These are the Top 30 UK events in July 2018
Flux Day & Night, Cocoon In The Park, Farr Festival, Sequences, Nozstock and Shine says goodbye to Mandela Hall...
Britain is in the midst of its best summer in years, so thankfully the Top 30 UK events in July 2018 afford plenty of opportunities to soak up those rays.
The 10th anniversary of Leeds institution Cocoon In The Park deserves some sunshine, the Papa Sven Väth leads an all-star cast including Craig Richards b2b Seth Troxler. Sticking in the North, Beat-Herder is also back, a soirée that has gone from grass roots rave to mammoth, otherworldly escape where exceptional production and design come as standard.
It's not all about main stages, though. The Hills Have Vibes in Derbyshire is one of the UK's intimate bashes, and has a long list of talented homegrown selectors booked for the weekend. And Farr Festival— which has now grown into a beloved mid-sized annual fixture— is also coming up, the crew promising improved sound levels this year. Then you have the multi-faceted and award-winning Nozstock turning 20, infamous manor house rave Freerotation and some of Glasgow's finest resident spinners playing beneath their city's sky at The Outer Circle.
Flux Day & Night at Studio 338 wins for London's clubs, but it was a close call as Egg hosts the mighty R&S Records, with Maceo Plex headlining under his rarely-seen-out Mariel Ito moniker and label founder Renaat Vandepapeliere also involved. Death In Vegas should be more than familiar to those favouring wall of sound, grunge-tinged, darkroom live business— catch them at Hangar, again in London, and be sure to hit up the afters, too; main man Richard Fearless' selections never fail to impress and he's playing.
There's also the Hivern Discs-focussed night at E1, John Talabot in with imprint signee Cleveland and decade-spanning Dutch master I-F— those after immersive feet-focussed stuff should get involved. Elsewhere in the country, one of DJ Mag's favourite live acts, Saytek, is on for free at Maidstone's Social Chill Bar with Chicago legend Paul Johnson, and Chris Liebing, who just announced an experimental album complete with Gary Newman collab, touches down at Vaults in Cardiff no-doubt with typically tough techno in tow.
You also need to note that Belfast big guns Shine have their last ever Mandela Hall party, the curtain falling on an era of clubbing in Northern Ireland. Not forgetting what's happening in Edinburgh, where rising star Telfort has his own hometown soiree planned with Smallville's Smallpeople— expect solid, deep fours at that one. Finally, and also in the Scottish capital, Hilltown Disco & Palidrone will be bringing electro mayhem via Cultivated Electronics boss Sync 24.
You'll find more complete listings in the latest copy of DJ Mag— July 2018, Issue 583.
LONDON
1. FLUX DAY & NIGHT TERRACE PARTY
SATURDAY 21ST JULY
STUDIO 338
Studio 338 may have re-opened in October following a devastating fire the year earlier, but now summer has properly hit the terrace is set to come into its own. Jennifer Cardini, Konstantin Sibold, San Soda, Efdemin, Alex.Do, Voyeur and more soundtrack 18 non-stop hours of dancing material, from fresh house stompers to rolling techno.
2PM - 6AM / £12 - £20
2. R&S RECORDS
SATURDAY 21ST JULY
EGG
Mariel Ito, Renaat Vandepapeliere, Evigt Morker, Ada Kaleh, G-Prod.
11PM - 8AM / £10 - £20
3. PERCOLATE PRESENTS DEATH IN VEGAS
FRIDAY 27TH JULY
HANGAR
Death In Vegas, Richard Fearless.
8PM - 3AM / £23 (inc. after party)
4. 31 RECORDINGS PRESENTS FUTURE #6
FRIDAY 6TH JULY
LIGHTBOX
Doc Scott, Blocks & Escher, Loxy, Om Unit, DRS, GQ.
11PM - 6.30AM / £11
5. E1
FRIDAY 6TH JULY
E1
John Talabot, Cleveland, I-F.
