Indoor UK Festivals 2015

The penultimate instalment of our 2015 festival guide. Like the idea of a carefully curated festival and a good road trip (even if it is just across the M8), but not the outdoor type? Here’s your solution.

Article by Will Fitzpatrick | 29 Apr 2015

COLUMNS
2 May; tickets £20

Is there actually a difference between ‘festivals’ and ‘all-dayers’? Probably best not to concern ourselves with such trivialities, especially when there are folk out there organising things like Manchester’s Columns (or C O L U M N S, if we’re back on the trivialities thing). Canadian electro-wonders Purity Ring sit proudly atop the bill, with the murky magnificence of Ghostpoet and Braids’ shimmering dreampop adding to the splendid surroundings of Manchester Cathedral: a solid lineup, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Basically, as bank holiday weekends go, there are infinitely worse ways to spend your time… which is a faintly understated way of saying ‘it’ll be dead good.’

facebook.com/columnsfestival

NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE
May-August (see website for full dates)

Less a festival, more an ongoing series of gigs – but we’ll take it. Inspired not so much by the mythical dearth of shows in Edinburgh as the perception that… well, Nothing Ever Happens Here, this series of shows (curated by Broken Records’ Jamie Sutherland, in conjunction with the city’s grand Summerhall venue) vows to reverse live music’s local fortunes by attracting up-and-coming acts to the Scottish capital, from these shores and beyond. King Creosote's resurrected Khartoum Heroes (10 May) and krautfolk specialists The Phantom Band (14 May) are stand-outs among the early listings, but an August visit from arch-miserabilists Sun Kil Moon (10 Aug) should help convince Auld Reekie that the scene’s worth fighting for.

summerhall.co.uk/tag/nothing-ever-happens-here/

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LIVE AT GLASGOW
3 May; tickets £23

You’ve got to love a slogan as catchy yet prosaic as ’ten bands one wristband,’ eh? Having evolved from the infamous Stag & Dagger bash, Live at Glasgow’s sterling line-up incudes psych-wracked tunesmiths Django Django, guitar-mangler extraordinaire Thurston Moore and the city’s very own femmepop scuzz artistes Honeyblood. Also – and keep this on the downlow; no sense in cheating yourself out of a seat – there’s an exclusive screening of Nicklas Rossi’s hotly-anticipated Elliott Smith documentary Heaven Adores You – if you can think of a better way to spend a cheery Spring bank holiday in Scotland’s largest city, we’d like to hear it.

liveatglasgow.com

SOUNDS FROM THE OTHER CITY
3 May; tickets £20

Seemingly doomed to be misrepresented forever as a nearby extension of Manchester, Salford makes a righteous claim for its own identity with this annual celebration of DIY culture. With various venues playing host to some of the country’s best new bands, 2015’s showing features Brighton’s noisy tykes Cold Pumas and capital post-punkas Groves. And we don’t use the word ‘unmissable’ lightly, but honest, there’s also a downright unmissable collaboration between mallet-drone texturalists Ex-Easter Island Head and the BBC Philharmonic, so keep your diary updated. At the time of writing, there’s still plenty more to be added, so best keep an eye on the website. Oh, and you’ll want to check out the #SFTOCSkinny hashtag on Twitter to find out about a special competition...

soundsfromtheothercity.com

THE GREAT ESCAPE
14-16 May; day tickets £27.50-38.50, weekend tickets £59.50

Insert your own Steve McQueen joke here. Once a year, the entire British music industry decamps to the lovely seaside town of Brighton for a weekend of buzz bands, conferences and general inebriation. One of those guaranteed ‘hot tickets’ you hear about, and with good reason – alongside big draws like The Cribs and Slaves, the place is full of the sort of newer acts upon whom the term ‘top tips’ is usually bestowed by those in the know. Whoever ‘they’ are. ANYWAY. Not familiar with some of the names sitting proudly on the poster? Chances are you will be before the year’s out: the rather excellent Great Escape is both tastemaker and deal-breaker for the up-and-coming.

greatescapefestival.com

DOT TO DOT
22-24 May; tickets £25

Mobile festivals: now there’s a concept. Dot to Dot first took place in a clutch of Nottingham venues back in 2005, but has since grown to include Bristol and Manchester, with the same core lineup travelling between the three cities over three days. This year the whole thing’s headlined by rising starlet Saint Raymond, with sunny popsters Best Coast and riff monsters The Wytches also on hand to bring the ruckus, but we’d politely suggest that the additional stages full of local flavour are more than worthy of your time – Manchester features post-punk she-wolves PINS and the glistening imagination of Rae Christian, and that’s really no bad thing whatsoever.

dottodotfestival.co.uk

LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY
22-24 May; day wristbands £35, weekend wristbands £65

