It’s turning out to be a pretty good festival season, and the sun’s had his hat on for an uncharacteristic amount of time now. Let’s hope that lasts out until Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 July, when the glorious Riverside Festival takes place in Charlbury.
Now in its eighteenth year, Riverside this time have not only invited their own selection of Oxfordshire bands and musicians to play, but have also hooked up with Rapture Records (Witney) and Truck Store (Oxford) who will be programming a second stage. Carl Smithson, the main man behind the shops, said that “Riverside is the perfect fit and gives us the opportunity to bring some of our favourite acts from the diverse vibrant Oxford music scene to a festival that we all love”. Can’t argue with that!
Here’s how the line-ups look over the Riverside weekend:
Saturday 27 July – Main stage
- dB Band
- The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band
- Death Of Hifi
- Brickwork Lizards
- The Epstein
- Funktional Society
- The Byronics
- The Kites
Saturday 27 July – Second stage
- Empty White Circles
- Flights Of Helios
- Band Of Hope
- Bethany Weimers
- Sweet William
- Huck
- Jess Hall
- Welcome To Peepworld
- The August List
Sunday 28 July – Main stage
- Million Faces
- Swindlestock
- Tamara And The Martyrs
- The Dirty Royals
- The Mighty Redox
- Samuel Zasada
- Ioneye
- Flotsam Jets
Sunday 28 July – Second stage
- We Aeronauts
- Dreaming Spires
- Deer Chicago
- Dallas Don’t
- Nairobi
- Jordan O’Shea
- Grudle Bay
- Ags Connolly
The festival runs from midday to 10.00 pm on the Saturday and from 11.00 am to 8.00 pm on the Sunday.
As well as all of the above, there’s also the Fringe stage, which will have song and dance acts, performance poets, a contortionist and who knows what else. Mix in a bunch of activities for kids, lots of stalls and food’n’drink opportunities and – impressively – the fact that it’s still completely free to get in, and, well, what more do you want?
The Riverside Festival website is here.