10PM - 6AM / £15
NORTH
1. COCOON IN THE PARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY
SATURDAY 14TH JULY
TEMPLE NEWSHAM, LEEDS
Refreshingly simple would be one way to describe this annual blow-out; one day, one stage, top-drawer selectors. Papa Sven leads the bill, then you also get the full Apollonia crew, Seth Troxler and Craig Richards b2b, Tale of Us, Enzo Siragusa with Archie Hamilton and Rossko (FUSE LDN in the house, or rather park), plus northern bosses Annie Errez and Bobby O’Donnell.
10AM - 11PM / £50 - £60
2. BEAT-HERDER
FRIDAY 13TH JULY - SUNDAY 15TH JULY
RIBBLE VALLEY, LANCASHIRE
Orbital, Soulwax, Lindstrom, Horse Meat Disco, High Constrast, Patrick Topping, Denis Sulta, Erol Alkan, Ben Sims, James Ruskin.
12PM - 12AM / £150
3. THE HILLS HAVE VIBES
FRIDAY 13TH- MONDAY 16TH JULY
TBC, DERBYSHIRE
Brawther, Mark XTC, Crazy P, East End Dubs, Rikki Humphrey, Blasha & Allatt, Lopaski, Werkha.
4PM - 4AM / £42.50
4. M:OPENAIR
SATURDAY 14TH JULY
CONSTELLATIONS (Day) / HANGAR34 (Night), LIVERPOOL
Sonja Moonear B2B Voigtmann.
2PM - 4AM / £15 - £20
5. THE SYMPHONIC SOUND OF BACK TO BASICS
FRIDAY 27TH JULY
MILLENNIUM SQUARE, LEEDS
Utah Saints, Alison Limerick, Robert Owens, Shades of Rhythm.
6PM - 10.30PM / £32.50
SOUTH
1. FARR FESTIVAL
THURSDAY 5TH - SUNDAY 8TH JULY
BYGRAVE WOODS, HERFTORDSHIRE
One of the UK’s aesthetically impressive weekenders promises significant improvements to sound levels in 2018. That’s good, because this year is easily the event’s strongest line-up to date: Mount Kimbie, Daphni, Moodymann, Zip, DVS1, Antal, Optimo, Mr G, Lena Willikens, Call Super, Or:la, Shanti Celeste, Galcher Lustwerk, Zenker Brothers and Joey Anderson, amongst others.
1PM - 11PM / £125
2. CUBE
SATURDAY 7TH JULY
SOCIAL CHILL BAR, MAIDSTONE
Saytek, Paul Johnson.
8PM - 4AM / FREE
3. SOLID GROOVES PARTY
SATURDAY 28TH JULY
THE SOURCE, MAIDSTONE
Cuartero, Dennis Cruz, Pawsa, Michael Bibi, Franz Costa, ANOTR, more.
3PM - 6AM / £TBC
4. THE VICAR'S PICNIC
FRIDAY 20TH & SATURDAY 21ST JULY
THE LEES, YALDING
Norman Jay, Crazy P, Nightmares On Wax, PBR Streetgang, Mr. Doris.
12PM - 12AM / £65 - £115
5. PARISH
SATURDAY 7TH JULY
THE WESTWICK, NORWICH
Vialli, Thomas Woodruff, Skanking Gently Crew.
9PM - 3AM / £5
WEST & WALES
1. SEQUENCES FESTIVAL
SATURDAY 21ST JULY
AVON STREET, BRISTOL
Now in its third year, Sequences means heavy lows— from grime to jungle and dnb— for more than ten hours. MIST, Noisia, Mala, Commodo, Ivy Lab, Sam Binga, Chimpo, Sir Spyro and Kasra are amongst the big names coming down, with systems from the likes of Mungo’s HiFi and VOID. No prizes for guessing how this one will play out then.
