Words by Lara Cory
There’s no doubt about it, Brits love a music festival. A recent government report revealed that pre-covid, music festivals were on the rise with almost 1000 events happening each year. And while the big ones like Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury might be world-renowned, it’s the community-based micro-events that make up the majority of the music festivals in the UK.
As audiences have continued to fragment due to the impact of the Internet, this has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for smaller, more niche festivals to flourish.
No one would argue that the roster is the most important defining factor of any festival, but these days, location seems to be an increasingly critical factor. Here are four music festivals in places you might not expect, that you need to know about for the 2022 season.
HIDDEN NOTES
Where is it? The Hidden Notes festival is in Stroud, Gloucestershire over the weekend of the 24th/25th September. The Cotswold town was voted Best Place to Live by the Sunday Times last year. It’s less about Hunter-wellies and more about organic breweries and chakra-healing. All jokes aside, Stroud has a long history of activism, and a thriving community of activists, artists and creators. “Nestled between B&Q and Aldi you'll find Damien Hirst's gigantic secretive studio, in Chalford sits Pangolin - a world-renown sculpture forge used by the likes of Hirst and Anthony Gormley” Alex Hobbis, co-founder of the festival.
According to Stroud resident and writer Amy Fleming, “most people fall in love with Stroud before they even pull into the station. The train from the East snakes through the Golden Valley, with stone cottages perched upon the vivid green hillsides above…You could say Stroud puts the “wolds” into “Cotswolds” but its industrial heritage and creative community save it from tweeness and existing merely as a tourist attraction.”
Why does it exist? When Alex Hobbis and Adam Hinks moved from their respective big cities to Stroud, they thought they’d made a huge mistake. They thought they’d left the vibrant city arts and music scenes behind. But they were wrong. It turns out Stroud has a thriving cultural scene, as Adam puts it, “it’s just a bit more hidden.”
The friends felt that there was a gap in the festival scene for a contemporary classical/avant-garde event that’s programmed in the same back-to-back way as other UK festivals. So, they decided to right that wrong with the Hidden Notes festival. As a natural extension of their free local monthly arts and culture magazine Good on Paper, they like to keep things less formal, and more accessible than most traditional classical events.
What you’ll love about it: Amazing artists from independent labels like Erased Tapes, Bedroom Community and Fat Cat Records modern classical imprint 130701. With audiences that comes from Poland, Spain, Germany, Japan and America, you’ll be mingling in a crowd of international, like-minded music lovers.
The festival happens inside the St Laurence Church, a beautiful building that is a little rough around the edges but epic enough to make the music feel at home in the space.
There’s a brewery down the road and two pretty great record stores nearby. Oh, and Jonny Greenwood headlines this year.
CHILTERN ARTS FESTIVAL
Where is it? The Chiltern Arts Festival happens in a variety of locations across the Chilterns, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. This year the festival runs from the 14th-21st of May. Most of the events happen in churches and stately homes in and around Henley-on-Thames, Marlow, Princes Risborough, Amersham and Wendover, Great Missenden. The site of many a folk-horror masterpiece, replete with flint stone churches and crumbling country ruins, the area is known for its beautiful villages that line the Thames.
“The place has such character – and it's like a secret space between London and Oxford that often gets overlooked,” says Naomi Taylor, the founder of the festival, “a festival is a bit like a whiskey in a way – you can make it using exactly the same technique, but its flavour depends so much on where it comes to life.”
Every church and home has its own special character and quirks and due to the lack of concert spaces in these smaller towns, they are for practical reasons - like space, size, layout and acoustics -sometimes the only choice.
Why does it exist? Bringing the highest quality music out of London and into the Chilterns is the reason Naomi Taylor began The Chiltern Arts Festival. Since she can remember, has had the desire to bring people who share a passion together. Keen to shake the elitist label off classical music, and present it in a way that is relatable and not daunting seems to be hitting a nerve because the festival is now in its fifth season. Naomi also wanted to provide a platform for the next generation of performers and create opportunities for young people and children to engage with the arts in a practical way.
What you’ll love about it: With incredible performers coming in from all over the country and further afield, this is your chance to see the highest quality performers in a more intimate setting, and without feeling as if you’re not dressed quite right for the occasion. “I want people to understand that you can have the same experience of joy and connection through any kind of music. You don't need to understand the technicalities, you don't need to know who the composer is, you don't even need to know what instruments or artists you're listening to.”
