We know you lot like your festivals so as the Western Eye team are also avid festival goers, we thought we should showcase some of the best local, national, and international festivals taking place this summer. We also have a handy festival survival guide and the chance to win tickets to some of the best festivals so what are you waiting for?! Start reading....  Beach Break LiveBeach Break Live offers students the experience of a summer festival, without the ever extortionate price tag. As I arrived last year, I wasgreeted with beautiful scenery, afun-fuelled atmosphere and a 5minute walk to the beach; not tomention a great line up to lookforward to.You may think that due tothe cheaper ticket price, theorganisers would cut back on thequality of acts but I can assureyou this is definitely not the case!
They ensure the acts that play are the acts that students want to swig their cider and shake their hips too – last year I was treated to Does It Offend You, Yeah?, The Wombats, The Cribs, Mr Scruff and Scratch Perverts. When the music’s over, there’s plenty to do including a star gazing tower and a barn filled with folk songs and hay seating that make you want to dosie-doe ‘til the cows come home. The Food and drink on offer ranges from corn on the cob to Chinese and tiger beer to Brother’s fruity delights and what’s more, at reasonable prices.
A great festival on a budget; full of sun, sea, sand and bands!
16-19th June / North Cornwall / £84
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 BenicassimFor many, the oversized beach party that is Benicassim sounds like the perfect festival. What’s more, you get a weekscamping included in the ticket!
This year they’ve even managed to get some massive bands playing with four nights of music including Oasis & Kings of Leon. Music is played throughout the night, so days are reserved for sleep, wherever you’re staying. Benicassim looks to be one of the summer’s top festivals.
16th - 19th July / Benicassim, Spain / £160
 BestfestBESTFEST is now in its 3rd year and is now the biggest multi genre music festival in Romania. The festival has three stages ofmusic (two open air stages andone tent stage) and also includesa VIP Hospitality Village, games& entertainment area, food &drinks area and chill-out andlounge areas with special greenand beach zones. Perfect tocombine with a city break, with36 degree weather to boot!
Acts include Franz Ferdinand,The Killers & Orbital.
1st - 5th July / Romexpo, Burcharest / £57 - £62
 The Big Chill…And so the Big Chill returns again to the blissful valley of Eastnor Deer Park for another year of diverse music and easy family-friendly vibes. With performances in recent years from Richie Havens and Leonard Cohen it was inevitable that someone of the stature of former Talking Head David Bryne would head this year’s bill. It’s not just cocktails and picnic hampers, though, as last year’s bigger club tent got a line up to justify it: Flying Lotus, Roots Manuva, Luke Vibert all made an appearance. Here’s hoping for no further increase to the capacity and a beefier system to satisfy these ears that have suffered another year of abuse since last August.
7th-9th August / Eastnor Park, Herefordshire / £145
 BloomThe 3rd Bloom Festival sees the curators taking the fun to a new site. Their emphasis on a laid-back, queue-free atmosphere means that this is a world away from many of the Festival’s bigger sisters.
That’s not to say just because tickets are only £75 that there’s any shortage of musical goodness on the line up : London audiovisual duo EtchaSketch come highly recommended, and more recognizable dance acts Chase & Status as well as the legendary Altern8 will be a relief to those who just need a dance. With the drive from Bristol not being long at all, Bloom is a real option for those who want a new and more mellowed out Festival experience.
8-10th August / West Littleton Down, Gloucestershire / £75
 CornburyThe UK’s ‘most beautiful boutique festival’ in now in its 6th year and is set deep in the countryside of the Cotswolds. Cornbury brings together all the best bits of the country; markets, local produce, lush surroundings and, er, Morris dancing, and sprinkles it with a health dose of rock and pop.
Acts lined up to perform this year include Scouting for Girls, Sugababes, I Am Kloot and the Magic Numbers. Classic, ‘where have you been?’ acts also on the bill include Dodgy and The Pretenders, fronted by the legendary Chrissie Hynde.
Over 70s get in for free so why not take your gran and the rest of the family along?
11th - 12th July / Cornbury Park Estate, Charlbury / Weekend pass £110 / Day pass £55
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 DourDour became the first Belgian festival to offer several stages and a camping site, gaining international acclaim. This year, it’s Dour’s 21stanniversary and to celebratethey’ve got a stellar line upincluding Animal Collective, PetShop Boys and Santigold.Claiming to be the ‘musicfestival for music lovers’ it sure isgoing to be one hell of a party.
16th - 19th June / Belgium / Day pass 40 euros / 3 day pass 85 euros
.jpg) Exit2009 is the year EXIT Festival celebrates its 10th Anniversary! With a massive 25 stages, thefestival will play host to a rangeof acts including Prodigy, ArcticMonkeys and even an appearanceby Korn.
The Dance Arena will welcome back some of the most popular DJ’s to date.
With it’s unique 18th Century fortress location and electrifying atmosphere, the biggest music festival in South East Europe is not to be missed!
9th - 12th July / Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia / £72
 FestibellyA relative newcomer to the festival circuit, Festibelly returns for a second year to Lymington, a stones throw away from the south coast. This one day festival is a great way to spend the weekend as it offers free camping, a capacity of only 1000 and apparently some of the cleanest toilets of the summer festivals. Nominated for Best Small Festival for 2008, Festibelly was started by students from Bristol and this is reflected not only in the cheap ticket price (£25) but also the chilled out atmosphere on site.