Now firmly ensconced in Liverpool’s consciousness as the major music event of the year, Sound City marks a major turning point in its development this year – leaving city centre venues behind, 2015 sees the festival relocate to a new home at Bramley-Moore Dock. The existing dockland architecture will play a major part in the new site alongside a variety of tents, pop-ups and big tops. Oh yes, and there’re bands too: The Flaming Lips bring their unique stagecraft to Merseyside for the first time in 15 years, while Glasgow indie stalwarts Belle & Sebastian will close out the festival accompanied by a full orchestra. Not too shabby.

liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk

MANCHESTER PSYCH FEST
13 Jun; early bird tickets £11

A smaller scale event than the similarly titled weekender just down the M62, but no less special: promising “12 hours of live psychedelia, visuals and DJs,” Manchester Psych Fest sees the drone legions taking over the Northern Quarter’s legendary Night & Day Café for a compact but enviable bill. San Diego’s Crocodiles deal in fuzz-coated über-jangles and The Lucid Dream wander the furthest reaches of territory explored by Spacemen 3. Meanwhile, reformed freakbeatniks July do their irresistible, inimitable thing and some super-secret surprise special guests open proceedings with blown minds high on the agenda. Can’t wait ’til September for your annual dose of cosmic sounds? This should see you through.

facebook.com/manchesterpsychedelicfest

REBELLION
6-9 Aug; weekend tickets £140 until 30 Apr, £150 after

It doesn’t seem like a decade has passed since the UK’s biggest punk festival upped sticks from its Morecambe home and relocated to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. It’s proven to be a recipe for success, however: once seen as a refuge for pierced fifty-somethings in leathers to catch the nth lineup of well-worn travellers like The Damned or UK Subs, Rebellion has expanded to include younger, fresher recruits from around the world, adding hardcore, ska, folk, hip-hop, glam and more to their repertoire, and feeling somewhat refreshed for it. Not that any of this should detract from any primal urges to yelp along to New Rose at the top of your voice, obviously.

rebellionfestivals.com

OUT OF SPITE
7-8 Aug; tickets £22

A self-described ‘punk rock and keg festival’, Out of Spite enters its fifteenth year with yet another sterling line-up. Pulled from the great and good of the DIY scene, there’s noise and melody in abundance: reformed post-hardcore legends Spy Versus Spy should send pulses soaring, while Norway’s own Beezewax return with their elegant blend of college rock and emo stylings. If we were really doling out tips, we’d also tap our noses mysteriously before gesturing towards the brilliance of Shield Your Eyes, Former Cell Mates and Tokyo veterans Does It Float, but ultimately this is a great chance to soak up modern punk’s posi attitude in Leeds' Brudenell Social Club – quite possibly the UK’s best venue. Aceness guaranteed.

outofspitefest.tumblr.com

MELTDOWN
17-28 Aug; ticket details tbc

Taking place by the side of the River Thames, in the glorious surrounds of London’s Southbank Centre, Meltdown is a spectacular celebration of music, art, film and performance. Or, to put it another way, there’s loads going on here. With line-ups devised by special guest curators – previously including the likes of Scott Walker, Ornette Coleman and Patti Smith – there’s always a vast array of phenomenal acts on display, ranging from the  rightly-revered to the oblique-but-brilliant (sample from 2014’s programme: Grandmaster Flash, Neneh Cherry and Max Richter). Scant details thus far, but this year’s affair is helmed by ex-Talking Head David Byrne, whose famously esoteric tastes should be enough to have you salivating at the prospect (eurgh, use a tissue please).

southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/festivals-series/david-byrnes-meltdown

LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA
25-26 Sep; tickets £50

If the recent resurgence of drone music has been good for anything, it’s events like this: two days dedicated to exploring the extremities of sound and expanding our collective understanding of consciousness through experimental rock music. Or, to look at it another way, a load of bands play riffs dead loud in a converted warehouse space, and it’s dead good. Set in the heart of Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, a redeveloped industrial district, Psych Fest has improved year on year, and while early announcements like Menace Beach, Evil Blizzard and Hey Colossus are pretty exciting, the addition of Jason Pierce’s Spiritualized suggests the 2015 showing could be the best one yet.

liverpoolpsychfest.com

ATP 2.0: NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
27-29 Nov; tickets

Some feared the end for the UK wing of All Tomorrow’s Parties, following the last-minute cancellation of 2014’s ill-fated Jabberwocky shindig. But no! Snatching new life from the jaws of death, the leftfield promoters return to their holiday camp format at a new location in Prestatyn, north Wales. It’s still early days in terms of announcements – Robert Hampson’s drone veterans Loop, Detroit proto-punks Death and delightfully offbeat Canadian quartet Ought are among the first names on the bill – but if there’s any festival this year where you’re likely to find yourself playing winner-stays-on air hockey against one half of Fuck Buttons, this is surely it.

atpfestival.com