The National Student Magazine May 2008

THE NATIONAL STUDENT magazine

MAY 2008

Be Your Own Pet MUSIC

FILM

TV

WEB

THEATRE

ART

BOOKS

COMEDY

GAMING

Golden Joystick Awards: the people’s gaming awards Your games, your voice, your awards Last year The National Student joined forces with the Golden Joystick Awards to help make it an unprecedented success, with over three quarters of a million votes cast by opinionated gamers.

Celebrating excellence in video gaming across the board, the Golden Joystick Awards are the longest-established video games awards in the world and are the only UK awards voted for by the people.

Once again the world’s most popular gaming awards wants to know what games and consoles have impressed YOU over the last year.

After the phenomenal numbers of people airing their views last year, The National Student has once again signed up to help make 2008 the biggest year yet.

Voting for the 2008 Golden Joystick Awards kicks off on May 19 with the long-lists, giving student gamers a better chance to cast their votes before term ends for the summer. In keeping with the Golden Joystick Awards inclusiveness, every single game released between July 31 2007 and the August 1 2008 is eligible for the long-lists, so every vote counts. On June 19, the hallowed shortlists will be announced and a second round of voting will begin to determine the overall winner of each category.

The past year has been an exciting one for gamers: the xbox360 brought us the multi-player madness of the third instalment in the Halo series and the Nintendo Wii has added to its cannon of brilliant releases with the likes of Mario Kart and recently the groundbreaking keep-fit gaming of the Wii Fit. Undoubtedly the game on everybody’s lips will be the amazing Grand Theft Auto 4, which is likely to win at least one award if not several. But this is up to you, so get voting!

£10,000 worth of prizes up for grabs, vote now for your chance to win.

From May 19 we need YOU to vote on the year’s best games at:

national-student.co.uk/goldenjoystick

THE SUMMER 22 May Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull The highly anticipated return of the actionarcheologist sees Harrison Ford dust off his whip for another bout of nazi-baiting and booby-trap avoidance. 28 May Sex And The City The much gossiped about big screen outing for the frisky foursome. 6 June Superhero Movie The latest uninspired disposable movie pastiche to feebly attempt to separate you from your pocket money. Very likely to disappoint… even with low expectations! 13 June The Incredible Hulk

IN

CELLULOID

26 June The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian Further adventures sprinkling a bit of contemporary CGI movie magic over CS Lewis’ classic tales.

25 July The Dark Knight

a swift dash through cinema’s upcoming hits and misses...

1 August X-Files - I want to Believe

27 June A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures Humourous and very personal documentary well worth catching. 4 July Kung Fu Panda Jack Black voices this animated tale of a martial arts bamboo muncher.

Mulder and Scully are back on the case.

11 July Mamma Mia Making more money, money, money for the Abba chaps.

8 August The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor Brendan Fraser finds himself in more tomb based CGI peril, this time facing up against Jet Li.

11 July Get Smart

15 August Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Batman is back, with the late Heath Ledger as his clown faced nemesis. The green growler is offered a second chance to impress at the box office, this time with Edward Norton in the title role and Tim Roth getting up to some equally monstrous mischief. 20 June The Ruins Evil lurks within ruins in the Mexican jungle.

Steve Carell as the hapless secret agent and Anne Hathaway as the sexy competent one. 18 July Meet Dave Eddie Murphy plays a alien-piloted humaniod spaceship that falls in love… go figure!

1 August The Love Guru Very silly Mike Myers comedy featuring subtly named characters such as ‘Guru Satchabigknoba’ and ‘Dick Pants’. Female cast members are honoured with equally tasteful credits including: ‘Busty Waitress’ and ‘Cheering Stripper’.

