2018 was one of the hottest and driest years in living memory, any coincidence that Glastonbury was having a year off?
It was a stellar year for music festivals, with some great line-ups, and fun filled days.
PDSA PETLIFE FESTIVAL – CHELTENHAM 
PDSA Petlife Festival kicked off the 2018 season for us with, a festival in a day at Cheltenham Racecourse where the pets were the main guests, this must be the only festival that boasts a diving pool for your pooch. 
Music came from amongst others The Vamps, Jessie J and The Kaiser Chiefs.
This was the first year for this event, hopefully it will be back next year.
BEARDED THEORY SPRING GATHERING FESTIVAL
A few weeks later and its off to Derbyshire’s Catton Hall for the Fake Beard wearing World Record holding, 3-day shindig AKA Bearded Theory-Spring Gathering.
Bearded is an independent festival that has been expanding yearly since 2008, it’s line-up is always diverse but great mixing punk, folk, rock and indie bands over several stages, this year was no exception with headline sets from Blossoms, Robert Plant and Jimmy Cliff.
The undercard performances from, amongst others, The Coral, Sleeper, Sleaford Mods, Fun Loving Criminals, Jake Bugg and one of this years best discoveries Bosnian avant-garde dub rock group Dubioza kolektiv.
ABOVE AND BELOW: Jake Bugg entertains on the main stage and The Barsteward Sons of Val Doonican entertain the capacity crowd on the Forest Stage
On Sunday’s the annual Mass Fake Beard count takes place to try and up their official World Record for most fake beards gathered in one place, always a great crowd pleaser !!!!
A COLOURFUL DAY AT THE MIGHTY HOOPLA
Brockwell Park, Lambeth, London was home to this Sink The Pink run Mighty Hoopla Festival who’s line up was shamelessly unabashed and flamboyant
Acts included Lily Allen, Melanie C, Nadine Coyle, a very stroppy MNEK, Louise Redknapp and a very rare UK performance from US bad girls band TLC, who’s headline act probably have been taken by either Lily Allen or Spice Girl’s Melanie C, both who’s acts were far more greatly received by the mainly LGBT crowds .
A great day out for all and with a line-up like this one , the organisers are going to struggle to better in 2019, I hope they are up to the challenge and manage to throw the biggest LGBT party in London.
TRNSMT FESTIVAL – QUEEN AND ADAM LAMBERT TRIUMPH
With T in the Park now replaced with TRNSMT Festival spaced out over two weekends, we could only manage the one day to travel up to Glasgow to try out this festival, having studied the line-ups we decided on the Friday 6 July.
I have to say I am sure the other 4 days were probably great, but with a line-up that included festival favourites The Darkness, Alabama 3 AND Glasgow’s own band Texas all followed by the mighty Queen and Adam Lambert must have been a highlight .
We arrived late and caught the tail end of The Darkness’s set with Justin Hawkins being his usual crowd friendly frontman joking with the crowds between songs, jumping around on stage during the guitar rift strong hits .
Next up were the acid house country blues pumping Alabama 3, who soon had the crowd moving and singing to their by now well known festival set. The only negative point to the early part of this festival was the “Golden Circle” area in front of the main stage, 
which was vast and until Queen later took to the stage was pretty empty, causing many of the “general admission” ticket holders to complain about lack of stage view. 
By the time Sharleen Spiteri came on the stage with her fellow Glaswegian band Texas, the VIP area had started to fill and Sharleen soon had the crowds in fits of laughter and cheers as she recounted tales between her hit filled set, I had forgotten how many hits the band had had .. Closing the set with an extremely enjoyable rendition of “Suspicious Minds”, Texas leave the crowd on a high, suitably warmed up for the spectacle that is to follow….
After a suitable break for the stage reset (and what a stage set it was !!!) Queen and Adam Lambert enter the stage to cheers and roars from their adoring fans. Kicking their set off with “Seven Seas of Rhye”, for the next two hours Brian May and Roger Taylor defy their age and aided with the youth of Lambert prove why they continue to be a massive draw.
All the old classics are there to please the masses, and Adam, very early on admits he is no “Freddie” and doesn’t want to pretend to be him. I think Freddie would have approved of his performance, we certainly did
We attended many other festivals over the season, too many to report on here. In 2019 we will bring you a weekly report on some of the best UK and beyond festivals in more detail. So until then a very happy New Year to you all 
