More than just the music

Despite predictions of the Olympics and the recession dampening the success of this summer’s music festivals, 2012 still sees an inundation of new and established events dominating every summer weekend – it almost seems like every spare field has something to offer in the summer months. The market for festivals offering more than just a pure musical experience is expanding, with comedy and drama tents being added and extended across almost all major festivals. Alternative events offering a varied and cultural experience as an equivalent, if not superior, to music have also begun to spring up over recent years.

Stepping away from the well publicised big names of this type of cultural-festival-experience, Bestival and Latitude, Vision gives a rundown of five less well-known festivals that offer much more than just music.

Blissfields – Winchester, Hampshire
Blissfields has been on the festival radar for some time yet its Sports Day and school-house style events offer a more collective atmosphere than other festivals. Offering a great middle ground, Blissfields places this, alongside craft stalls and a comedy stage, opposite an extensive DJ range and several up and coming music acts (Guillemots, Spector, Patrick Wolf). Straight out of week 10, it is also a bit friendlier to the bank balance, at £79.45, being less pricey than many festival weekends.

Lounge on the Farm –
Canterbury, Kent
Based on a working farm, Kent’s best offering to the cultural-festival scene has a brilliant range of comedy, spoken word and poetry, theatre and dance. The festival, on the 6-8th July, also promotes an extensive range of world food on offer which is, unfortunately, additional to the £111.50 weekend price tag. With The Charlatans, Emili Sande, Roots Manuva and the Mystery Jets playing alongside the varied attractions, music lovers and haters alike are sure to find something to occupy them at all times.
Øya – Oslo, Norway
European festivals are slowly becoming commonplace on the British youth’s summer timetable, but away from the bright lights of Benicàssim or the German Love Parade is Øya, a weekend festival on the 7-11th August in Oslo, Norway. Described as a boutique festival, the medieval park in which it is held, including 11th century ruins, was the original founding site of Norway’s capital itself. Whilst the festival does focus on music – The Stone Roses, Florence and the Machine, Bjork, Bon Iver, The Black Keys – the proximity to Oslo’s city centre and to a genuine fjord adds the cultural dynamic of a different sort. Weekend tickets are almost sold out but you can get day tickets for roughly £88.

Electric Picnic – County Laois, Ireland
A self-titled “multi-sensory experience”, Electric Picnic truly lives up to its description. With comedy, spoken word, workshops and art displays alongside a circus from 31st August – 2nd September, the event offers one of the most varied cultural-festival line-ups. If that wasn’t enough, the musical side of things looks promising with The Cure, The Killers, Ed Sheeran, The XX and Elbow (amongst many others) performing. Unfortunately all this varied festival goodness comes with a hefty £188 price tag (alongside flights) but regardless it remains my top pick for the ultimate all-round festival experience.

Wilderness – Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire
For this festival the clue is in the name. A “celebration of the arts and outdoors”, Wilderness really does embrace a very varied festival spirit with daytime events ranging from notable speakers, talks and debates (from astrophysics to a ‘Literary Death Match’) to outdoor sports, theatre productions and the creation of a floral boudoir. Music plays second fiddle to the evening events – extensive banquets and a Midnight Masked Ball sit alongside musical acts Rodrigo y Gabriela and Stornoway, amongst several others. The £119 + booking fee price for the 10-12th August weekend seems pretty fair for this escape to the outdoors.