Animated Jedi shenanigans from George Lucas sprawling galaxy of good versus evil. 15 August You Don’t Mess With The Zohan Adam Sandler silliness. A Mossad agent fakes his death so he can re-emerge in New York City as a hair stylist.

reviews, previews, features and trailers at: national-student.co.uk/magazine/film

Darren Hayman In the late 90s Hefner became cult indie heroes with their album The Fidelity Wars, nine years after its original release, magazine speaks to ex-lead singer and solo artist in his own right Darren Hayman, about the decision to re-release their classic album and about how it felt to be one John Peel's favourite bands. Hefner first emerged on the scene in 1996, and during this period, despite never achieving huge chart success, the band made four brilliant albums, were regulars on John Peel’s show and also become one of his favourite bands. The most prolific of all their albums was The Fidelity Wars, featuring underground indie-classic ‘Hymn for the Cigarettes’, which was originally released in 1999. After a period of unavailability, the album is now getting the deluxe re-release treatment and it turns out it was Darren himself to be the one responsible. “A couple of years ago, the rights to all the Hefner recordings reverted from my old record company to me, so for about three or four years you haven’t been able to buy the Hefner records, so yeah I had to make it available again, people just needed to hear all that good music.” When asked whether he thinks the re-release will gain the band a legion of new fans, Darren remains modest, “Yeah hopefully, I mean people come to my solo shows and seem to be upset that they missed out on Hefner, so I guess somehow word spreads with no promotion, so presumably with some promotion we’ll pick up some new people and that’s great.” It seems that the re-release of The Fidelity Wars isn’t just going to be a one off, despite trying to concentrate on his solo career, Darren is eventually planning to get the rest of the Hefner records back out in stores, “It’s a little tricky because I never really expected to be the record company for these records, so I have to juggle doing the re-issues and the back catalogue with the new records I want to make, sometimes it takes some time to get around to them, but I may even try to do the next one later this year. To get We Love The City re-released this year would be a great

achievement.” To coincide with the re-release, Darren is teaming up with ex-Hefner band member Jack Hayter to play a few small gigs, but insists that no reunion is planned, “I thought quite carefully about what I could do that would be Hefner flavoured to promote the record and what I could do that fans of the band might enjoy, but I thought to do a couple of shows where I could play those songs and have one of those guys in the band with me would be great, but I was quite reluctant to do anything which would look like a reformation.” Hefner unfortunately split up in 2002, Darren explains the reasons why, “I guess there’s quite a few reasons, and some of the reasons why bands split up are incredibly boring, I think sometimes people aren’t very honest about the reasons why bands split up, sometimes it’s just economics and partly that was with us, it was just hard to keep the business running at the time and it just made more sense to stop it.” Despite fans wanting more, Darren didn’t want to ruin the magic that the band had created, “I just wanted to keep those records special to people, I wanted that period of my career and those songs to the people who like them to remain protected and special. I feel that some bands that continue to release records for ten or twenty years and also bands that reform do a disservice to the special qualities that made us like them in the first place.” Darren now performs as a solo musician and has fairly recently released his latest album Darren Hayman and The Secondary Modern, which is a collection of what could be described as unique, funny and lovely folk-pop songs. Although he enjoys being a solo artist, it’s clear that Darren was fond of the time he spent in Hefner, “There’s something about being in a

