Some of you may remember our festival fashion trends article from last year. This was one of our most read pieces ever – we’re back with 2012′s installment of what exactly you should be wearing at the festivals this summer!

The well-known faces on the festival scene, such as Alexa Chung, probably don’t have all their clothes for the weekend scrunched up in a back pack along with baby wipes and crisps. They step out looking fresh, crease-free and usually pretty fashionable in their expensive-but-casual ensemble which unfortunately for us normal folk, can be difficult to emulate. We can but try!

Firstly, the essentials. It’s going to rain, it’s a British weather habit that we are used to, but still complain about, and therefore wellies are top of the festival fashion list. Hunter wellies are good quality, come in a range of fun colours and are in the not-so-fun price range of £45-80 on their official website Check eBay for some bargains though. They’ll keep your feet dry and you can even wedge pocket money and a mobile phone inside them. If you don’t want to necessarily pay for the Hunter name, then places like Tesco and Asda sell wellies in a variety of patterns and colours and does the same job of preventing trench foot. 

A recent fashion phenomenon is the playsuit; it encapsulates your torso allowing your limbs to be free and gives them a rare chance to get a sun tan. H&M have got new stock of playsuits for the summer season that are a bargain at only £12.99. It’s essentially a whole outfit, which can be worn with a big cardigan or denim jacket for the cool evenings around a campfire, or dressed up with lots of accessories, such as copious amounts of bracelets or a weird and wonderful headband. Did you know that headbands now do more than keep your hair out of your face? They can be an addition to your outfit, colour co-ordinated, and essential in disguising how much your hair needs a wash after a weekend without a shower. ASOS have got a good range of ‘off the wall’ headgear that should get people talking.

For a less pricey look go for Pret a Portobello’s Elmstone Peacock Feather Crown (£30). A regular fixture at London’s Portobello Market, Elmstone creates beautiful works of art from feathers, lush velvets and vintage appliques and buttons. Make yourself a queen with this crown – which was even featured as one of Vogue’s top festival buys.

Or do you want to channel your inner hippy chick? There’s an array of pretty flowery headbands to help you conjure up that 60s vibe. Accessorize sells a Flower Crown Bando in green with little white and yellow flowers for £6. If that’s not your style, they have 43 other bandos to choose from – none of which will break the bank.

Dry shampoo is all the rage – but, any of the above hats or headbands will help tame locks that haven’t been washed for a few days!

Working our way down the body – scarves are another festival accessory staple. Alexia has scarves made of and with just about anything you could dream of – tie dyes, stripes, fringes, pom poms, jeweled beads, chiffon, silk, sequins, and even zippered pockets! They’re a bit expensive – ranging from £49 to £149, but take a look and you’ll be hooked! (Or head to your favorite high street shop for a more pocket-friendly look alike)

We all love abit of denim. But the tricky weather can mean soaked denim that takes a life time to dry, or traps the sunshine heat in a way that gives a less than pleasurable burning sensation. Never the less, try some denim shorts. Every vintage shop tend to sell the old Levi’s brand of denim shorts; high-waisted ones are great to tuck in a T-shirt and have deep pockets, handy for a mobile phone or

money to save taking a bag around the festival site. Denim shorts could be paired with some patterned tights, try Topshop for some bright and brilliant designs.

For guys, you may prefer less flowery wellies and the usual jeans and T-shirt combination, which is fine. Check out Topman for some fabulous printed sweatshirts that could be layered with a checkered shirt or teamed with some skinny jeans. You’ll look sharp, despite the lack of sleep and the elongated hangover.

Oh, and don’t forget sunglasses! It might surprise everyone and turn out to be a brilliant summer.

By Jennifer Jordan

Park Live is set in acres of green parklands and can accommodate up to 10,000 visitors at any given time. You can watch events live on giant screens streamed from BBC and Channel 4 from within the Olympic Park, bringing you closer to the excitement and drama of the games in a truly unique atmosphere.  

There will be ‘British Airways Hosts’ on hand to welcome you, and you will be able to get the inside story of London 2012 with interviews from medal-winning athletes on the British Airways Stage. Entertainment and short films on the creation of the parklands will also be shown.

