Soundshock's UK Festival Round-up 2010

Yes rambling rockers, the May sun is shining as the festival season is fast approaching, and 2010 will show more festivals than ever before. With so much choice to spoil yourself over, we ought to give you a prompt round-up of what's occuring. There will be festivals indoors, outdoors, all day festivals, weekend festivals, festivals for ardent metal heads, festivals for the casual rocker, there is literally something for everyone of you.   On your doorstep...well in the UK at least!

Download Festival - 11th - 13th June, Donington Park

 

Download is probably the monster of all UK rock festivals. With four stages showcasing the big gun headliners of rock to the rising upstarts of metal and everything in between. Download is always a huge weekend of fun and frolics and 2010 is sure to be the best yet. Friday is the 30th anniversary of Donington Festivals since the days when it was known as Monsters Of Rock. To celebrate this; 4/4 beat, stadium sized riff beasts AC/DC will headline the day, with support from Them Crooked Vultures, Wolfmother, Coheed & Cambria amongst many others...and jebeezus that's just the first day. The Saturday and Sunday will be headlined by Rage Against the Machine and Aerosmith respectively but will also harbour some great acts such as Stone Temple Pilots, Deftones, Megadeth, Motorhead, Five Finger Death Punch, Airbourne, Porcupine Tree, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Napalm Death, White Wizzard, Holy Grail and many many more. And if you could actually find a gap to do something else, there is always the many stools to buy your crap festival attire, legal highs, fake tattoos, food, drink and kitchen sinks...well not the last bit but you catch our drift yeah?

 

Price: Weekend ticket + 5 nights camping - £180.00
            Day Ticket - £75

How to get there...
Donington Park, right next to East Midlands Airport Donington Park lies where the three counties of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire meet. - The ley-lines of ROCK!!

In virtually the middle of the country it has excellent connections being only 3 miles from the major trunk routes of the M1/M42 and A50.

East Midlands International Airport is only two and a half miles away and has comprehensive domestic and European flight schedules.

The mainline Intercity railway stations are East Midlands Parkway, Derby, Nottingham and Loughborough are approximately anything up to twenty minutes drive away and Donington Park is well served by public transport and taxi services. Click here to see Donington on a MAP

http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk/lineup/index.aspx

Beautiful country side of Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom

High Voltage - 24th & 25th July, Victoria Park, London

Presented by Classic Rock magazine this weekend festival will be all about the finer, vintage sounds with ZZ Top and Emerson, Lake and Palmer headlining the event. However it's not all retro, across the three stages, you will also get to see bands like Transatlantic, Opeth,  Black Label Society, High On Fire, Down, Audrey Horne, Clutch, Marillion and many more great artists old and new. Despite not being a camping festival, it is set in the vibrant city centre of London and after the day's festivities end, there are plenty of rock and metal themed bars worth visiting, our personal favourite being the world famous Crobar.

Price - Weekend Genral Admission - £135.00
            Day General Admission - £75.00

How to get there...
Travel By Public Transport
Victoria Park is less than 30 minutes from any of London’s main rail stations, so whichever part of the world you are coming from there is a quick and easy route to this lovely part of London.
Nearest Tube: Mile End is on the Central and District lines and then a 10 minute walk to Victoria Park.
Bus Routes Stopping At Mile End: D6, D7, 205, 323, 339, 25 or take the 277 straight to Victoria Park from Highbury & Islington, Hackney Central or Mile End.
Train: Hackney Wick is operated by London Overground in travelcard zone 2.
Car: There is no parking anywhere in the vicinity of Victoria Park so please come by public transport. Any car illegally parked will be towed.
Taxis: The best place to be dropped off is the corner of Globe Road and Old Ford Road.
Camping: High Voltage is a non-camping festival and guests are required to vacate the park at the end of each day.
http://www.highvoltagefestival.com/

Bloodstock Open Air - 13th -15th August, Catton Hall, Derbyshire

Once an indoor event showcasing the best in power and progressive metal, now quickly becoming a gargantuan, outdoor, pure metal extravaganza! Often reffered to as the UK's Wacken, Bloodstock is a festival for those who don't like to try and watch a band through thousands of heads; it remains small enough to be intimate but large enough to actually feel that all important festival vibe. Across the weekend, there is the cream of the metal crop and plenty to raise you horns to as Meshuggah, Children Of Bodom, Gojira, Devin Townsend, Bloodbath, Gorgoroth,  Twisted Sister, Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and many more all gather to decimate the stages. Plus with the sad news of Ronnie James Dio's passing, to fill the slot vacated by Heaven & Hell, there will be two dual headliners instead of just one.

