Kicking off our Festival roundup is Camp Bestival. The perfect family orientated festival which has the childish ingredients that appeal to kids and grown-ups alike. This isn’t exclusively a family fest, but it does a excellent job of finding the balance. There’s a nice mix of mainstream headliners and more obscure finds, it looks like it will have something for everyone. The sheer diversity on offer at Camp Bestival makes it very hard to dislike.

In a stark contrast to the family fun weekend above, Ozora is a big trippy mess of a weekend, aimed at only hardcore Psychedelic tripsters! Expect to hear the resounding thud of techno basslines and the unrelenting warble of the Roland 303. You really need to have a single track mind for this event, as it’s not going to deviate from the script very far, there’s not a massive variety in musical genres. The first European festival to appear on this year’s list, this festival is based in Hungary, so you can treat it as an escape and incorporate a visit to nearby Budapest, that’s if you’re not still hallucinating from the festival!

From one extreme to another, sticking with single minded festivals for a moment, and definitely not one for the acid heads of Ozora. A proper assault on the senses nonetheless at Hell Fest! This place is going to be so full of leather tassels and bandanas you’ll think you’ve fallen onto the set of Spinal Tap, but we think that’s a good thing and that’s why this heavy metal and rock festival in France makes the grade for our very select list for 2025.

This is the first of our ‘festival… but not as you know it…’ as despite being called a festival, it’s more a collection of day events held at the iconic Crystal Palace Bowl in South London. This is perfect for city dwellers and those who prefer not to sweat it out in a tent. It’s a fairly eclectic mix of music over these events, which is no different to the day splits of previous years. You can read all about my review of last year’s event here. This year there are 10 nights, all with a different vibe. Highlights include, Basement Jaxx (new date added to sold out night) Morcheeba, Unkle, DJ Shadow, Busta Rhymes, Central Cee, Barrington Levy (TBC), Burning Spear (TBC), Sister Nancy (TBC), Tinlicker, Skepta, Flackstock (a celebration of Caroline Flack’s life), Mogwai and Lankum.

If you love Reggae, want to stay in the UK and hate camping, then this is the place to be. If you can be arsed to get on a plane or train, then Summerjam in Cologne in Germany would be another good option. Reggae Land is a bit of a confliction in my mind as it’s got a fantastic reggae, dub and dancehall line-up, but it all just feels very commercial, lacking a soul! This conflicts with what I would want in a reggae festival. Personally, I would prefer spending hours in the Bushrocker Hifi shack at Beat-Herder with Mickey Dread at the controls than the weekend staying in a shit hotel near the venue in Milton Keynes. But you can’t argue with the line-up they have put together.  Chronixx, Capleton, Spragga Benz, Morgan Heritage, Protoje, Kabaka Pyramid and Gyptian to name a few! It’s a ‘who’s who’ of Reggae and sound system culture! Mickey Dread and the Channel One crew are also here…

A selection of amazing artists, a sea view and Lisbon on the door-step, what’s not to love about this! 3 nights with a huge line-up make this a very compelling way to spend a few days in Portugal. Cheap flights and one of the best European cities to explore, plus a great line up, really do help make this one of the top 5 in our list! Expect a typically Portuguese laid back atmosphere and plenty to do before and after the main event. Artists include Olivia Rodrigo, Sam Fender, St Vincent, Muse (standing in for Kings of Lean who have pulled out of their tour) and Nine Inch Nails.

A very grown up festival for muso’s. If you like Jazz, funk and soul, this this will be right up your street. They have bagged some serious talent for this year’s Love Supreme Jazz Festival. Based down in East Sussex, you can see an array of amazing musicians including, The Roots, Nile Rogers & Chic, Smokey Robinson, Maxwell and Jacob Collier. With Womad off the cards this year, I think this is the best option for serious musical experiences.

We are so excited about Boomtown this year. It’s not been the smoothest ride for the last few years with a huge post-covid recalibration and total rethink of the site plan. Personally it got a bit congested with all the stages down in the dip at the bottom of the site. What made Boomtown so unique was it’s sheer scale and the distinctly different vibes in each area. Moving everything downtown was an essential part of the Boomtown reinvention as the build time and resources were becoming unsustainable, but it was at the detriment of some of what made the place so special.

Thankfully despite the changes, the creativity and otherworldiness still lives on and I’m really excited to see the evolution this year, I think it’s going to be a real treat!  The effort that the festival team puts into the untangible parts of the experience are really off the scale, and for sheer escapism, Boomtown is hard to beat! It’s the most bonkers of raves, but it’s pretty hardcore, so not for the feint-hearted.

The line up is totally bonkers with too many to list, with the A-Z of D&B (including Aphrodite B2B, LTJ Bukem & Dynamite MC, Roni Size, Brockie, General Levy, Flowdan and Goldie) Sean Paul, Sex Pistols, Boney M, Bashy, Kofi Stone , K.O.G, Stuzzi, Kojey Radical and The Wailers. A huge line-up, but you’d better be up for some Drum & Bass!

Beatherder 2024 was by far my favorite festival of the year, it was equally awesome when I went back in 2019. It’s a really lovely event with big stage headliners, woodland parties, a fort! and micro venues dotted around the site. It’s a festival which oozes positive vibes, and is just a great space to get lost in for a few days. There’s so much diversity across the stages, that whatever mood you’re in, you can be sure to find your tribe somewhere. I won’t go into too much detail as you can read my full review of Beat-Herder 2024 here. This year looks to be another corker with Armand Van Helden, Fabio & Grooverider and Hybrid Minds headlining each night.

 This just keeps going from strength to strength! This is a tiny event in comparison to some of the massive festivals on the list, but had to be crowned the TNT number 1 festival for 2025 for its evolution to this point. I went to the first Mucky Weekender, and have been a few times since, and it’s just such a great place to spend the weekend. It feels more like a private party than a festival and has the best vibes. This year, Barry (Dub Pistols frontman and festival organiser) has outdone himself with the line-up, it’s crammed full of amazing artists and has all the ingredients for one very messy weekend! If you can go to only one festival this year, then you can’t go very wrong with this one!