You can get all the latest news on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games here

CarFest North will take place on September 8 and 9 at Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire. A spokes person for Cheshire East Council said that “I am sure CarFest North will be a memorable weekend (September 8 and 9) and help raise valuable funds for the event’s chosen charity, Children In Need. It will also be a boost to the borough’s tourism, bringing many thousands of visitors into Cheshire East.”

CarFest (South)  tickets sold out in record time after an unprecedented demand.

You many remember from our blog on Car Fest (South). It’s not only about cars…. other essential ingredients being added to the event include cooking displays by celebrity chefs such as James Martin, and a Saturday night concert featuring well-known Scots soft-rockers, Texas and Ocean Colour Scene. Live on air from his morning show, Evans has also name-checked The Feeling, Magic Numbers and spoken with Band Aid co-organiser Midge Ure, and they have just confirmed Razorlight – so expect the unexpected.

CarFest North tickets will go on sale on May 4 and is being organised by Brand Events. More details on the line up and activities are expected soon… so stay tuned to Peppermint.

Source: The Guardian

There are plenty of festivals offering free or low-cost lock up facilities for bikes and other valuables. These include Womad in Wiltshire, where you pay £1 per item and you’ll have to take your own lock and the Green Man festival in Glanusk Park, Powys, which offers something similar for free. Although there is no Glastonbury this year, last year’s festival offered “rewards” for those who arrived on a bike, including a free lock-up and allocated campsite just for cyclists. But if you’re planning to attend either Bestival or Latitude, then you can take things one step further and join an organised ride from various starting points all the way to the festival itself.

For those travelling to the Isle of Wight to attend Bestival (held this year between 6-9 September) the transport options usually involve coaches, cars, ferries and taxis. This year however there’s the Bike to Bestivalscheme. Starting in London on Tuesday, 4 September, Bike to Bestival will take in a section of the London 2012 Olympic Road Race route although you don’t have to be a professional to join. Organisers Dom and Warren say the feel of the ride will be “travelling band” and, if you can play anything at all (the triangle and the spoons do count), and you don’t mind fancy dress, then that is also welcome. “It’s not the Tour de France though as we want both novices and experienced riders to join in and have Great British fun and brandish true Bestival spirit. We’re also raising money for Cancer Research UK,” say the pair. (See theorganisers’ blog for more details.)

The cycle trip to Latitude is a little bit more official. Taking place on the first day of the festival, Thursday, 12 July, the rather grandly named,Tour de Latitude is a safe, hearty way of getting yourself to the festival at Henham Park, Southwold, on the Suffolk coast. Much like Bike-to-Bestival, this is open to all standards of rider and is about enjoying yourself, using your legs and having a clear eco-conscience. You can start your ride from three different points, either 113 miles from your destination, in Hackney, London (which will take an estimated 8-12 hours), or 55 miles away from Latitude in Sudbury, or just 35 miles away in Ipswich.

Cyclists’ baggage is transported separately and bikes will be stored securely upon arrival at the festival. With the whole route signposted and bike mechanics, cycle guides, emergency response on hand throughout, not to mention free food from Marks & Spencer, you shouldn’t have much to worry about much more than getting saddle sore and impressing any other cyclists you fancy. And, if you ever do want to return, Latitude will provide Tour de Latitude participants with heads too sore to cycle home with a bus ticket and bike transfer that’ll take you right back to where you started.

The cost of the whole thing is pretty reasonable considering all this support, with each participant being required to raise £350 to cover the cost of registration, support, logistics, a weekend festival ticket, a £60 donation to Kenyan Orphan Project and a £20 donation to Julie’s Bicycle. Online registration is now open at www.give2go.co.uk.

Chagstock Festival already boasts an impressive line up and have already secured KT TUNSTALL, ALABAMA 3 and SETH LAKEMAN for festival goers this summer along with a great supporting line up! If that wasn’t enough, Chagstock Festival excited to announce that the main headliners for Chagstock 2012 will be Fun Lovin’ Criminals. 

Peppermint witnessed the Criminals from our Bar at Bingley Live last year and they made for a very entertaining set, the crowd loved it. Chagstock Festival is also supporting WaterAid, one of Peppermint’s favourite organisations who we continue to work closely with. 

