FESTIVAL fever has descended again, but mighty as the Notting Hill Carnival is, it certainly isn’t the only opportunity in the UK for great music, parades and a feel-good atmosphere. Take your pick from the forthcoming attractions offered all over the country, get out on to the streets and party.
Last year, more than half a million people visited the Mathew Street Festival in a newly resurgent Liverpool, and this year’s festival — the UK’s largest annual free city centre outdoor music event — should be just as successful. Running between Saturday and Monday, pop is the theme and musical acts will pay homage to the Beatles as well as pop’s spiritual birthplace, the city of Memphis. On Monday, the final day of the festival, the QE2 will sail down the Mersey (various venues, 0151-233 2008).
For that global carnival flavour, both Newcastle and Edinburgh are preparing their annual Mela Festivals — music and culture in an Asian key. The two-day event in Tyneside is this weekend, and as well as performances from Rahim Shah and Selim Choudhury, fashion freaks will be able to check out the latest looks from the designers of the future (Exhibition Park, 0191-211 6239). In Edinburgh, Scotland’s biggest “intercultural” event celebrates its tenth anniversary on Sept 5-6 with highlights including a performance by the Indian chart-topper Gunjan Singh, and even a special Mela marching band comprising two bagpipers, two trombonists and a dhol player (various venues, 0131-557 1400).
At the other end of the country, September begins with what claims to be England’s oldest carnival, the Ryde Illuminated Carnival on the Isle of Wight. Alongside three carnival parades, the island’s samba bands are heading to Appley Beach to try to break the world record for a synchronised world performance. Can we beat the Jamaicans? Find out on the final day of events (Sept 1, 2, 4 and 5, various venues, 01983 616362).
For a more “alternative” experience, one that is more about the music and less about the sequins, head to West Sussex, where this year’s Rox at the Rocks festival is taking place for the first time at Bognor Regis Town football stadium. The festival is committed to supporting local artists but the sounds will include an 11-piece African band, as well as reggae, rock and salsa (Sept 5, 01243 863769).
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In Birmingham, reggae gets a more comprehensive look-in with Reggae Rockz. The event on Sept 12 includes an exhibition by Vanley Burke, who has documented the city’s Afro-Carribean community, and a concert with homegrown talent such as Pato Banton, the Specials’ Neville Staple and Dennis Seaton from Musical Youth — perhaps best known for being the children’s band that made a hymn to weed smoking sound like a groovy nursery rhyme (Centenary Square, outside Symphony Hall, 0121-685 2605).
Reggae fans can also look forward to Reggae in the Park, London’s first outdoor reggae festival. An impressive line-up includes the former Wailer Marcia Griffiths, Sizzla Kalonji, Freddie McGregor and the “cool ruler” Gregory Isaacs (Sept 5, Victoria Park, E3, 0870 145 1144).
Finally, in a more populist vein for the Bank Holiday weekend, there is something for everyone at Leicester’s four-day Castle Park Festival, which takes in pretty much anything from ghost hunts to pub crawls, historical re-enactments to a gig by the 1980s pop icon Marc Almond (Friday to Monday, 0116-253 2569).
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Good Times roll: read our interview with Norman Jay in tomorrow’s arts pages