HEADER IMAGE Tame Impala at All Points East 2022
Dare I say it, but as I type this from the blistering heat of a Brixton pub garden on a Friday afternoon, I think I can feel my Scottish skin burning. Spring is officially upon us, and it’s getting us thinking about the best way to spend the summer – inarguably, it’s at a music festival. Renowned for their vibrant community spirit, diverse lineups, and the chance to escape into a world of music, fashion, and fun, British music festivals offer the ideal escape from the day-to-day slog – even if we’re in a city park – plus a chance to bask in the summer sun amongst besties, booze, and bloody good entertainment.
If you missed out on the rush for Glastonbury tickets or Primavera’s pop princess line-up, below, BRICKS rounds up the very best British festivals that haven’t sold out yet – and a few that are close by – to reignite the group chat and get your summer plans in order.
Queer East Festival
23rd April – 1st May
London, UK
Line-up highlights: We Are Here at Rio Cinema, Rookie at BFI Southbank, Closing Night: Edhi Alice premiere + Q&A at ICA
Queer East Festival, the cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and artists from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities, is back for its fifth edition. The festival’s packed schedule will platform hundreds of feature films, shorts, documentaries & moving image works, an exhibition, dance, theatre, talks, performances, and events ranging from saunas, shibari, and acupressure, to dumpling-making, drag, and poetry. With screenings across London’s iconic cinemas and venues, including the BFI Southbank, ICA London, Rio Cinema, and The Barbican, this diverse arts festival spotlights creative pioneers who are shaping the contemporary queer landscape in Asia, while encouraging more inclusive narratives and challenging the stereotypes of queer Asian portrayals.
Activism, community, and the collective memory of queer history take centre stage in this year’s programme – highlights include Filipino female coming-of-age story Rookie, heartfelt lesbian documentary We Are Here, and the UK premiere of South Korean transgender documentary Edhi Alice at ICA. Additionally, the festival will host a cross-disciplinary group exhibition { guttural },,,{ fleshless } at QUEERCIRCLE, open to the public from 26th April til 17th May. Queer East’s dance programme returns to The Place, with aWokening by Hong Kong-Canadian artist Winnie Ho on Friday 16th May, which blends physical performance, immersive scenography, and sensory dramaturgy.
Tickets: For more information on the full programme, head to the Queer East website.
Mighty Hoopla
31st May – 1st June
London, UK
Line-up highlights: Ciara, Jade, JoJo, Kesha, Erika Jayne
Brockwell Park’s Mighty Hoopla has built an international reputation in recent years as the premiere queer music festival, no doubt helped by the queen of gay-pop, Jojo Siwa, who performed a last-minute set last year. 2025’s line-up boasts nostalgic noughties stars Ciara and Jojo, and will also host Kesha, JADE and Real Housewives star Erika Jayne, making Mighty Hoopla the first ever UK festival to have only female headliners in one year. Other throwback favourites include Daniel Bedingfield, Jamelia, Vengaboys, Kash Nash & The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Pixie Lott and Lemar.
The festival will also home a new set of stages and inclusive spaces courtesy of Grindr’s ‘The Gaybourhood’, including ‘Hay Girl Hay’, ‘Working Them’s Club’ and ‘The Dyke Bar’ with the team behind London’s UHaul Dyke Rescue club nights and shows. Also back for 2025 is Queertopia, a specially crafted stage showcasing the best up and coming names within the queer space.
Tickets: Saturday tickets start from £74.50, Sunday tickets start from £69.50, and Weekend tickets start from £149.00 – available here.
We Love Green 2024
We Love Green
6-8th June
Paris, France
Line-up highlights: Charli XCX, LCD Soundsystem, FKA Twigs, Beach House, Magdalena Bay
Paris-based eco-festival We Love Green is the first European music festival of the season to host Charli XCX’s extended brat summer, so for those already impatient waiting for live music to get going already, this one’s for you. Charli will be joined by festival favourites LCD Soundsystem – both for exclusive French appearances – as well as FKA Twigs, Ezra Collective, Beach House, Bicep, Parcels, and Magdalena Bay. This festival is sustainably designed and 100% vegetarian, uniting live music, think tanks and an open-air museum featuring projects from young artists, designers and architects.
Tickets: Early bird day split tickets from €64, 3-day tickets from €159 – available here.