band that four of you have something invested in it, but now I do have a band as well but it’s much more like they enjoy playing with me and they are great guys but they are kind of my band, whereas they don’t have a real stake in it, than say John, Jack and Anthony has a stake in Hefner. You feel as less of part of a gang, you feel like the stress and responsibility is on your shoulders alone. I guess the rewards are a little bit greater when things go right and you feel that you were entirely responsible for it. I miss the guys in that band; I think they were the best musicians I’ve played with.” One of Hefner’s biggest fans was legendary radio-DJ John Peel. Their music was a regular appearance on his show and the band themselves played numerous live Peel sessions. Darren explains how it felt to be so admired by John, “It’s the best thing really; it’s almost like the standout moment of my career so far. It was great to even just be played on his show once, it was a real thrill to get that kind of seal of approval and then to be asked to do a session was fantastic. I remember how excited we were when we went to Maida Vale for the first time to record a John Peel session and then to go from that to have him ask us many times back. I think we’re in the top five or six bands to have done the most Peel sessions.” So how did he and his bandmates feel about the number of appearances they made in Peel’s festive fifty, “One year in particular was almost unbelievable because we got the number two and three positions and it the fact it was songs from The Fidelity Wars, it’s really strange. It’s also really strange because even though I always liked the John Peel show and I grew up listening to him when I was doing my O-Levels and stuff like that, I didn’t ever really think of Hefner as a John Peel band, I didn’t necessarily think it was that sort of music, there’s nothing particularly immediately extreme about the sound of our records, the records have guitar, drum and bass, but essentially the appeal of the songs are about the lyrics and the way it’s put together, it must have been, I guess, the songs or the words that he liked.” Darren clearly has an admiration for their old fan, and thinks that despite his absense, there are still people out there trying to do their best for

new bands, like what Peel did with Hefner, “I think that there are people within the radio and press that are trying really hard. I think that John Kennedy on XFM is aware of the gap left by John Peel and tries very hard to support new bands. I think also Huw Stephens and Rob da Bank and Louise Kattenhorn, John Peel’s old producer work very hard to do the best they can in the environment of the BBC. Also his son Tom, is doing stuff on an internet radio station I believe. It’s hard because there was an undefinable quality about John Peel and his radio show and it wasn’t just about new bands and loud bands, there was something very unpredictable about his taste and the way that he would genuinely love these obscure things and bring them into his show, and it’s not something you can replicate really, because it was just the way he was… I guess he’s remembered in lots of ways, there might be a shortage of radio shows that are like his, but there’s not a shortage of music that John Peel liked, and in that way his legacy is very much alive.” There’s no doubt that Hefner were a cult success, one of those reasons being John Peel’s influence, however Darren thinks that the fans were just as important, “I guess having that cult appeal and having that John Peel thing and also just the way people like the band, not necessarily the amount of people who do makes you feel like it was a cult success and that the band was successful even without being famous or lucrative.” Darren is releasing a compilation of his EP’s this summer, “I have an album coming out in August which is a compilation of The Holiday EP’s, I’ve been doing EP’s recorded at different British holiday locations, camps, bed and breakfasts, caravan parks.” It seems that along with the live dates with Jack Hayter, his solo work and the re-release of The Fidelity Wars and the possibility of the rest of the back catalogue to receive the same treatment, then Hefner fans will still have plenty to look forward to. The re-release of The Fidelity Wars is due on June 2 on Cargo records. His latest solo album Darren Hayman and The Secondary Modern is available now. by Guy Halford

Be Your Own Pet Punk rock brats Be Your Own Pet laid waste to venues around the UK in April promoting their stellar second album Get Awkward. Phil Dixon caught up with front-w woman Jemina Pearl on the last night of the tour to talk about the bands manic live shows, US song cuts and the pit-ffalls of growing up... n first listen of Be Your Own Pet’s sophomore album, Get Awkward, you’d be forgiven for expecting more of the same galeforce garage punk from the Nashville teens, but you’d also be missing the bigger picture. While many of the same elements are in there - breakneck tunes about boredom and trashy movies, full of adolescent attitude, barely touching the 3 minute mark - closer inspection reveals a lot more going on below the surface.

ever. The band aren’t teenagers any more, and gone are juvenile tales of bicycles or adventuring, in favour of a more mature approach.

