Are you seeking opportunities to gig locally over the summer?
There are many festivals you can play in and around Southampton. As well as the city’s own gatherings, there’s plenty happening across Hampshire and Dorset, within an easy commute. And with outdoor events restarting in 2021, it’s time to get your slot booked.
In this article, we’ll list the festivals you should be targeting both this year and next.
Festivals you can play in and around Southampton
You may already be familiar with Southampton’s exciting gig scene and music opportunities. Venues like The Joiners and The Concorde Club have hosted some legendary gigs. But what are the options if you want to play at a festival close to home?
Southampton music festivals
Keep your gigs uber local and apply to festivals you can play at in and around Southampton…
Music in the City Festival
Southampton’s biggest free festival is now in its 13th successful year. Spread over 22 venues across the city, featuring local artists performing every genre of music, it highlights music in unusual venues. In addition to shopping malls, coffee shops, pubs and clubs, bands and singers are given the rare opportunity to play in the historic underground Vaults, church courtyards and Guildhall Square. Rock bands, marching bands, folk singers, classical and musical theatre, bagpipes, drummers, solo singers and choirs, involving over 1,000 people, the festival gives artists and musicians from all backgrounds and ages the chance to showcase talents and entertain the public.
Netley Music Festival
This is a small music event provided for serving or retired emergency services staff, including police, fire, ambulance, NHS, coastguard, and partner agencies and friends and families. It has grown from an audience of 100 in its first years to over 1,000 festival-goers. With music to suit every taste, there are regular returning favourite acts but also new ones each year. Held on the grounds of Victoria House, Hamble, the Netley Music Festival is organised and run by Whiteley PA Hire and Events.
Breakout Festival
Celebrating the grand reopening of River Studios with the first music festival out of lockdown. The studio now has an alcohol licence and a brand new outdoor stage.
Friday 16th April 6-10pm
Jonny Moody | Jack Williams | Wren
Saturday 17th April 4-10pm
Ben Dlugokecki | Tom Bryan | Electric Eden
Friday 30th April 6-10pm
March | Fugitive Orchestra | Ricky Tart
Saturday 1st May 4-10pm
Amba Tremain & Band | Steve Lowis
This is an outside event with limited tickets available. Tickets will be sold in groups of 6, maximum capacity 60 people. Table service all in line with Government restrictions.
Early bird tickets are £10 each and can be purchased here.
Hampshire music festivals
Isle of Wight Festival
It may be an island, but the Isle of Wight is actually part of Hampshire and just a ferry or catamaran ride away from Southampton’s waterfront. The Isle of Wight Festival is a great place for new bands who are featured on The Feeling stage, among others.
Gosport Waterfront Community Festival
Open to both professional and amateur performers, this is a three day weekend of fun and music. Gosport Waterfront Festival returns in July/August 2021. With top-class main acts and the best of the local music scene, the purpose of the festival is to put on a great event raising money to give support to the local arts community.
New Forest Folk Festival
Located at Plaitford near Romsey, on the edge of the New Forest, the five-day folk festival takes place in July (re-commencing in 2021), featuring many local performers on the main stage and the Fringe. A great opportunity for fans of folk music, this is a family-run festival with home-cooked food, camping, caravans and children’s entertainment.
New Forest Fairy Festival
This New Forest Festival incorporates live acoustic music, bands, storytelling, workshops and activities. In the lovely surroundings of the forest, surrounded by oak trees and woodland creatures, visitors are invited to dress in fairy and elf costumes to enhance the magic. Held in Burley Park, Hampshire, this is a festival with a difference, including a fairy dance school, a circus workshop and Queen of the Unicorn. And where else would you find a fairy dog show? There are interactive walk rounds, puppet theatre, acoustic lounge and main stage.
Alresford Watercress Festival
For the first time, this will take place as a virtual festival with live-streamed content including a socially distanced watercress eating competition. The festival will return to the streets of Alresford in 2022, with music and bands to entertain in a street cavalcade.
Lee Victory Festival
One of the largest community celebrations in Hampshire helping to commemorate the 76th anniversary of VE and VJ days, the event was originally planned for the 75th anniversary in 2020 but like many other events had to be postponed. This 1940s themed event will be held in Lee on the Solent, Hampshire, overlooking the Solent, from 24th-26th September 2021. Music throughout the eras will be performed, from the 1940s to today’s, with a huge variety and line up of artists, most of them local. Events will include a themed High Street, a parade of veterans, church service, and a full-size Hawker Hurricane replica.
Festivals 2021 UK
If you’re happy to travel just slightly further afield, here’s some more you can try…
Wickham Festival
This has four stages and is great for emerging artists. Planned for August 2021, this is a family-friendly festival with great live music. The line up includes some big names as well as newer up and coming artists. The four-day music and arts festival is held every August in a beautiful rural location near the village of Wickham in Hampshire. Previous performers have included Level 42, The Proclaimers, Judy Collins, K-Passa, James Blunt and Lindisfarne. Young local singers are also featured and supported.
Arch Revival 2021
Four days of music and dancing in mid to late summer featuring many popular local singers and bands at Sturminster Marshall. The family-friendly event offers kids yoga, silent discos, fairground and bouncy castles, paddle boarding and 32 live bands.
Related Questions
Are there any music festivals in 2021?
Yes. Things are looking much more positive for this year than last. With social distancing due to end as we near July, there’s still ample opportunity for summer events and more into the autumn. Even before this, smaller outdoor festivals will start to resume with restrictions.
What’s the best English music festival?
Glastonbury is of course the biggest name on the calendar. However, it doesn’t take place every single year. Latitude, Isle of Wight, Reading, TRNSMT and Leeds are also huge. If you want to play at one though, you’re better off aiming for a small, local one at first.