Price - Weekend Tickets + Camping - £104.90
  


How to get there...

Catton Hall is located centrally within the triangle of 3 East Midlands towns, Lichfield, Burton On Trent and Tamworth .

By Car
From the North: Follow the M1 Southbound and exit onto the A38 at Junction 28, heading West for Burton / Birmingham . Keep travelling until you pick up the B-O-A directions, which will exit you at the Alrewas / Rugely / Tamworth A513 turnoff. Follow the signs to the festival.
From the West or South (a): From the M5 (from the West) or the M40 (from London ), take the M42 Northbound. Between Junctions 8 and 9 take the M6 toll road and exit at T4 onto the A38 Northbound. Follow the B-O-A roadsigns which will exit you at the Alrewas / Rugely / Tamworth A513 turnoff. Follow the signs to the festival.
From the South (b): Take the M1 from London , and exit at Juntion 24, following the A50 to Stoke. After a few miles you will exit onto the A38 to Burton . Follow the B-O-A roadsigns which will exit you at the Alrewas / Rugely / Tamworth A513 turnoff. Follow the signs to the festival.

By Rail or National Express Bus then Shuttle Service
Make your way to Birmingham New Street railway station. From Birmingham New Street station take the train to Lichfield City . This journey should take approximately 35 Minutes. Lichfield station is 7 miles from Catton Hall and is about 15-20 minutes drive. BLOODSTOCK will provide a shuttle bus from Lichfield City railway station direct to the festival site starting Midday  Thursday morning.  The shuttle bus service times can be found on the event information page .




Bloodstock and Festival Tour Bus Offer Coach Travel
Bloodstock 2010 and the Festival Tour Bus have teamed up to offer affordable environmentally friendly coach travel to this year's festival. Forget about those worries trying to book and navigate train stations, crowded carriages and stacking your tent and rucksack in the over flowing luggage rack. Instead why not recline your seat and relax with our onboard entertainment in a cool air conditioned luxury coach. Our dedicated festival tour rep will cater to your every need with a range of onboard facilities, sip a chilled drink and snack on finger food. Your seat will be guaranteed for a return journey and our drop off point is at the festival door. Offering 35 pickup points across the UK, and a return ticket starting from £40 per person, we guarantee to get you to the festival on time.

REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT!!

Coach travel is the most environmentally friendly form of public transport and in 2006 an estimated 285,000 tCO2e were saved from using coaches instead of cars (data ECCM). - This is equivalent to reducing up to 16 cars on the road per coach travelling. So by choosing to use the FESTIVALTOURBUS instead of a car/train to get to Bloodstock 2010, you are helping reduce congestion on local roads, reduce your carbon footprint and you get to travel to Bloodstock with likeminded festival goers.

To book your festival coach travel tickets, please visit us at www.festivaltourbus.co.uk

By Air
Catton Hall is 20 miles from either Birmingham or Nottingham East Midlands Airport . 60 miles from Manchester and 130 miles from Heathrow.

Local Information for travel
This is a useful website www.traveline.org.uk to look at or call 0870 608 2 608 to find details of local bus and train routes and timetables.

TRAFFIC CONDITIONS - LATEST NEWS UPDATES
Get the latest information on travel conditions and any congestions issues when journeying to the festival or heading home from the festival by clicking HERE!

TRAVEL INFO UPDATES ON YOUR MOBILE
Live traffic data from The Highways National Traffic Control Centre. For people heading home after Bloodstock you can now get updates direct to your mobile - for more information go to www.highways.gov.uk/mobile  Before you set off .

Approximate Mileage to B.O.A from the following locations:
•    London - 130
•    Manchester - 85
•    Bristol - 110
•    Birmingham - 20
•    Nottingham - 45
•    Birmingham Airport & British Rail - 20
•    East Midlands Airport - 20
•    Tamworth British Rail - 8

http://www.bloodstock.uk.com/

Mammothfest - Saturday 18th September, Hove, Brighton

Mammothfest, a new fest on the map so to speak already boasts a massive all day indoor event brimming with the best in metal talent including Orange Goblin, Sylosis, Malefice, Abgott, Mnemic, Tesseract, Monuments, Between The Screams and they haven't annouced the headliner yet...we're sure it will be massive.

Price - £40.00

How to get there...