Album opener ‘Super Soaked’ is a prime example. Blasting off the blocks like an unapologetic kick to the face in true Pet style, one soon realises there’s more to it than that. Written on dynamic front-woman Jemina (pronounced Je-mee-na, faux-pas fans!) Pearl’s twentieth birthday, it’s a point blank refusal to grow old: “Just nineteen when I lost my dignity/ Today’s my birthday and now that I’m twenty/ I don’t want that responsibility/ I don’t want to be a part of society,” she screams. It all smacks of a self-conscious realisation that the fun times won’t last for-

It’s a decision that’s added a new dimension to the band’s output. On top of the musical progression exploring different tempos and styles: surf guitar, the classic girl group sound, gang vocals, and refining their knack for a good hook Pearl’s lyrics contain the same humour and glib attitude to violence as before, but writing on her own she brings more personal, autobiographical themes and reveals a vulnerability beneath the bravado. Carefree songs about boredom and food fights sit alongside songs of heartbreak (‘You’re a Waste’), outgrowing

O

“I feel like we all kinda knew more, like, what we were doing than on the first album,” says Pearl. “We were more aware of ourselves and what we were trying to accomplish. And this time I took over writing all the lyrics so that was like a fun and exciting challenge.”

your home life (‘Creepy Crawl’) and betrayal by a best friend (‘Becky’). And never was a theme grander nor a setting more dramatic than in high school.

the songs from it for their “violent lyrical content” (‘Black Hole’, ‘Becky’ and ‘Blow Yr Mind’). That being your lyrical content, what was your initial reaction?

JP: I think it’s real fun to write kinda teenage lyrics. It’s fun to act real bratty and stuff, like the songs are just an exaggerated version of myself.

JP: Heartbreak. I don’t even think of it as the album at all. They said we either could change the lyrics and rerecord my vocals or we had to take ‘em off, and I was like ‘well I don’t wanna change the lyrics, there’s nothing wrong with the lyrics,’ so we just took ‘em off. So we’re gonna release them, I think in May, a threesong EP called The Other Songs, through XL.

MAGAZINE: The bulk of the lyrics seem much more personal than before. Did you set out to include experiences from your own life? JP: I dunno, I guess when I was thinking about writing songs, it’s like I’m gonna write about things that I know about. I’m not gonna try to write a bunch of political anthems or something like that. I guess I’m just like an honest person so like lyrics kinda like, I dunno… It’s personal, I guess. (laughs) MAGAZINE: And there’s been controversy over the US release of the album after Universal pulled three of

MAGAZINE: Yeah, damn The Man. So what about recording the album? The video blogs made the recording process look like a lot of fun - a lot of high-kicking, a lot of bike-riding how much of it was actual work and how much was just play? JP: I felt like I worked pretty hard. I was there every day, like all day long. It’s fun work! But it’s definitely an intense process. There was no TV

in there, no internet, so basically all there was to do was play instruments and listen to music and work on what we were doing. Or go ride a bike. So when you were there it’s like… you can’t really think about anything but music. MAGAZINE: Speaking of intense, now that the album’s all recorded and released you’ve got a pretty hectic tour schedule planned to support it. JP: Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. It runs ‘til the end of the year! We’re on tour for two months in the States, and then back, I don’t even know when, doing festivals then going to Australia, which is pretty hot, so yeah, it’s pretty non-stop. We can’t get too sick of each other yet! MAGAZINE: So is there a significant difference between crowds across the world? Obviously you broke in the UK first; are they more into it here than anywhere else? JP: Yeah, I would say so. There’s certain shows we do in Europe and America that people get super into it, but it’s never like… It’s so constant and steady here, people like dancing and having fun. MAGAZINE: And you get pretty fucked off if the crowd aren’t really getting into it… JP: It depends on our mood. That’s just how many shows are, like I feel like a lotta bands can be not attached to it, but for me, and I think probably everybody else in the band, I get creative passion about the show. So if you’re giving all of yourself to people and they don’t give a fuck then it kinda tends to piss me off. MAGAZINE: So is it hard to kind of