You know it’s special to see choirs like Tenebrae perform in a venue like the 12th century Dorchester Abbey in Wallingford or harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani play Bach’s Goldberg Variations in Marlow’s Victorian All Saints church.
Bringing together music from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic era, with hints of medieval folk, contemporary classical and specially commissioned arrangements, it feels right to hear this sort of music in these sorts of spaces.
SEA CHANGE FESTIVAL
Where is it? Sea Change Festival happens in Totnes on 27th – 29th May 2022 as a three-day, multi-venue event stretching across the south Devon town. Totnes has been around since 907 and is home to one of the earliest motte-and-bailey castles in the land, the UK’s first zero-waste supermarket and it’s only a few miles away from Torquay – the setting of Fawlty Towers. Known for attracting bohemian types and day-trippers, Totnes has in recent years become a hub for music and art.
When the Dartington Art College closed down, the South Devon town of Totnes mourned the loss terribly. According to Rupert Morrison, the founder of the Sea Change Festival, nothing ever happened in Totnes. In spite of the riverside market town being known for its eccentricities, Rupert wasn’t convinced it was a place he wanted his kids to grow up in. So, he did something about it.
Why does it exist? Rupert Morrison owns and runs the Drift Record shop in Totnes. He wanted to revive some of the lively art and music scene that was lost when the college closed down. Depressed by the lack of commitment for the arts by the local and national government, Rupert set about changing the rapidly declining cultural scene of Totnes, and now they have an internationally regarded festival on their doorstep. “I went to see a young band play a while back and was so excited that they had been immersed in a rich set of musical influences via Drift and Sea Change. That's all we ever really wanted.”
What you’ll love about it: If Totnes was good enough for Uther Pendragon, then it’s good enough for us right? This town is so steeped in history and myth, the Sea Change festival isn’t only one reason you’d want to visit.
Rupert and his team want to “keep booking events that are imaginative, weird and intimate” and with a capacity of only 600 people, you won’t feel overwhelmed or overcrowded.
With venues like Grade I-listed St Mary’s Church, the gold-ceilinged Barrel House Ballroom, the 17th-century Birdwood House and the exquisitely-restored Totnes Cinema, the character of the town completely permeates the experience.
When you’ve got a record-store man curating, you’re likely to have a line-up this diverse and wonderful featuring acts like Porridge Radio, Andrew Wasylyk, Michael Price, Silverbacks and Lucy Gooch.
JUPITER RISING
Where is it? Jupiter Rising is a two-night campout festival that will take place on the weekend of 26th-28th August at Jupiter Artland, an art and sculpture garden just outside of Edinburgh. Founded in 2009 by Robert and Nicky Wilson, the site is set over 100 acres of meadow, woodland and indoor gallery spaces, and home to over 30 permanent and site-specific sculptures from Phyllida Barlow, Christian Boltanski, Charles Jencks, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and many other established and emerging artists.
Why does it exist? In a sea of festivals that all seemed to come with the same preconceptions, Nicky felt there was an urgent need for a space to celebrate art, nature, music and performance in one 360-degree festival, “where everyone and anyone is welcome!” Nicky, who is also the owner of the garden, believes that art, and its transformative power, is for everyone.
With a strong emphasis on championing diversity, Jupiter Rising is breathing new life, energy and progressive politics into the festival format. “More than anything Jupiter Rising celebrates difference, togetherness, joy, nature, art and the pure bliss in revelling in it,” says Nicky, and what better vehicle for that than music?
What you’ll love about it: With a maximum of 1000 tickets sold each year, this festival has retained all the intimacy and magical quality enjoyed at the first festival where there were only 100 guests.
Everyone can walk into this festival ground and feel welcome to enjoy the inventive and experimental programmes of live music, sound and performance, film programmes, talks and discussion, workshops for all ages and lots of dancing.
“I’m proud that we break the male stereotype of UK festivals,” says Nicky, she also boasts an all-woman curatorial team who ensure that women make up at least half of the programme.
You’ll love wandering around the wide-open spaces, catching glimpses of the curious and awe-inspiring art on display throughout the grounds.