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Somerset festivals: Part one.



OK. This is suddenly coming across as a MAMMOTH undertaking. Here's the first batch of festivals.



Cider and Chocolate Festival
April 7, The Buckland Bell Showground, The Bell Inn, Buckland, Dinham, near Frome
Cost: Free! Zilch. Nada.



This is just clearly the best idea anyone has ever had for a festival. Chocolate, and Cider, and live bands.

Retro Trax Old Skool Festival

May 12 - 13, Bath Racecourse, Lansdown, Bath.
Cost: £89.99 for weekend tickets.

Line up includes Greg Wilson, Alex (The Orb) Paterson, CJ Bolland, Ce Ce Rogers, Alison Limerick and others.

Vegfest UK Bristol



Finley Quaye. I'm not very photogenic, either.

May 25 - 27, The Amphitheatre, Bristol's harbourside, Bristol
Line up includes Finley Quaye, Neville Staple of The Specials, Johnny Clarke, Soothsayers, Talisman, Baraka, and Dub Mafia.

Somerset Chilli Festival
May 26 - 27,  Bath Race Course, Lansdown, Bath, Somerset
Cost: Tickets £60 for a weekend with camping

Line-up starts includes Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Alabama 3, The Blockheads, KT Tunstall and The Wedding Present.

Jubilee Cider and Tobacco Festival

June 2,  The Buckland Bell Showground, The Bell Inn, Buckland, Dinham, near Frome, Somerset
Cost: Freeeeee!

No acts are confirmed, expect live local bands. Camping available on site at £5 per head

Scrumpstock



June 2 - 3, Oaktree Farm Arena on the A38 near Highbridge
Cost: £18.12 for a weekend ticket.

Celebration of all things scrumpy and Western, with acts including the awesome Surfin' Turnips, The somerset Paddies, The Fallen Apples, Combyne Arvester and The Communicators.

The Last Jubilee Festival
2 - 4 June, Bath Race Course, Lansdown, Bath
Cost: £125 for a weekend with camping


Damned if you...

Headliners are Buzzcocks, The Damned and Eddie and the Hot Rods. Also appearing are Anti-Nowhere League, UK Subs, 999. Also very special guest performances by Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) and Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols)

Sunrise Celebration
21 - 24 June, Gilcombe Farm, near Bruton, South Somerset -
Cost:  £122 for the weekend


Warsaw Village band, ready to rock da house.

Line-up includes Warsaw Village Band, Laid Blak, Hidden Orchestra, Resonators, Yes Sir Boss.

Glastonbury Fringe
June 21 - July 1, various venues across Glastonbury.

The line up is still being finalised but will feature mainly local musicians and artists with some headline artists yet to be confirmed.

Orchestra in a Field '12
June 30 - July 1,  Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury
Cost: £65 weekend tickets with camping, £40 for under 18s, 11s and under free

Highlights include Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' on June 30th, and Bizet's 'Carmen' on July 1st. The Mussorgsky piece will feature improvised replies to the orchestra supplied by Charles Hazlewood's All Star Collective, a 'supergroup' featuring Will Gregory from Goldfrapp, and Adrian Utley from Portishead.

National Adventure Sports Show '12
July 6 - 8, Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet
Cost: £72 for a weekend with camping


Sum 41, yo.

Line-up includes Sum 41, Roni Size, DJ Fresh, Andy C, Modestep and others.

Priddy Folk Festival
July 6 - 8, Priddy, Somerset
Cost: £60 for weekend ticket

Line up includes John Mc Cusker, John Doyle & Mike McGoldrick; Spiers & Boden; Jamie Smith's Mabon; Spiro and more.

The rest of July, August and September's festivals will follow soon-ish. Chill your boots. 

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Wot no Glastonbury?


With Glastonbury taking a year off, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the musical landscape of Somerset is going to be a barren, desolate wasteland this summer.

You'd be wrong.



Somerset has a whole bunch of festivals - from cider and chaos at Burnham's Scrumpstock, to the slightly-more-genteel Priddy Folk Festival, to the Glastonbury Fringe Festival, Godney Gathering, Sunrise Offgrid, Farm Festival, Party in the Park, Orchestra in a Field, NASS and a whole host of other, smaller festivals that barely get a look in and are generally ignored by the unwashed masses as they head out of our beautiful little county and straight for the M5.

Ignored they are no longer - this year we're aiming to get to as many of them as we possibly can, reporting from the front line with no concern for our own, personal safety.

We'll battle mud, sideways rain, inexplicable heatwaves, bands we've never heard of and hangovers in an attempt to open your eyes to the wonderful world of the rest of Somerset's Festivals, and the people that make them happen.

And you'll love us for it. Deal? 

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