feed off that crowd energy if they’re not getting into it as much? JP: Sometimes, but that’s when you really have to work on what you’re doing yourself. Playing those kinds of shows makes you a better performer because you have to work a lot harder to get people to like you there and that’s good exercise, I guess. MAGAZINE: And you guys do go pretty crazy on stage, all of you flailing around throwing your whole bodies into it… JP: We try to! I always feel like you should either do something a hundred per cent or like not do it at all. MAGAZINE: So with all that constant movement - guitars swinging everywhere, jumping into drum kits and jumping on each other - have you ever had any injuries? JP: If I had shorts on you could see my legs are completely covered in like scabs in places. I’ve got a bruise right here (Nose), I’ve got like something weird right here (Chin); I had a black eye at the beginning of this tour, I always have busted lips. I’m in like a constant state of achy-ness. We haven’t had anything too serious, like no broken limbs yet… You know, if you’re not broken up by the end of a show you probably didn’t do a good enough job. MAGAZINE: So the morning after, you wake up with…? JP: I can’t like sleep on this side ‘cause my leg’s all covered in bruises… Last night I crowd-surfed and the audience dropped me really hard and my thigh hit the barricade and I smacked my face on the monitor. The bouncer had to protect me.

MAGAZINE: So with a laundry list of injuries and such a long tour schedule, how do you keep up that signature energy night after night? JP: A lotta drugs! No I’m just kidding… It only gets hard when you’re homesick. But right now we haven’t been touring very much so it’s kinda exciting to be on the road. MAGAZINE: And you’ve had several food fight gigs on the road now to add to the chaos even more - where did that idea come from? JP: I know The Germs would just throw food on the audience and cover them with like sugar and stuff, and we were playing some show in Tallahassee, I think and they gave us all this salsa and nasty stuff and we were like “let’s have a food fight!” This was before we’d written the song, and I think that inspired us to write it. MAGAZINE: Isn’t that just asking for trouble, though? JP: Yeah! It’s fun to ask for trouble, though! MAGAZINE: And what about the fact that you’re still not old enough to legally drink in America - being in a band you must have been doing it for ages now. Has the novelty worn off or is it kind of still exciting kind of doing things illegally? JP: It’s definitely way more inconvenient. If we’re playing a club in America we usually have to drink in our van or somehow sneak alcohol. A couple of us have fake IDs so we’ll like get a bunch of alcohol at a gas station and take it to the van and just hang out in there for like an hour then go back inside, right

before we have to play. Um, some places are like cool about it, and they’re small enough where it doesn’t really matter that much. Anything that’s illegal’s always more fun. Just as long as you don’t get caught… MAGAZINE: Speaking of which, there’s been a rash recently of teen pop starlets growing up in the public eye and going off the rails. You started in the music business quite young yourselves - will you be shaving your head any time soon? JP: There’s pressure, but it’s more like pressure you put on yourself than pressure from other people. I don’t really care too much about what other people think. I dunno, I think we’ve all had crazy stuff that happened before we were in this band that would much more make us not prepared for real life, so I feel like this band most of the time saves me from myself. Maybe if I wasn’t making music I could be crazy, but as long as I have some creative outlet, I think I’m cool. She most certainly is, and she’s shown that while they may be growing up, Be Your Own Pet are definitely not growing old. Now that they’re past that awkward stage, their next album is sure to be something spectacular while still retaining that essential element. The last line of ‘Super Soaked’ says it best: “Next year I’ll be twenty one / So look out world ‘cause I wanna have fun.” Look out indeed. It could get messy.

Be Your Own Pet play Reading/Leeds Festival this summer, look out for other dates.

Summer of sound As another summer of festival action approaches magazine’s Guy Halford gives his picks of this year’s hottest music events

July Wireless Festival Hyde Park, London July 3, 4, 5, 6 Taking place in the heart of the capital on Hyde Park, this year’s Wireless festival once again offers a run of big and impressive names. Sets from the likes of hip-hop colossus Jay Z, Mark Ronson, Morrissey, Fatboy Slim and Beck are bound to impress. Elsewhere on the bill is techno/hip-hop duo Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, indie posters the Delays, glam-punk legends the New York Dolls, funk-god Bootsy Collins and the uber-hip likes of Guillemots, Black Kids, The Wombats, Dirty Pretty Things, Santogold and Hot Chip.