Parklife
14-15th June
Manchester, UK
Line-up highlights: Charli XCX, Jorja Smith, Peggy Gou, Confidence Man, Lola Young, Flo
Premiere party festival Parklife will see Charli XCX’s brat summer return to the UK festival circuit, alongside fellow headliners 50 Cent and Jorja Smith for its 15th anniversary event. Held at the infamous Heaton Park, the festival’s set list lineup has been expertly crafted by The Warehouse Project, bringing together the most exciting names in contemporary music. Lola Young and Flo will lend their power-house vocals to the Manchester music festival, while the likes of Confidence Man, Peggy Gou, Overmono and Bicep will make sure the dancing never stops.
Tickets: Tickets start from £166.95 for the weekend and £99.70 for a day ticket – available here.
Lil Simz’ Meltdown at Southbank Centre
12th-22nd June
London, UK
Line-up highlights: Little Simz & Chineke Orchestra!, Lola Young, Mahalia, James Blake, Jon Batiste, BADBADNOTGOOD
For the 30th edition of Southbank Centre’s Meltdown, the country’s longest-running artist-curated music festival, legendary British rapper Lil Simz has enlisted a stellar line-up of British and international artists. Acts include Ghetts, Mahalia, Mike Skinner of The Streets, Lola Young, James Blake, Jon Batiste and jazz collective BADBADNOTGOOD, as well as Simz herself who will perform with the Chineke Orchestra!, Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra.
Additionally, over the next three months in the lead up to Meltdown, a selection of young producers hailing from all corners of London will prepare to transform the site’s public spaces into a playground of curated activity, events and showcases that will run during the festival. London’s youth clubs have birthed incredible talent – including Little Simz – and this tradition will be carried on at Meltdown as the Southbank Centre will build a unique one-off young producers project for the festival. The programme will spotlight young people at the heart of the events, and reflect Little Simz’ ongoing mission into supporting new talent.
Tickets: While some events have now sold out, there are still tickets for a range of events across the June programme – available here.
LIDO
6 – 14th June
London, UK
Line-up highlights: Charli XCX, 070 Shake, Kelly Lee Owens, Magdalena Bay, The Dare, The Japanese House, Yseult, Jamie XX, Arca, Sampha, Romy, John Glacier
It’s borderline impossible for new festivals to get a word in among the esteemed list of industry stalwart events back-to-back throughout the summer festival season. However, thanks to Charli XCX and Jamie XX’s impressive line-ups of friends, Victoria Park’s new LIDO Festival is already garnering serious excitement. Scheduled for two consecutive weekends in June, LIDO will take place in the Tower Hamlets park’s Lido Field. For the first weekend, Jamie XX will bring his club residency The Floor to the first Saturday of the festival, with Sampha, John Glacier, Arca and his XX bandmate Romy supporting. Additionally, legendary trip-hop outfit Massive Attack headline the first day with support from Air, FORENSICS and Tirzah.
Meanwhile, weekend two will see ultimate partygirl Charli XCX host her frequent collaborators 070 Shake, A.G. Cook, Kelly Lee Owens, The Dare and The Japanese House. And on Sunday June 15, London Grammar will bring their ethereal sounds to east London, alongside Celeste, Róisín Murphy and The Blessed Madonna.
Tickets: Limited VIP tickets are still available for Charli XCX’s Partygirl night, while general admission tickets are still on sale for the remaining dates – available here.
Roskilde Festival
28th June – 5th July
Roskilde, Denmark
Line-up highlights: Olivia Rodrigo, FKA Twigs Doechii, Stormzy, Arca, Beabadoobee, Fontaines D.C, Jamie XX, Wet Leg
With Olivia Rodrigo, FKA Twigs, Stormzy, Anohni and the Johnsons, and Nine Inch Nails announced heading to Roskilde Festival this summer, audiences are in for eight days of festival magic. More than 200 music artists are set to play the Danish countryside camp, including Doechii, Lola Young, Fontaines D.C., Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Beth Gibbons, Arca, A.G. Cook, Jamie XX, and Wet Leg.
Before the major artists arrive, the Danish non-profit festival opens with its First Days programming, showcasing 42 of the most riveting and promising new acts from the Nordics. The festival will kick off with three days dedicated to musical discovery, showcasing some of the most exciting new acts from the Nordics and beyond. As 100% non-profit, Roskilde supports social and cultural charities and organisations, particularly those benefitting children and young people. Since 1971, when founders Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller turned their high school dream for a new youth festival into a reality, the Roskilde Festival Charity Society has generated over €55 million to various causes including Doctors without Borders, Amnesty International, Support the Victims in Iraq, Save the Children and The World Wildlife Fund, to name a few.
Tickets: A full festival ticket costs DDKK 2,520 (approx. £280) – available here.
