Introduction
Our pick of the best guitarists appearing at UK festivals throughout summer 2015.
Believe it or not - not, from where we’re sitting - but summer almost is upon us. For us, that means two things: 1) other people going on good holidays; and 2) standing in a field and having your tenuous bowel situation bludgeoned by a monstrous PA system.
We do it for the music, and fortunately, in 2015, the guitar player is in rude health…
Ben Weinman, Dillinger Escape Plan
Festival: ArcTangent, Bristol
Date: 20-22 August
The mother-flippin’ D.E.P. head to Bristol’s post-rock festival mecca ArcTangent this year and the rest of the line-up is a veritable smorgasbord of great guitar bands: not least Vennart, Black Peaks, Mylets and Alpha Male Tea Party.
Wilko Johnson
Festival: Lunar, Warwickshire
Date: 5-7 June
Having been through more than his fair share of near-death experiences of late, former Dr Feelgood man Wilko Johnson is in the form of his life. Let’s make sure we never take him for granted again.
Mark Tremonti
Festival: Download Festival, Donnington
Date: 12-14 June
The Creed and Alter Bridge fretboard fiddler is on the road with the second Tremonti album Cauterize and, unsurprisingly, it doesn’t disappoint on the guitar front.
Andy Bell, Ride
Festival: Field Day, London
Date: 6-7 June
It’s great to see Ride’s guitarist back in the saddle after years in the bass backseat with Oasis. Bell helped set the template for 90s guitar music and the Oxford band’s debut Nowhere is a shoe-gaze classic.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Festival: Larmer Tree Festival, Wiltshire
Date: 14-19 July
It’s rare these days to see an instrumental acoustic duo level a festival audience, but Rodrigo y Gabriela manage it with incredible consistency. If you get the chance to see them this summer, take it. And expect to clap until your hands are raw…
James Hetfield / Kirk Hammett, Metallica
Festival: Reading and Leeds
Date: 28-30 August
Making a rare detour from their usual bi-annual jaunt between Sonisphere and Download - and last year’s Glasto invasion - the metal titans will be taking in Reading and Leeds festivals this year, bringing the festival back to its hard rock roots.
Albert Hammond Jr., The Strokes
Festival: British Summer Time, London
Date: 18 June
In a sort of reverse Made In Chelsea move, the kings of New York indie pop across to visit their London friends once more this summer. Albert Hammond Jr.’s also got a new solo album, Momentary Masters, on the way, so it’s set to be a good summer for fans of the guitarist.
Dave Grohl / Pat Smear / Chris Shiflett, Foo Fighters
Festival: Glastonbury, Somerset
Date: 24-28 June
Yeah, we went for all three. Asking us to pick a favourite Foo Fighters guitarist is like asking us to pick a favourite Easter Island head. They’re all giants, they’re all part of something bigger and they can all handle a crowd.
Ben Howard
Festival: Radio One’s Big Weekend, Norwich; Glastonbury Festival, Somerset
Date: 23-24 May; 24-28 June
Ben Howard’s atmospheric second album I Forget Where We Were might not make for the ‘hands in the air’ moments of his festival-friendly first effort, but we can envision his shoe-gazing new direction making for a hair-raising sunset-soaked (we can dream) Glastonbury appearance.
Noel Gallagher
Festival: Lattitude, Suffolk
Date: 16-19 June
Alongside his guitarist Noel’s been letting his freak flag fly on new album Chasing Yesterday, so expect an exploratory festival headline set from a man who really does know how it’s done.
Mark Morton, Lamb Of God
Festival: Download Festival, Donnington
Date: 12-14 June
Lamb Of God’s new album, VII: Sturm Und Drang, arrives at the end of July and judging by the punishing form of Mark Morton’s lead work on advanced single Still Echoes, we’re in for a treat at Download.
Slash
Festival: Download Festival, Donnington
Date: 12-14 June
To paraphrase Big Daddy, Slash and Download go together like lamb and tuna fish (or spaghetti and meatball). Prepare to be scorched by a blazing World On Fire set, with help from Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators.
Dan Auerbach, The Black Keys
Festival: Isle Of Wight Festival
Date: 11-14 June
The Black Keys man was busy making a mint from guitar music back when everyone was convinced it was dead. Expect big bluesy riffs, sunglasses and an eye-popping array of wonderfully weird vintage guitars.
Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac
Festival: Isle Of Wight Festival
Date: 11-14 June
Peter Green gets the guitar accolades for his work with Fleetwood Mac Mk. I, but Lindsey Buckingham is a knee-tremblingly emotive master of both acoustic and electric guitar – and has fans in unlikely places (Trivium’s Matt Heafy, anyone?).
Graham Coxon, Blur
Festival: Isle Of Wight Festival; British Summer Time, London
Date: 11-14 June; 20 June
“I got my head done, when I was young, it’s not my problem, it’s not my problem…” Yeah, they’ve got splendid new album in The Magic Whip, but if the sun’s shining and Mr Coxon doesn’t bash out Song 2, well, it will be his problem…
Pete Townshend, The Who
Festival: British Summer Time, London
Date: 18 June
The Who return to play Hyde Park for the fourth time in their career. London is the spiritual home of the veteran rockers and Paul Weller’s onboard for the ride, too, making it a day of mod madness.
Johnny Marr
Festival: British Summer Time, London
Date: 18 June
With the release of 2013’s The Messenger and last year’s follow-up Playland, Marr’s planted himself back in the driving seat of his own vehicle. He’s playing on the same day as The Who, too, so that’s two British guitar heroes for the price of one…
Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Tinariwen
Festival: Lunar, Warwickshire; WOMAD, Malmesbury
Date: 5-7 June; 24-26 July
Much is made of musicians who’ve grafted their way to the top, but Tinariwen’s Tuareg frontman Ibrahim Ag Alhabib forged his first guitar from a tin can, a stick and a bicycle brake wire and has proceeded to guide his ensemble of guitar-toting desert nomads to international success. Dwell on that the next time you’re stuck in the tour van.
Matt Bellamy, Muse
Festival: Download Festival, Donnington
Date: 12-14 June
Mutt Lange-produced new album Drones is set to land in early June and, by the end of the summer, the Muse man will have brought a set peppered with new tunes to both the BBC’s roving annual pop extravaganza and the orgy of metal camaraderie that is Download Festival. Few bands are capable of satisfying both audiences, but if anyone can do, it’s Muse.
Annie Clarke, St Vincent
Festival: Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons
Date: 20-23 August
Few guitarists of recent years can be said to have achieved the high-brow artistry and wild, exhilarating playing that Annie Clarke has under her St Vincent moniker. This will be one of the only chances to catch a St Vincent summer show on this side of the Atlantic.