Whatsmore, if you had any doubts about Chagstock Festival then just remember that:

• Kids under 12 go free
• Day tickets available
• Free local transport schedule
• Theme is Kings, Queens & Knights of the Round Table
• Free Camping/Parking
• Beer supplied by Dartmoor Brewery

see website for more details & tickets

]]> http://www.peppermintbars.co.uk/news/fun-lovin-criminals-chagstock-festival/feed/ 0 http://www.peppermintbars.co.uk/news/glade-1-dance-festival-experience-uk/ http://www.peppermintbars.co.uk/news/glade-1-dance-festival-experience-uk/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:00:04 +0000 Ian http://www.peppermintbars.co.uk/news/?p=1495 With its woodland parties, burning stages, underfloor bass and a rabbit hole… Glade 2012 is set to inject some magic into the UK’s dance festival scene this summer.

Source: Skiddle

It seems as though UK music lovers have an almost unquenchable thirst for festivals.  Summer in Britain and Europe is now

synonymous with festival season; with every single weekend over the ‘summer’ months offering a boggling choice of outdoor mus
With so much choice on offer, festival organisers need to work hard to make their event stand out above the competition. And nowhere is this more evident than at Glade Festival; the eclectic dance electronic music festival spawned from the popular Glastonbury arena of the same name.ical gatherings big and small.

So much more than a music festival; Glade is a near religious experience of other-worldly fantasy thanks to the valuable input of the award winning Secret Productions team – the creative minds more commonly known for waving their magic wand over perhaps the UK’s most beautiful festival; The Secret Garden Party.

The Glade experience is one of beautiful countryside and beautiful beats, where you can party until dawn without disturbance and without a care in what feels like your very own enchanted Eden. Taking place in the rolling fields and woodland surrounding Houghton Hall, Glade Festival offers four days of quality underground electronic music across 14 individually designed arenas.

Buy a ticket to Glade Festival, and you’ll get four days’ access to a fantastical playground of sensory experiences, soundtracked by some of the biggest names in underground electronic music in the world.

If you want to work or volunteer at Glade, register at https://www.peppermintstaffing.co.uk

With things already shaping up to be an absolute belter for Camp Bestival’s fifth birthday this July 26-29, our festi-holiday feast of fun continues to grow with some exciting and exhilarating new additions to the bill. We’ve got even more musical joy to keep your hips swinging and toes tapping and a whole raft of inspirational action and amazingly erudite amusements to get your brains buzzing!

Rob da Bank says: “Word up Camp Bestivallers! Hope you dig the new additions as much as I do – Kitty Daisy and Lewis are practically family at Camp Bestival and are gonna rock (and roll) the main stage on Friday night. From Vintage Trouble to new folk heroes Skinny Lister and some great additions to the Arts Tent including Nile Rodgers being interviewed and Mathew Horne making us all laugh I’m getting more vibed up about Camp B than ever before!”

Massive favourites of the Camp Bestival crew, we are super-excited that Kitty, Daisy & Lewis will be making a very welcome return to Lulworth Castle. With their last album seeing them grow as song writers and gain them huge critical acclaim, we can wait to see the instrument swapping sibling trio in the Castle field again. Fresh from their stateside escapades folk shanty behemoth Skinny Lister will also be back for a foot-stomping sing-along. There will also be sets from the very hotly tipped Jamie N Commons, classic soulsters Vintage Trouble, rousing folk five-piece To Kill A King, acoustic troubadours Gecko, romantic story teller  L.A. Salami, must-see Mancunians The Slow Show, Country & Western sextet Police Dog Hogan, suburban cowboy Clint Westwood - the man with one name and Bournemouth noiseniks Vlad.

There’s going to be major mash-up excitement on the dancefloors too, as the mighty Nextmen will be on hand to get the party absolutely jumping with their brand of Reggae influenced hip-hop finery and those that can’t resist a sinewave will be pleased to know that there will be some extreme bass love from Breakage to wrap your lugholes around. There will also be rug cutting manoeuvres from uplifting skank merchants Reggae Roast, Bestival and Camp Bestival favourites and genre surfing party beasts Sombrero Sound System, Xfm’s new music maestro John Kennedy, Wang Dang Doodle top boys In Light Of Aquarius, old Camp Bestival friends, the incredible Mix It UP DJ Kru and south coast drum n bass lynchpin DJ Charge.

We are incredibly excited, about our jam-packed line-up, that’s set to keep the excitement levels on turbo charge over the weekend. However, here at Camp Bestival HQ, we know that you discerning lot are also very fond of flexing your mind muscles and so we are thrilled to be presenting the latest news from our fantastically diverse programme of talks, discussions and spoken word offerings.