Musical acts this year include ‘folktronica’ wizard James Yuill, Man Like Me, The Operators and nine-piece brass band Brassroots. Aside from all the amazing musical acts festival goers will also be treated to a DIY tie-dye stall, urban art battle and plenty of yummy food stalls.
29th August / Undershore, Lymington / £25!
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 Festival of NatureThe Bristol Festival of Nature returns with an even better programme this year. In association with theBristol Natural HistoryConsortium, you’ll have achance to experience, enjoyand connect to the naturalworld – and all completely freeof charge.
There will be the Darwin Now exhibition on show, as well as loads of hands on activities - including a huge ‘Alice in Wonderland’ tent!
6th - 7th June / Bristol Harbourside / Free!
 GladeWith the apocalyptic mud of 2007 firmly forgotten about, last year saw Glade return to their old well executed ways. Underworld, Booka Shadeand Squarepusher headline thisyear, with the bulk of the line upelsewhere still to be announced.
The festival has relocated which means hopefully the music won’t be stopping at 8pm on the Sunday
as it did last year. Techno legend Carl Craig sits alongside Canadian mentalist Venetian Snares, whom is a surprise addition after the aforementioned year of atrocious weather saw him throw his toys out of the pram and finish his set prematurely. Someone have a word!
16th-19th July / Secret Location / £125
 Global GatheringLong Marston Airfield won’t know what’s hit it when god knows how many ravers set up camp for just a few intense nights of wall-to-wall dance music.
It’s undoubtedly the line up that attracts most people for this one - and where to start – massive names such as Prodigy, Orbital, and Carl Cox sit shoulder to shoulder with the dance innovators of this generation: Richie Hawtin, Dub Fire, and Digitalism. Further down the bill, radio one DJ Mary Ann Hobbs, Caspa and Hatcha bring some dub flavours to a musical policy which is otherwise about big dance floor tunes equally at home on the radio .
24-25th July / Stratford Upon Avon / £115
 Green ManGreen Man Festival has always straddled the lines between straight folk festival and psyched-out fairytale experience. Last year’s rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of the fields which nestled in between the rolling countryside of the Brecon Beacons. Green Man’s surroundings cannot be understated - all cobblestone castles and botanic gardens, lakes and lawns, surely one of the most pretty festivals in Europe - and with a mellow, mature crowd to boot. That’s not to say hedonistic times weren’t had in the dance tent in between performances from the psychedelic Black Mountain and the native Super Furry Animals - all this at one of the UK’s most unique and beautiful festivals.
21st-23rd August /Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons / £125
 LattitudeThe seaside town of Southwold will again play host to this year’s Latitude Festival which seeks to broaden the performances on show. It’s not just music but theatre, film, poetry and comedy whichtakes the lime light.
Though the headliners Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones and
Nick Cave have all made recent comebacks (OK, Nick Cave never really went away), the music on show elsewhere suggests this isn’t all just throwback acts for the sake of it. Editors, Doves, and Newton Faulkner head up the folk-indierock tip, whilst Spiritualized and Gossip might up the ante a bit.
16-19th July / Southwold, Suffolk / £150
 SonarBased in the beautiful and historic region of Catalonia, Barcelona plays host to one of the world’s most exciting and innovative electronic music festivals Sonar. The daytime exhibitions focus on the eclectic and chilled, whilst the night time events showcase some of the biggest acts on the planet. Confirmed acts include; the recently reformed Mancunian legends of electronica Orbital, Portuguese baile group Buraka Som Sistema and techno originator |Carl Craig.
18th - 20th June / Catalonia, Barcelona / 3 day pass £140 / Day pass £33 / Night pass £51
.jpg){kind=logo} SpiritBack in 2008, SPIRIT of Burgas became the first event of its kind in the country, taking place on the beautiful Black Sea coast. Making it as picturesque aspossible, the festival takes placeon the city’s central beach. What’smore, it features top local andinternational artists, covering allgenres of music on a total of fivestages.
With an estimated temperature of 30 degrees and beer at only £1, it seems the perfect place to be. Sun, Sea and Rock & Roll? What more can you ask for!
14 - 16th August / Bulgaria / £45- £50 3 day / £15 - £20 1 day
 Summer BreakAs Europe’s largest gathering staged exclusively for students, Summer Break is like a package holiday gone wild. Offering afternoon raves,surfing lessons and fancydress frivolities followed by DJsets from top acts includingPendulum. Comfy caravanaccommodation will nurse youthrough your hangover.
Wk 1: June 1-5 / Wk 2: June 7-11 / Wk 3: June 14-18 / Wk 4: June 21-25 / Newquay / £59
WIN! 2 PAIRS OF SUMMER BREAK TICKETS TO GIVEAWAY!  WomadIt’s been a while since Womad relocated from their Rivermead site in Reading, and since then festivals around the world have been run under the same banner – this year Spain and Abu Dhabi get their own tastes of the world’s premier world music festival.
The line up has taken some noticeable strides too with the addition of Fat Freddy’s Drop as one of the headline acts, and with Mad Professor and Ethiopian legends Ethiopiques elsewhere on the bill this promises to be a special weekend.
Most interestingly of all, though, Bristol legend Rob Smith - of Smith & Mighty – will be playing under his modern-day moniker RSD – a name with which his bass-heavy 12” releases include C&D editor Marcus’s favourite Pretty BrightLight. Representing yet another side of music’s many genres, Rob’s appearance on the line up goes to show just how forward thinking and eclectic Womad is.
24-26th July / Malmesbury,Wiltshire / £125
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