Two Thousand Trees Festival Cheltenham July 11, 12 Taking place in Cheltenham, the Two Thousand Trees Festival only has 2000 tickets up for grabs, but promises to offer a friendly and intimate experience. Confirmed are the ever brilliant Art Brut, new wave rockers These New Puritans, indie stars The Duke Spirit, the Future of the Left and a whole of array of upcoming indie and alternative talent. With tickets only costing £39, this is one definitely not to be missed.

twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk

o2wirelessfestival.co.uk

Z008 Port Lympne Wild Animal Park July 4, 5, 6 One of the more unique festivals of the summer, new event Z008 is the only place where music and wildlife come together as one. Taking place at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in The Garden of England, the event brings an impressive run of musical acts to accompany the wonders of the natural world. Acts include super-producer Mark Ronson, indie-rockers The Cribs, award-winning UK hip hop star Dizzee Rascal, British Sea Power and brilliant nu-ravers Late of the Pier. Also appearing on hardcore-punk mentalists Gallows, DnB legend Roni Size, Frank Turner Ash and The Hives. Add to this a bevy of smaller stages taking in an array of dance (Pendulum, MSTRKRFT,

Truck Festival Lovebox Weekender Victoria Park, London Steventon, Oxfordshire July 19, 20 July 19, 20

Mark R onson

Stanton Warriors, Freemasons) and up-andcoming new talent and you have a line-up of impressive stature. Not only this but the price of your ticket allows you access to all the attractions of the animal park - so if none of the bands take you fancy you can always nip off to look at the monkeys.

Taking place on The Victoria Park in London, the Lovebox Weekender is gearing up for another brilliant weekend of live music including The Flaming Lips, Jack Penate, The Human League and postpunkers The Young Knives. Also making appearances across the three stages are Lightspeed Champion, Roni Size Reprazent, Groove Armada, Sebastien Tellier and The Go! Team.

Truck is one hidden gem of a festival holding just a few thousand people. As always a full line-up announcement will not be made until nearer the event, but The Lemonheads have been announced as one of the headliners. They will play classic album It’s A Shame About Ray in its entirety as part of their set. Also announced so far are Camera Obscura, Noah and the Whale, Emmy the Great, and The Television Personalities.

loveboxweekender.com

thisistruck.com

zoothousand.com

2 pairs of Zoo8 weekend tickets to giveaway visit: national-student.co.uk/magazine

Wild In The Country Knebworth House, Hertfordshire July 5

Camp Bestival Lulworth Castle, Dorset July 18, 19, 20

Wild In The Country is an 18-hour shindig with six arenas and a main outdoor stage taking place at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. This boasts the only UK festival performance of 2008 from the amazing Bjork, as well as sets from Foals, Battles, and drum and bass sensations Pendulum. Being a Renaissance event it also has an array of great dance talent including Faithless, Mylo, 2manydjs, Switch, Ritchie Hawtin and DJ Yoda.

A new knees-up from the team behind Bestival, this new event looks set to be as eclectic and magical as its parent event. Joining the eclectic bill are legendary rock ‘n’ roll guitarist Chuck Berry, and one of the best live bands in the world, The Flaming Lips. The festival will also see performances from Kate Nash, DFA signed discorevivialists Hercules And Love Affair and new indie-talent including Black Kids and Joe Lean And The Jing Jong.

wildinthecountry.co.uk

campbestival.co.uk

Ash

August The Big Chill Herefordshire August 1, 2, 3

Solfest Solway, West Cumbria August 22, 23, 24

The wonderfully eclectic and chilled-out festival returns with another classy line-up. Playing this year are the likes of the legendary Leonard Cohen, Roisin Murphy, Hot Chip, anti-folk troubadour Jeffery Lewis, Buzzcocks and Vincent Vincent and the Villains. Also on offer is amazing comedy and arts with the likes of Bill Bailey, The Mighty Boosh, and John Shuttleworth.