LIVE MUSIC

Kitty Daisy & Lewis / Skinny Lister / Jamie N Commons / Vintage Trouble  / To Kill A King / Gecko /
L.A. Salami / The Slow Show / Police Dog Hogan / Clint Westwood – the man with one name / Vlad

DJs
The Nextmen / Breakage / Reggae Roast / Sombrero Sound System / John Kennedy /
In Light Of Aquarius / Mix It UP DJ Kru / DJ Charge

LIVE INTERVIEWS
Nile Rodgers Live In Person / Mathew Horne: How To Be A Bit Funny /
Stefan Gates: Cooking in the Danger Zone /
Professor Tanya Bryon: How To Parent Your Own Way /
Richard Reynolds: How to be a Guerrilla Gardner / Rhodri Marsden: Crap Dates Workshop

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS
RSA Discussion Panel: The Kids Are Alright: Aren’t They? / School of Life Talks /
Tate and the Great British Art Debate / Richard Strange: An Accent Waiting to Happen

SPOKEN WORD AND LITERATURE
Russell Kane reads from The Humourist
Paul Cree, Bridget Minamore, Indigo Williams, Anna Freeman (Satin Lizard Lounge Poets)

PLUS
Sounds Familiar Music Quiz / Rob da Bank’s Music Club / And Morris Dancers Galore!

As it’s all gone British this summer what the Queen having another Jubilee and some event called the Olympics, we’re celebrating some of our country’s folk traditions. So we’ve got some right properrr Morris Dancing Sides from the South Coast coming to join in the fun. Festus Derriman Morris Dancers, Wyvern Jubilee Morris Dancers, Anonymous Morris Dancers and Hobos Morris Dancers will be dancing and shaking their bells throughout the weekend anywhere and everywhere; you could even join in the fun after you’ve finished your bacon sarnie in the campsite…it’s going to be Great British!

Camp Bestival, 26th to 29th July 2012 – Lulworth Castle, Dorset

www.campbestival.net / facebook.com/campbestival / @campbestival

Following overwhelming demand from fans longing to see the Swedish megastar, the first release of tickets with complimentary after show passes have completely SOLD OUT! But fear not, for those party-goers a little slow out of the blocks, there is a lifeline. The second wave of tickets will be available from 10am GMT on Wednesday 18th April 2012, you’ll have to be quick off the mark to ensure you’re there! A VIP Package is £125 and general admission is £36 for the rest of the arena. Tickets will be available from http://www.aviciio2.com

As the very first time many Brits will have had the chance to see the 22-year old icon live in action, and with the insane shot to notoriety Avicii has experienced over the last 24 months with hits such as Levels,Fade Into Darkness and Seek Bromance – not to mention his recent performance alongside Madonna at Ultra Music Festival 2012 – it comes as no surprise that the first batch of tickets have gone in a flash.

 “I have to say I’m completely blown away by the response from my London fans” said Avicii after hearing the first wave of tickets had sold out. “I haven’t played there for two years so to come back with my first solo show and to have such an amazing start has been overwhelming.”

To add yet more excitement to the pot, fans can now watch the brand new official teaser video in preparation for June 4th. Take a look here..

Make sure Avicii at The O2 is part of your Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend!

Source: Hypebot

Jeff Tweedy and Wilco are playing a benefit concert for Massachusetts contemporary art museum MASS Moca this summer. But beyond the unusual venue and 1000 limit on admissions, Wilco fans are likely to be most excited how the band, the museum and concert promoter Alex Crothers of Higher Ground are pricing and distributing tickets.

Instead of the often frustrating method of awarding concert tickets to whomever breaks through an online or telephone queue – a practice that often favors scalpers – tickets for the concert are being sold through a unique combination of “Name your Own Price” auction and lottery.

“It’s an experiment, which we hope proves to be more civilized, more fair, and more fun than the standard mode of ticket sales,” said MASS MoCA Director Joseph Thompson, “and we hope it brings MASS MoCA the strong charitable support which is at the heart of this special evening.”

Only Two Ways To Get Tickets

The first 500 tickets will be sold to bidders who make the highest offers between 10 AM on Friday, April 13, and runs through 10 AM on Monday, April 16. To maximize their chances of getting tickets and support MASS MoCA,  bidders are urged to bid high.