FESTIVAL season is well underway and music fans are starting to return to fallowed festival fields across the country to see their favourite headliners and newcomers.

To help make your decision-making a little easier, we’ve curated this guide to some of our top picks for this festival season. Read on to find out more!

Tenement Trail (8th October) 

Last year, we announced that Tenement Trail would return on 8th October 2022.

Set to bring together thousands of music fans and 60+ bands across 10+ venues in Glasgow’s East End, the festival is a 12 hour extravaganza in some of Glasgow’s most-loved music venues including the famed Barrowland Ballroom, BAaD and Saint Luke’s.

Known for booking the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Sam Fender and Yungblud who all played in tiny rooms at the start of their careers, TRAIL is one of the best days in the music calendar for music fans.

Don’t miss the much-missed festival as it returns next year, early bird tickets on-sale now.

Primavera Sound (2nd – 11th June) 

Barcelona favourite Primavera Sound is finally back this year with a jam-packed line up over the course of ten days from June 2-12. The first weekend (taking place from the 2nd to 4th), includes notable acts such as Massive Attack, Tame Impala, Charli XCX, Cigarettes After Sex, Sharon Van Etten, Beck, The National, The Strokes, Caribou, Gorillaz, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Tyler, The Creator, Disclosure, and new acts to keep an eye out for include Little Simz and Jehnny Beth. 

Throughout the week, the festival continues and all city venues are accessible to those with a weekend ticket for either weekend. If you miss any of your favourites during the first weekend, not to worry, they will be playing around the city. June 8th brings in more amazing acts such as Interpol, Megan Thee Stallion, Phoenix and Chet Faker. 

If this lineup wasn’t enough already, the final weekend (June 9-11) brings even more big names to Barcelona. With Dua Lipa, Big Thief, Lorde, Bleachers, Brittany Howard, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mogwai, Run The Jewels, Jessie Ware, with breakout acts Griff and Brits Rising Star winner Holly Humberstone and many, many more, this promises to be a week you won’t forget. 

Tickets are sold out but you can join the waiting list here.

TRNSMT Festival (8th-10th July) 

Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival returns to Glasgow Green with an all star lineup. Renowned for having some of the best audiences around, festival goers are in for a treat this year with acts such as Paolo Nutini, Sam Fender, Nile Rodgers and Chic, The Strokes, Foals, Jimmy Eat World, Sigala, Gang of Youths, Scottish favourites Lewis Capaldi and the Snuts, and the Brit’s Group of The Year winners, Wolf Alice. With many more acts on the bill and more to be announced, this promises to be a great weekend of music.

Tickets and lineup updates can be found here.

Belladrum Festival (28th – 30th July)

Taking place in stunning Beauly from 28th – 30th July, the Highlands favourite festival is back for another incredible weekend. This year’s Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival has an incredible lineup featuring the likes of Van Morrison, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Emeli Sande, The Fratellis, Passenger, Shed Seven, Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, and cult favourites Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5. Set in the idyllic Scottish Highlands, this festival brings together beautiful scenery and amazing music for what promises to be an unforgettable experience.

Tickets can be found here.

 

 

Kelburn Garden Party (1st – 4th July) 

Across seven unique stages scattered across the glen and stunning gardens that surround Kelburn Castle on Scotland’s West Coast, Kelburn Garden Party offers an enchanting mix of  music, performance, art and entertainment. At this festival, you’ll encounter proper dance music, firing folk, plenty funk and disco, dub to jungle, alt-pop experimental excursions, a good dose of jazz and blues, and intriguing global sounds.

Those confirmed to appear this year include The Skints, Henge, Max Cooper, Nova, Bemz, Kapil Seshasayee, corto.alto, Stanley Odd and many more.

Tickets here.

Mad Cool (6th – 10th July) 

Mad Cool Festival have added 11 more acts to their 2022 line-up, including Jack White, Stormzy, London Grammar and more.

The Madrid event – which is celebrating its fifth anniversary – has also confirmed that it is expanding to become a five-day festival next year, running from July 6-10, 2022.