One of a number of festivals set across the August bank holiday weekend. The festival is taking place at Tarnside Farm in West Cumbria. Solfest’s line-up this year includes mainstage headline set from the brilliant Supergrass and ex-Moloko singer Roisin Murphy. Also set to appear are The Bees, Misty’s Big Adventure and festival favourites Chas and Dave.

solwayfestival.co.uk

bigchill.net

Green Man Festival Brecon Beacons August 15, 16, 17 The Green Man festival takes place in the Brecon Beacons in Wales and offers its attendees a relaxed and chilled out atmosphere. Appearing at the festival this year are Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals, the ever brilliant Spiritualized, the newly reformed Pentangle, Balkan and Parisian influenced Beirut and Welsh indie six-piece Los Campesinos!

Southwest Four Clapham Common, August 23 Premier dance music gathering in the capital playing host to loads of stellar dance talent including Carl Cox, John Digweed, Erick Morillo, Fedde Le Grand and Layo and Bushwacka.

Kate N ash

September

Get Loaded In The Park Bestival Clapham Common, Robin Hill, Isle of Wight August 24 Get Loaded In The Park looks like September 5, 6, 7 the perfect event for the bank holiday weekend. Headlining the whole shindig is classic punk rock group Iggy & The Stooges, who will no doubt be highly entertaining. Also appearing at the event are the always brilliant Supergrass, New York gypsy punk act Gogol Bordello, Kate Nash, Gossip, The Hives and The Maccabees.

southwestfour.com

thegreenmanfestival.co.uk

getloadedinthepark.com

Carl C ox

Roskilde With the unpredictable weather and rising prices more British Festival goers are skipping the Channel to attend one of the mind-blowing continental events. As far as foreign festivals go Denmark’s Roskilde parties like no other. For the Danes four days of musical madness with 175 bands over seven stages simply isn’t enough, Roskilde kicks off four days early for the ‘partying and good-times’ of the events ‘warm-up period’. Once the festivities get into fullswing you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more exciting line-up. With the mainstage capacity at 60,000 the bands adorning that stage are equally as colossal: Radiohead, The Chemical Brothers, Neil Young, hip-hop big-boy Jay Z, thrash-metallers Slayer and reformed shoegaze legends My Bloody Valentine.

Jay Z

Across this and the other stages

Roskilde offers a startling array of musical talent, from folk to electronica including Gnarls Barkley, Kings of Leon, M.I.A, Battles, Cadence Weapon, Duffy, Digitalism, Gossip, Holy Fuck, Hot Chip, Goldfrapp, The Streets, MGMT, Kate Nash, No Age, Seasick Steve, Yeasayer and Tokyo Police Club and everything in between. Also the Pavilion Junior stage offers loads of great new bands from across the world who could be the next big thing. Running since 1971, Roskilde is the third biggest music festival in Europe after Glastonbury and Sziget and offers the chilled-out, feel-good factor and size of Glasto in another country and with less flooding. Attending Roskilde you can also feel good knowing you have done your bit to make the world a better place - all profits are spent on humanitarian and cultural concerns. Whist on site the festival won’t break the bank - the festival has a fine array of food choices and decent prices including nice vegetarian food and alcohol is also very reasonable. Beer is DKK 35 (£3.70) for half a litre or DKK 155 (£16.60) for a crate in the campsite. So for the ultimate in European feelgood musical entertainment buy your ticket and book that budget flight to Copenhagen right away.

roskilde-festival.dk

Radiohead

Slayer

Bestival is one of last events of the summer and this year’s festival once again sees a diverse range of talent old and new. Set to make an appearance at this years festival are reformed shoegazing gods My Bloody Valentine, with CSS, Aphex Twin and The Breeders. Also making appearances are Foals, Amy Winehouse, Jamie Lidell and Laura Marling. Once again, this looks set to be a fantastic festival.

bestival.net