June in Tune

One of the biggest is Download from June 12th-14th at Castle Donington in Derbyshire. It's hefty £135 price tag is par for the course nowadays but for that you can see bands like Faith No More, Slipknot and  Def Leppard. Heavy Rock lives! 
See www.downloadfestival.co.uk .

More appealing to many and more mainstream now is the famous (infamous) Isle of Wight Festival on the same weekend. At Newport (the Isle of Wight one of course) for £140 you can see Neil Young, The Prodigy and Razorlight strut their stuff. Its been going for nearly forty years now so its becoming a bit of a pop-rock grandaddy. See www.isleofwightfestival.com.

The appallingly punned Rock Ness is whats on offer for Scottish music fans on the sanme weekend at Dores, Loch Ness, Scotland; The £130 price tag gets you in to see the Flaming Lips, Basement Jaxx and again thanks to the wonders of flight, The Prodigy - a 'monster rave' the blurb says, all seasoned with a handful of indie acts. More at www.rockness.co.uk .

The weekend after sees 'Big Session' from June 19th-21st at Leicester, at an almost cheap £60 and here The Levellers, Billy Bragg and the Oyster Band entertain www.bigsessionfestival.com . Sounding like an aussie namesake the 'Gold Coast Oceanfest' on the same weekend goes ahead at Croyde Bay in North Devon; (£33) with Jason Mraz. Here though the music’s not really what it's all about, its fairly peripheral — surfing & beach volleyball make this the most sporting of festivals  www.goldcoastoceanfest.co.uk .

For those who prefer something a little more, shall we say, laid back the Beverley Folk Festival may be just the job (June 19-21st) At Beverley in East Yorks; for £77 you get to see Billy Bragg (yes, again), The Peatbog Faeries and the always ameniable Seth Lakeman. Think real ale, traditional dance and bagpipes and you wont be far off the mark.

Then of course there's the big daddy 'Glastonbury' or Glasto if you talk the talk. From June 24th-28th it's sold out anyway so if you haven't got tickets now you're thinking about visiting in 2010. At Pilton Farm in Somerset Bruce Springsteen, Blur & yes,  Neil Young head the line up. This has to be the creme de la creme of festivals, and has been described as a glorious, belief-defying, utopian art-hedonist spectacular.  So there. I' ve been and can report they're not far wrong! See www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk.

Whatever you end up doing this June though outdoors we hope the sun shines on you. Though we do advise taking a pac-a-mac too!