Mad Cool, which was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, had already announced the likes of Muse, The Killers, Metallica, Florence + The Machine, Queens Of The Stone Age and Haim on their bill for next year.

See full details here.

NOS Alive (7th – 10th July) 

Situated in the beautiful city of Lisbon, NOS Alive has been busy assembling one of Europe’s most impressive festival lineups for their 2022 return.

Bringing a roster of rock and pop’s biggest names to Portuguese shores, they’ve revealed Florence + the Machine as the final headliner for next year’s festival alongside Metallica, The Strokes, and Imagine Dragons. A hugely popular festival for locals and UK visitors alike, it will also feature  Faith No More, St. Vincent, Royal Blood, Phoebe Bridgers, The War On Drugs,

Ticket info here. 

Doune The Rabbit Hole (14th – 17th July) 

Held at Cardross Estate between 14th and 17th July, folk festival Doune The Rabbit Hole brings some amazing music to the Stirlingshire countryside. Notable acts in the lineup include Patti Smith & Band, Belle & Sebastian, Sleaford Mods, Boney M., Welsh Male Voice Choir, Scotland’s Sweetheart Amy Macdonald + many more. This festival will take you down the rabbit hole for a magical weekend of sights and sounds.

Tickets can be found here.

Truck Festival (21st – 24th July)

Previously described as ‘The godfather of small music festivals’, Truck Festival has become an increasingly popular choice for festival goers of later – largely thanks to its stellar, indie-obsessed line-ups. Situated in leafy Oxfordshire, the festival will be headlined by Sam Fender, Kasabian and Bombay Bicycle Club, and feature big names like The Kooks, Blossoms, Sigrid, Kelis, Sea Girls, Jaws, The Murder Capital and more.

Tickets are flying out for this one so be quick, here. 

Edinburgh Summer Sessions

This Edinburgh summer staple is taking place at Prince’s Street Gardens from 7th – 14th August and promises to be a great day out whichever day you choose to attend. With headliners Michael Kiwanuka, Simply Red, Tom Jones, Simple Minds, and Travis + more acts to be announced, this year’s festival guarantees an amazing display of music no matter what Scottish weather may have in store. 

Edinburgh tickets can be found here

Boardmasters (10th – 14th August)

Boardmasters recently announced the second wave of artists set to play in Cornwall this August. The festival takes place across two stunning sites on the Cornish coast – at Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay – and usually attracts up to 50,000 visitors per year. The 2022 edition will be headlined by George Ezra, Disclosure and Kings of Leon, and also feature Self Esteem, The Lathums, Bastille, Bombay Bicycle Club, Mimi Webb and more.

Tickets here. 

Sziget (10th – 15th August) 

Budapest’s pop and rock behemoth Sziget Festival have revealed their first forty names for 2022’s edition, and their lineup is looking as big as ever.

Headlining ‘The Island Of Freedom’ next year are Dua Lipa, Arctic Monkeys, and Kings Of Leon. It’ll mark the first time Dua Lipa has appeared at Sziget since her first ever festival headline performance at the same festival in 2018, while Arctic Monkeys’ appear as part of a slew of festival dates just announced – perhaps indicating a new album is on the way.

Further down the bill sees Lewis Capaldi, Stromae, Bastille, Alan Walker, Caribou, Woodkid, FKJ, Sigrid, Jon Hopkins, Fontaines D.C., Jungle, Little Simz and more diverse talent spanning pop, rock, indie, dance, hip-hop, jazz, and punk.

Tickets here. 

All Points East (19th – 28th August) 

East London’s popular festival returns to Victoria Park this year with a stellar line-up that will take place across two weekends.  Gorillaz, The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk, Tame Impala, The National, Disclosure and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are all set to top the bill. Also on the line-up are: Self Esteem, Aldous Harding, Anna Calvi, Greentea Peng, Sleaford Mods, Cici, Koffee, Pusha T, Yves Tumor and more.

Pick your day and tickets here.

Jupiter Rising (26th – 28th August)

Jupiter Rising offers ‘truly memorable nights spent revelling in art, music and nature’. Described as a ‘powerful overview of cutting-edge music and performance’, Jupiter Rising takes place within an iconic landscape of Jupiter Artland, the home of world-class sculpture just outside Edinburgh.