British Summer Time
27- 29th June, 4 – 6th July & Friday 11 – 13th July
London, UK
Line-up highlights: Stevie Wonder, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Clairo, Beabadoobee, Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams, Finneas
For two straight weekends, British Summer Time holds a series of concerts in London’s Hyde Park. This year’s staggering set lists will begin with Olivia Rodrigo, as will US country singer-songwriter Zach Bryan, while folk-pop artist Noah Kahan will headline the second weekend, joined by Gracie Abrams and Finneas. Pop princess Sabrina Carpenter will head-up not one but two headline shows, due to popular demand, with an all-star supporting cast including Clairo and Beabadoobee. Also on the bill are music icons Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts and Stevie Wonder, while Jeff Lynne’s ELO will close out the festival with a fond farewell performance.
Tickets: There are still tickets available to see Stevie Wonder and Sabrina Carpenter’s second night – available here.
FLOW Festival
3rd – 10th August
Helsinki, Finland
Line-up highlights: Charli XCX, Little Simz, FKA Twigs, Fred again…, Fontaines DC, Lola Young, Khruangbin, RAYE, PJ Harvey, Idles, Yves Tumour, Artemas, Amaarae
Helsinki’s biggest music festival program features a carefully curated combination of the brightest stars in pop and indie, the biggest names in DJ and club sounds, and a wide-ranging collection of experimental music. Building on its reputation as a forward-thinking and trailblazing festival experience, this year promises to be even more of an extension of that – delivering a huge lineup and world that points to the future of music festivals. International acts include: Halsey, Pulp, Fred again.., Janelle Monae, RAYE, PJ Harvey, Vince Staples, Idles, Jessie Ware, Aurora, Amaarae, Yves Tumour, Barry Can’t Swim, Alvvays, Artemas and more.
Spanning across pop and hip-hop in particular, the festival will also host Finnish stars including queer icon and political rap leader Yeboyah, indie-rock soaring The Holy, alt-pop Goldielocks, the huge live show of rapper Turisti, Finish afrotrap favourite Ege Zulu and the shimmering Karri Koira.
Tickets: 3-day weekend tickets start from €269 (£230), €229 (£196) or €159 (£136) – available here.
All Points East
15th – 30th August
London, UK
Line-up highlights: Raye, Doechii, Tyla, Jade, Chase & Status, Jamie XX, The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, Confidence Man, Shygirl
The beloved East London festival is adored for its genre-themed line-ups, which curates thematic rosters based around its illustrious headliners. Chase & Status will bring their beloved RTRN II DANCE event to the festival with a huge takeover of the main stage, making their APE debut on Saturday 16th. Meanwhile, Raye leads an international all-star line-up including Doechii, Tyla and Jade on Saturday 23rd.
Other highlights include The Maccabees on Sunday 24th who will take to the stage for their first show in eight years in honour of the 10-year anniversary of their number one album, Marks To Prove It. They’ll be joined by fellow indie-pop favourites including Bombay Bicycle Club, Nilüfer Yanya, Divorce and Prima Queen. Meanwhile, Barry Can’t Swim will make his only London festival appearance to headline on Friday 22nd alongside Confidence Man and Shygirl.
Tickets: Tickets are still available for all dates, starting from £88.50 – see more here.
Body Movements
24th August
London, UK
Line-up highlights: Mura Masa (DJ A/V), Cakes Da Killa, Angel D’Lite, Cou Cou Chloe, PXSSY Palace, ADONIS, Sippin’ T
Dubbed a “DIY, radical queer gathering”, Body Movements was founded in 2021 by DJ, producer and trUst label head Saoirse alongside Little Gay Brother and FEEL IT creator Clayton Wright. Taking over Southwark Park for its second full-scale festival, the outdoor event will see a DJ A/V set from Mura Masa alongside sets from HAAi, Peach, FAFF and I.JORDAN.
Cakes Da Killa will perform live while Tama Sumo & Lakuti, Midland, Michelle Manetti, GIDEÖN, and more will take to the decks. There will also be collective energy from the city’s best queer collectives, including ADONIS, Pxssy Palace, Fèmmme Fraîche, and Power Dance Club. LGBTQIA+ institutions like Dalston Superstore, Chapter 10, and the newly added It Girl will also host curated takeovers. With a focus on accessibility, inclusivity, and celebration, Body Movements continues to champion queer and trans joy while supporting critical organizations like Stonewall Housing, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Gendered Intelligence, All Out, and London Trans Pride through its community fund.
Tickets: Tickets for the 12-hour DJ day are available here.
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