup that is as fantastic as it is eclectic. COHEED AND CAMBRIA, MESHUGGAH and BATTLES headline this year’s festival, promising performances of epic proportions, whilst synthwave icons CARPENTER BRUT, mysterious metal collective SLEEP TOKEN, genre-bending POLYPHIA, post-metal darlings THE OCEAN and the abrasive DAUGHTERS are just some of the highlights in a lineup that will have you running from stage to stage all weekend. If you crave experimentation and progression in your music, look no further than ArcTanGent this festival season.
ArcTanGent takes place at Fernhill Farm from 15th-17th August 2019. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
Reading & Leeds Festival
Whilst it certainly isn’t the heaviest festival on our guide here, to disregard the importance of Reading & Leeds would be doing the festival a true disservice indeed. The dual festival is a staple on the UK festival circuit and whilst the lineup typically offers more mainstream and indie rocks artists like THE 1975, ROYAL BLOOD, BLOSSOMS and FOO FIGHTERS, The Pit Stage features a variety of bands that certainly tickle our fancy. From BLOOD YOUTH to ENTER SHIKARI, PUP to STAND ATLANTIC, PUPPY to DREAM STATE, for those who enjoy heavy music but fancy expanding their tastes, Reading & Leeds Festival may just be the festival for you.
Reading & Leeds Festival takes place from 23rd-25th August 2019. Tickets for both Reading & Leeds are on sale now.
Radar Festival
Up to this point, every festival we’ve listed in the guide have been running for some time now, allowing each festival to bolster the strength of their respective lineups with each passing year. Radar Festival, however, is different given that 2019 marks the inaugural year of this progressive metal festival. And for their debut year, what a statement that they are making. Featuring a billing of quality bands from across the progressive metal genre, such as ANIMALS AS LEADERS, ROLO TOMASSI, MONUMENTS, KADINJA, UNEVEN STRUCTURE and more, Radar Festival promises to be a wonderful time. So, if you crave progressive music and fancy giving a new festival chance, take a punt on Radar Festival this summer.
Radar Festival takes place from August 2nd-3rd in Guildford, Surrey. Tickets for the new indoor festival start at £34.99 for a day ticket, or £59.99 for both days can be purchased here.
Whilst we are blessed that the UK has such a variety of wicked festivals on offer, look further afield, and the European mainland has a whole host of brilliant festivals to explore. Hellfest, France’s answer to Download, boasts a lineup of star-studded quality with practically every band under the sun gracing their stages. Wacken, the holy land of heavy metal, is arguably the world’s biggest metal festival and many a fan take a pilgrimage ever year and Belgium’s Graspop boasts an equally strong billing this year.
Elsewhere, the festivals get even cooler. Resurrection Festival enables fans of the riff to enjoy some Spanish sunshine, MetalDays combines the best of the festival experience with a beach holiday over a week in July and Brutal Assault‘s 18th Century fortress location and a staggeringly brilliant diverse lineup just screams for you to grab a ticket. Throw in the brutal Party San, Summer Breeze or Rock Am Ring, and you are just spoilt for choice if you plan to take your festival experience abroad this summer.
With so many festivals on offer this summer, it’s a fantastic time to be a music fan. We’ll see you down the front!