By Rail
There are regular trains to Hove station, which is a 10 minute walk away from the Hove Centre. Alternatively you can get a train to Brighton station and pick up a Taxi or Bus to Hove.

By Road
Brighton & Hove are easily accessible by all areas. From London the M23/A23 is the best way to Brighton & Hove, there are signs all the way to Hove when entering Brighton.

On Foot
From Brighton center, you can walk along Western Road, then Church Road in a straight line, and the Hove Centre is on the right.

By Air
London Gatwick Airport is just 28 miles from Brighton & Hove via the M23/A23, which is about 30 minutes away. 

http://www.mammothfest.co.uk/

Sonisphere UK - 30th July - 1st August - Knebworth, Hertfordshire

This European travelling festival is another newby on the festival calendar. But after winning 'Best New UK Festival 2009', we're sure it's going to be around for years to come. This year the UK weekend is headlined by Iron Maiden and Rammstein with support coming from Alice Cooper, Slayer, Motley Crue, Skunk Anansie, Alice In Chains, The Cult, Karnivool, Bigelf, Gallows, And So I Watch You From Afar, Kellermensch, Fear Factory and many more. Closely rivalling Download in the major weekend stakes, there is also plenty to entertain you rockers, with plenty of food and drink, stand-up comedy, stools and various other attractions.

Price -  Weekend Pass + Camping - £157.50
              Day Tickets - No info as of yet on day ticket availability

How to get there...
Getting to Knebworth Park is EASY! Only 25 minutes from London and 2 hours from Birmingham, Knebworth is right on the A1(M) and served by a mainline train station. Add to that the FREE shuttle service and coach packages offered by Sonisphere and you can be sure you will be standing in front of the Apollo stage in no time!

SHUTTLES
A FREE shuttle bus service will run during the scheduled train timings from Stevenage Train Station to the Sonisphere site starting at 1pm on the Thursday and ending once you have all gone on Monday. It will be a continuous service rather than at set times. More buses will be available during busy periods but you may need to wait for a short while to get the next available bus. Please DO NOT walk to the festival site. It is a 2 mile walk and involves crossing a motorway junction where you may be stopped for safety reasons.

The shuttle bus is not reserved for just rail users. It can be used by local festival goers and people staying or parking in Stevenage. The shuttle bus will leave from the Leisure Park at the foot of the railway station bridge and takes you close to the entrance to the festival.

Rock Royalty camping customers have an additional shuttle which picks them from the main shuttle drop off point in the festival site and takes them to the Rock Royalty reception. This will be signposted but please ask a steward if you are unsure of its location.

BY AIR
Knebworth is in close proximity to all of the main London airports: Heathrow (30 miles), Stanstead (25 miles), Gatwick (75 miles) and Luton (12 miles). Trains run from all these airports to London where you can pick up a train to Stevenage.

BY RAIL
The nearest useable rail station is Stevenage, two miles away. There is a free shuttle service from the station (see above) plus is a taxi rank. Taxis should cost around £5 to the festival site (depending on traffic). Non-stop Inter-City and local services run to Stevenage from London Kings Cross Station around every 30 minutes. Plus, there are frequent Inter-City connections on the East Coast main line to Cambridge, York, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh and many other destinations.

Please note that there will be NO festival access from Knebworth Train Station. You must use Stevenage station. It is STRONGLY recommended that return train tickets are bought in advance. Stevenage is on a very busy commuter line and has narrow platforms so it will not be possible for festival goers to gain access to the station till after 9.30am once the commuter traffic has died down. The free shuttle service will start at 9.15am from the site but you may need to wait for a short while at the station before accessing the platforms. It is therefore recommended that trains are booked for after 10am to ensure you can meet your travel plans.

BY ROAD
There are two entrances to the site which are accessed via junction 7 and 8 of the A1(M) motorway, 10 miles north of the M25. Signage on the A1(M) will direct you to the appropriate entrance. If using Sat Nav systems, please use the postcode SG1 2AX to direct you till you pick up the road signage. Ample parking is available on site. Parking can be booked via the ticket page in advance for £10 or on the day for £20. There is no restriction on re-entry.

http://uk.sonispherefestivals.com/
 

Supersonic Festival - 22nd - 24th October, Birmingham, West Midlands

Those excellent Brummie music promoters, Capsule have started to put together a mighty line-up for everyone who likes their festivals a bit more diverse, a bit more artistic and a lot less conventional (as well as less expensive).
Situated across venues in Birmingham and headlined by the re-formed Swans, this event is guaranteed to open the mind and elevate the tastes of even the ardent of music lovers.