12PM - 10.30PM / £30
2. FUSE OPEN AIR DAY PARTY
SATURDAY 7TH JULY
MOTION, BRISTOL
Enzo Siragusa, Archie Hamilton, Seb Zito.
12PM - 10PM / £7.50 - £17.50
3. FBWL x CONSTANT CIRCLES
SATURDAY 14TH JULY
THE BLUE MOUNTAIN, BRISTOL
Just Her, Jay Ahmed, Worse 4 Wear, Joe Derobe.
2PM - 9PM / £6 - £10
4. VAULTS
FRIDAY 20TH JULY
VAULTS, CARDIFF
Chris Liebing, Julez Wyl, Blake Parker, Argy, more.
9PM - 5AM / £18.50
5. FREEROTATION
FRIDAY 6TH - MONDAY 9TH JULY
BASKERVILLE HALLS, HAY-ON-WYE
DJ Python, Bruce, Mathew Jonson, DjRUM, Circle of Live, more.
12PM - 12AM / £134
MIDLANDS
1. NOZSTOCK THE HIDDEN VALLEY
FRIDAY 20TH - SUNDAY 22ND JULY
BROMYARD, HEREFORDSHIRE
Regularly ranked amongst the UK’s best kept festival secrets, Nozstock celebrates a staggering 20 years of woodland action in 2018. A significant dnb contingency mark the occasion— Chase & Status, Dillinja, Randall, S.P.Y., DJ Marky, Black Sun Empire, Ant TC1— with Grandmaster Flash, Sonny Wharton, Taskforce and DJ Mag’s own Bunker also on-site.
12PM - 12AM / £115
2. ROTATION GARDEN PARTY
SATURDAY 21ST JULY
BISHTON HALL, STAFFORD
Bill Brewster, Emperor Machine, Mind Fair.
2PM - 12AM / £12.50
3. THE MOVE
SATURDAY 28TH JULY
THE SUGARMILL, STOKE-ON-TRENT
Claude Von Stroke.
9PM - 4AM / £15
4. SOUL FUSION OUTDOOR TERRACE PARTY
SATURDAY 7TH JULY
LAB11, BIRMINGHAM
Souldynamic, Booker T, Sean McCabe, Sy Sez.
8PM - 6AM / £17.50 - £20
5. CITY FLY RECORDS
SATURDAY 7TH JULY
SUB8TEN, LEICESTER
Seelie.
12AM - 6AM / £5
SCOTLAND / NORTHERN IRELAND
1. ONE MORE TIME - THE FINAL MANDELA HALL SHINE
SATURDAY 28TH JULY
SHINE, BELFAST
All great things must end, especially when the old place is about to get levelled and redeveloped. Shine kisses goodbye to its longstanding HQ— Mandela Hall— with Annie Mac, who went to university here, Heidi, Jasper James, Space Dimension Controller, Phil Kieran, Psycatron, Schmutz, Swoose & Cromby. It’s been a massive, messy pleasure.
9.30PM - 3AM / £27.50
2. TELFORT'S GOOD PLACE
FRIDAY 20TH JULY
SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH
Telfort, Smallpeople.
11PM - 3AM / £5
3. HILLTOWN DISCO AND PALIDRONE
FRIDAY 6TH JULY
THE MASH HOUSE, EDINBURGH
Sync 24.
10PM - 3AM / £5
4. THE OUTER CIRCLE ALL DAY TERRACE PARTY
SATURDAY 14TH JULY
THE COURTYARD, GLASGOW
Craig Hamilton, Gourley, Lo.pass.
2PM - 7AM / £8 (inc. after party)
5. THE BLACK BOX
FRIDAY 6TH JULY
THE BLACK BOX, BELFAST
Leon Vynehall.
10PM - 3AM / £4- £5
Martin Guttridge-Hewitt is DJ Mag's Clubs Listings Editor. If you think he should know better drop a line via Twitter.
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