Young Fathers star Alloysious Massaquoi will curate a stage at this year’s festival, already announcing The Dylema Collective, Mychelle and Distruction Boyz, while female and non-binary collective Hen Hoose will take over a stage with Emma Pollock, Suse Bear and Jayda among those performing.

Tickets here. 

Otherlands Festival (19th – 21st August) 

Another new festival set to make its mark in Scotland this year is Otherlands Music and Arts Festival. Organised by the founders of FLY, Otherlands till take place at Scone Palace in Perthshire and will span genres across six stages with organisers planning to take festival goers “on a journey into another world” – soundtracked by some of the biggest names in live and electronic music.

So far, those confirmed on the line-up are Folamour, Honey Dijon, Jamie xx, SHERELLE, TSHA, Yung Singh, DJ Seinfeld, Tom Misch and live sets from Bicep and Elkka.

Organisers have now confirmed 40 new additions – including VLURE, Theo Bleak, CHEF, HYYTS and more. They have also shared details on the first of their official Stage Partners, welcoming many cultural institutions such as Sub Club, Sneaky Pete’s and BBC Introducing to curate a program of live & electronic artists across the weekend.

Find out more info here. 

Connect Festival (26th – 28th August)

The newest addition to Scotland’s festival calendar, Connect Music Festival has announced the line-up for this summer’s event, with IDLES, The Chemical Brothers and The National set to headline. They will be joined by Mogwai, Little Simz, Self Esteem, Jon Hopkins, Black Coffee, Bonobo, Bombay Bicycle Club, John Grant, LOW, Joesef, swim school and Idlewild and many more from 26th – 28th August at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre.

Secure your tickets here. 

Reading & Leeds (26th – 28th August) 

Reading & Leeds unveiled one of its most eclectic line-ups to date for 2022. Returning to its usual slot on England’s August Bank Holiday weekend, the twin-site festival (taking place in Little John’s Farm in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds) has first-time headliners standing shoulder-to-shoulder with veteran R&L bill-toppers, alongside a cast of exciting emerging artists.

Last year, organisers used two main stages for the first time and fans can expect the same again with a grand total of six headliners confirmed – Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me The Horizon, Halsey, Dave, Megan Thee Stallion and Rage Against The Machine.

Other big names include Joy Crookes, Bastille, Wolf Alice, Little Simz and PinkPantheress, Enter Shikari, Fontaines D.C. and more.

Promising to be a massive weekend, find your ticket details here and here. 

Rock En Seine (25th- 28th August) 

Paris’ Rock En Seine festival has been around almost twenty years and shows no signs of stopping. With an incredible line up including the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Yungblud, newcomers Inhaler, Fontaines D.C., Beabadoobee, Tame Impala, Jamie XX, Perfume Genius, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and electronic music pioneers  Kraftwerk, this festival promises to be a great way to end your summer.

Taking place from August 25-28, with an additional date on August 30 featuring Rage Against the Machine + more, you don’t want to miss this one.

Tickets can be found here.

 

 

Cala Mijas (1st – 3rd September) 

Organisers of major northern Spain festival – Bilbao BBK Live – have launched a new festival for 2022. Cala Mijas Festival will take place from 1 – 3 September, in the picturesque town of Mijas, just south of Malaga in the famous Costa del Sol, aka the sunshine coast.

Offering an impressive first taste of what to expect from the new festival, acts announced so far include Arctic Monkeys, Kraftwerk, Liam Gallagher, James Blake, Bonobo, Marc Rebillet and Hot Chip.

Tickets here. 

MEO Kalorama, Lisbon (1st – 3rd September)

ON 1, 2 and 3 September, the first ever MEO Kalorama Festival takes place, featuring an incredible line-up Arctic Monkeys, 2ManyDjs, The Chemical Brothers, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and many more.

The festival will kick off their first ever event with a huge display in the amazing city of Lisbon in Portugal, celebrating culture and live music with music-lovers from around the world.

Tickets here.