Price - Weekend Ticket - £75.00

How to get there...
Supersonic Festival is located at the Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, B9 4AA
The site opens at 9.00pm on Friday 22nd of October, only then can you pick up tickets from the box office, which is located at the top of Gibb Street.
 
BY PLANE
Birmingham International Airport (BHX) has a number of budget flights from Europe and further a field, it is located less than 30 mins by taxi to Birmingham city centre or there is a train which takes about 15mins.
www.birminghamairport.co.uk

BY TRAIN
The Custard Factory is a 10 minute walk from both New Street Station and Moor Street Station.

Exit New Street Station via the main doors (signposted taxi rank). As you approach Debenhams, turn LEFT and walk through the tunnel. Ahead of you will be Moor Street Station. Continue forward with Moor Street Station on your left and the entrance to Moor St carpark ahead. At the crossing turn RIGHT (The Bull Ring Tavern ahead of you). Turn LEFT onto High Street Deritend and continue forward (with the Selfridges building directly behind you). On your left you will pass The Fancy Fabric Store, Birmingham Barfly, and South Birmingham College. Eventually you will reach the Custard Factory on your left – if you reach The Old Crown pub or The Rainbow you have gone too far!

BY COACH
Birmingham Central Coach Station is only a 5 minute walk from the Custard Factory. Start out along Oxford Street, heading south. After 1500 metres turn LEFT onto Digbeth, heading east. After 100 metres continue onto High Street Deritend, heading south. You will reach the Custard Factory 250 metres along High Street Deritend.

BY CAR
The Custard Factory is easily accessible from M6, M5 and M42.

Whichever direction you’re coming from to get to Birmingham, follow sings for the A41. Once you’re on the A41, continue to follow signs for the City Centre. You’ll find yourself heading towards town, slightly downhill along a road called Digbeth. You’ll pass through a couple of sets of traffic lights before seeing a Renault garage on your left – get into the right-hand filter lane for the next set of lights. You should see an old-fashioned pub on your right called The Old Crown. Take the right hand turn at this corner into Heath Mill Lane. A few hundred yards along and to your right, next to Air nightclub, is the entrance to the Custard Factory car park (its gates made up of the cubes of squashed cars).

PARKING
There are many car parks available nearby, the closest being the Custard Factory car park on Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth, B9.

TAXIS
There are loads of taxi firms in Birmingham – here’s numbers for just a few of them:

Atlas Cars                0121 643 8888
Ambassador Cars    0121 449 8888
T.O.A                       0121 427 8888
Royal Cars               0121 444 8888
• Check the taxi is displaying proper license plates and a roof sign

http://www.capsule.org.uk/supersonic/

All Tomorrow's Parties 'Nightmare Before Christmas 2010' - 3rd Dec - 5th Dec, Butlins, Minehead

Another weekend festival for those who wish to witness a weekend of musical diversity. Continuing the fashion to have the event curated by a revered and ground breaking artist, 2010 sees the weekend's line-up chosen and headlined by the reformed Godspeed You! Black Emperor with support so far coming from Wolves In The Throne Room, Neurosis, Deerhoof, The Ex, Tim Hecker, The Dead C and many more. And with it being an indoor event on a holiday resort, a group of you can stay in a comfortable chalet, beats sleeping in a tent in the Winter eh?

Price - Dependent on chalet size but per person its £175-185. Not one for the lonely traveller unfortunately.

How to get there...

Butlins, Minehead looks out across a superb sandy beach. The site is equipped with a supermarket, newsagent, cash points and restaurants. Onsite facilities include a cinema, Splash Water World - a sub-tropical environment that has a huge wave pool, a swimming pool, 3 flumes and also a flume based raft ride - Ten-pin bowling and amusement arcade. Sports include Archery, Football, Basketball, Darts, Petanque, Fencing, Kwik Cricket, Netball, Rounders, Table Tennis, Outdoor Bowls and Crazy Golf.

Under 18s, children and babies are welcome at ATP, please see the FAQ section of our website for more details.

Room Only accommodation is available in 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 berths and offers either double, single or bunk beds with private bathroom and TV, but no kitchen facilities or lounge, more like a hotel room. (£165 + booking fee per ticket)

Self Catering accommodation is available in 4, 6 and 7 berths and offers private bathroom, full kitchen facilities and separate lounge area with TV. (£175 + booking fee per ticket)

http://www.atpfestival.com/events/godspeednightmare.php