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Six music festivals to check out this summer: From Croatian Boat Parties to the Sussex Downs

Gregory Stanley

2023-04-18

We write one of these Offie Mag music festival previews every year, often starting with an anecdote about tents or whatever.

And you would think that the format would get tired but, much like festivals themselves with their eat-sleep-cereal-bar-dance-repeat nature, it's a routine that ain't broke. We have whittled the list down to six music festivals this year, with a variety of different genres, price points and terrains accounted for.

Cross The Tracks (May 28th @ London)

Proudly taking the acclaim for London's number one jazz, funk and soul festival, this one-dayer has a line-up worthy of a full weekend.

Set in Brixton in the sprawling Brockwell Park that has hosted several classic one-day festivals before, you'll see rap and Hip-Hop acts such as Knxwledge & Anderson .Paak, The Kount and The Silhouettes Project on a bill with legends like Kelis and Roy Ayers. And Liv.e. Imagine.

The Great Escape (May 10th - 13th @ Brighton & Hove)

Offie Mag's love affair with The Great Escape festival has been going on for about five years ago. Giddy about having actually managed to get a magazine off to the printer, we ran around that festival wearing our press access lanyards like Olympic gold medals.

2022's edition saw us host an Offie Mag stage with the likes of BXKS, KAM-BU and Deema gracing it, and this year's festival will once again provide a platform for intriguing new artists. Sam Akpro, Louis Culture, Ashbeck and BINA. are some of the names on the bill for TGE 2023 and as the population of Brighton swells during the fest every year, you can expect all sorts to be happening in and around it's many, many venues.

Velvet Festival (June 29th - July 2nd @ Punat, Croatia)

As featured in ISSUE ELEVEN of our print magazine, this Croatian-hosted and, crucially, Croatian-run festival is a real gem.

Unlike the many UK-owned festivals that just pop-up on the idyllic Adriatic coast, Velvet is a festival that celebrates the likes of Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Italian underground music and more, harnessing the charm and culture of Punat, the island town that plays hosts. 

 

With just a handful of stages that provide DJ sets to soundtrack sunbathing, two boat party excursions and a main stage lit up by bands at night, it's a weekend-long community of music lovers who drive in from Zagreb, Ljubljana, Belgrade and more.

 

We Out Here Festival (August 10th - 14th @ Dorset)

The festival site is new and but you can expect more of the same from We Out Here Festival in 2023.

The previous editions have really felt like they have been curated by people who genuinely care about music and festival-going themselves, with carefully planned billing around the clock making it a good fit for families, ravers and everyone in-between.

We Out Here 2023 will celebrate 50 years of Hip-Hop with more rap acts than ever before (Black Star, Knucks, R.A.P Ferreira, Sarah Love) and more incredible legacy bookings like Cymande, Sister Nancy and Sun Ra Arkestra. All of that alongside contemporary jazz, experimental dance music in a forest and the not-to-be-missed Near Mint tent. 

 

Outbreak Festival (June 23rd - 25th @ Manchester)

Outbreak Festival is a post-punk and metal festival that, this year more than ever, is celebrating and showcasing how those worlds bleed into Hip-Hop and rap. 

MIKE, Earl Sweatshirt, Wiki, Lil Ugly Mane, Jeshi and Lord Apex are all on the line-up for a weekend at the 10,000 capacity, former railway station that is Depot Mayfield. With bands and rappers colliding on the bill, it's as ambitious and diverse a line-up as you are likely to find from a sizeable fest that has a strong DIY feel.

Love Supreme (June 30th - July 2nd, Sussex)

Last but not least is the allure of Sussex's rolling hills playing host to world class jazz and more.

Love Supreme is another festival with something for everyone. Late DJ sets, but also early-rising jazz bands and when it comes to headliners, names that attract lots of day-trippers and deservedly so. Little Simz is a headliner this year, as is Thundercat and the iconic Grace Jones.

Elsewhere on the bill, Binker Golding is not to be missed if you find yourself in the village of Glynde this June-July, soaking up a festival that is now in it's 10th year.