When: 6^th-10^th August

Where: Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay, Newquay

If you’re looking for an affordable, eclectic, beach-side festival with a load of variety then look no further than Boardmasters. This festival has only been getting bigger over the years with acts like The Vaccines, Fatboy Slim, Dizzee Rascal and Ben Howard gracing the main stage and the headliners for this year – Chase and Status, Snoop Dogg/Lion/Other animal and Bastille – are certain to take Watergate Bay by storm.

Boardmasters doubles as an extreme sports festival as well as a music festival, with Fistral Beach being where the surfing, skating and BMX-ing takes place. Also taking place at Fistral Beach are the beach sessions where a few bands play a very intimate evening gig at the beach bar, The 1975 participated in one of the beach sessions last year before they blew up and (admittedly) became one of Britain’s biggest bands…so maybe it’s a great opportunity to catch a young band perform intimately before they hit the mainstream?

Watergate Bay is mainly where the music stuff happens, and the line-up is sure to tickle the fancy of any budding festival goer. If you’re into your ‘indie’/rock stuff then Boardmasters has the likes of The Cribs, Peace, Palma Violets and many more to cater to your taste, if you’re leaning more towards the acoustic musician side of things then there’s George Ezra – recently hitting the big time with his single ‘Budapest’, Lewis Watson and plenty more guys/gals with a six string to help you make your weekend a good’un…and for the EDM fans out there then there’s the headliners Chase and Status, Wilkinson and Duke Dumont, so clearly Boardmasters has a little bit of something for every person, no matter what your taste in music is.

5 must see bands/artists at Boardmasters:

Snoop Dogg

Who doesn’t love a bit of the Doggfather? Snoop will, without a doubt, get the place bouncing during his headline slot with his classics, ‘Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)’ will definitely be one of the highlights of the weekend…plus I’m sure everyone in the crowd will at least know that one due to its recent inclusion in a Money Supermarket advert. Expect a strong whiff of wacky baccy throughout his set, at least one guy on stage with him that shouts a lot and a hit-packed set.

Catfish and the Bottlemen

Catfish and the Bottlemen aren’t a new band by any means seeing as they’ve been together for a long time now but this year has seen them championed by the likes of Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens and catapult to the status of the UK’s current hype band. Many people have come back from a Catfish show singing their praises, so these guys are clearly a band you will want to see live before they get even bigger so you can get the chance to brag and be THAT person that says “Oh, these guys? Yeah, saw them a while back before they got big!” Their straight up, energy infused rock will definitely blow the Boardmasters crowd away and will get them humming the chorus of ‘Kathleen’ for days after.

Darlia

This lot from Blackpool are for the Nirvana fans out there, however they don’t like the Nirvana comparison so leave out the “You guys sound just like a British Nirvana!” line if you happen to bump into them walking about during the weekend. Anyway, these guys put on a fantastic live show and Nathan Day (no comparisons to Kurt Cobain allowed) is an amazingly charismatic front man…if you don’t seem to have any other band you want to watch while Darlia are on then definitely head down to the Mavericks stage on Friday and have your ears destroyed in the nicest possible way.

Palma Violets

NME’s favourite band from the last couple of years, Palma Violets have festival-ready tunes that will have you drunkenly shouting the lyrics with a bunch of people you’ve never met before. This band have a certain energy onstage that very few bands have and watch out for hype guy/merch guy Harry Violent who will inevitably hype the crowd up and have them bouncing along to every song.

Chase and Status

Perhaps the UK’s premier EDM duo, these guys will have an electrifying set that will contain a few anthems that you are certain to have heard at some point in the last 4 years unless you live in a cave. You could have worse ends to your Friday night than seeing Chase and Status live and even if you aren’t a massive fan, it’ll be one to remember!