I know it’s freezing cold outside and everyone is (rightly so) on the Christmas hype right now, but I can’t help think about next summer’s Music festivals and it’s never too early to get planning right? I feel like this year festivals are announcing their tickets and line-ups early. All these early line-ups, along with me doing a recap of my 2017 music festivals, has got me looking ahead to Croatia and the UK for 2018 and purchasing tickets early, locking the dates in and getting prepared.

Below is my top choices for boutique gatherings in the UK and Croatia, which ones are on your list?

Sound City
Friday 4^th – Sunday 6^th May

@ Baltic Triangle and Cains Brewery, Liverpool
£55 for weekend wristband (Sound City + conference extra)

www.soundcity.uk.com / @soundcity / Insta:  @liverpoolsoundcity

First ten artists revealed: First names released: Peace, Slow Readers Club, Ibibio Sound Machine, Baxter Dury, Idles, Jaws, Low Island, Cassia, The Orielles and Zuzu with many more to come

Sound City, the latest edition of the award-winning metropolitan festival of live music and arts, takes place on the 5^th and 6^th May 2018 to kick-start the UK season in style as it returns to the city’s centre and goes back to its roots.

Sound City is incredibly proud it will be taking over the iconic warehouses, intimate spaces and pop-up places which form the renascent Baltic Triangle and Cains Brewery areas of the city. The weekend will offer an incredible chance to discover over 250 emerging new bands and headline artists in a variety of locations which will place Sound City at the beating heart of the country’s vibrant music scene. Sound City’s original DNA will once more embrace a wildly diverse range of sounds from around the world and closer to home, showcasing the vibrant and raw next generation of acts through to the mercurial stars who inspire them.

The Baltic Triangle is the catalyst for much of Liverpool’s creative and economic growth, now firmly established as one of the UK’s leading destinations for music, food and drink and a new wave of pioneering businesses, right at the fore of the region’s cultural development. Sound City will further enhance the area’s development, working with key partners during the festival as well as the Sound City + conference taking place on Friday 4^th May.

Love International
Weds 27^th June – Weds 4^th July 2018
@ The Garden Resort, Petrica Glava 34, 22240, Tisno, Croatia
£135 + booking fee for 7 days and 7 nights (club and boat parties extra)
www.loveinternationalfestival.com / @LoveIntFestival

Artists so far include: Ben UFO, Craig Richards, Optimo, Roman Flugel, Move D, Joy Orbison, Avalon Emerson, Prosumer, Felix Dickinson, Daniele Baldelli, Shanti Celeste, Octo Octa, Gideon, Idjut Boys, Jane Fitz, Powder, Saoirse, Christophe, Dave Harvey, with many more to be announced in January 2018

Love International returns for its 3^rd year in 2018, returning to the idyllic coastal paradise of Tisno for a new beatific odyssey under the sun and stars.

The festival has further refined the concept of a holiday and festival blended together, where one segues into the other and back again, seemingly without missing a beat. The days stretch into the nights and back again with ease, sound-tracked by some of the world’s leading underground DJs and producers, with the lineup built around the best rather than the biggest.

And as much as the experience is about the music, it’s always about the people too – from those who travel from around the world to attend, to the artists, the crew and the local population, all coming together for a wonderful and unique adventure. Taking place across a beautifully intimate site, with boat parties, the Beach Bar, the main stage, and the spectacular fully open air night club, Barbarella’s, Love International continues the legacy left by the region’s founding festival, The Garden Festival, a celebration of music with heart and soul, a week-long union of like-minded people.

Farr Festival

Thurs 5^th to Sunday 8^th July 2018

@ Bygrave Woods, Hertfordshire, SG7 5JX,

Tickets from £100 / £125 / £150 and instalment plan available

www.farrfestival.co.uk / @FarrFestival

Artists so far include: Dixon, Moodymann, Gerd Janson, Optimo, Mr G (live) and Éclair FiFi with many more to be revealed end of January 2018.

Taking place in a beautiful forest less than an hour from bustling London, Farr Festival is a mesmeric escape from the real world. Expanding to a full four days in 2018, the weekend-long adventure is a blend of cutting-edge music with real heart and soul, an edifying and enriching experience for mind and body alike.

Set across six stages, Farr Festival reaches its 9th year in 2018 as one of the UK’s most intimate experiences, drawing a vibrant crowd from across the country and beyond to a verdant oasis rich with life and colour a labyrinth of trees and glades filled with surprises. Working with leading icons and up-and-coming talent across a dizzying array of sounds and styles, the summer days and nights will capture a true representation of electronic music culture in its many facets.

Farr Festival encapsulates a unique energy, which pulsates across the stunning location in which it is set, a sublime journey joining the dots across a soundscape of live artists and DJs. Adding artisanal food and drink, holistic activities at The Shala including workshops, yoga and meditation, plus hot tubs, talks and cocktail workshops, Farr Festival 2018 offers a beautifully balanced weekend. There’s plenty of music, arts, wellness and lots of fun at an essential destination for festival lovers which continues to flourish.

Nozstock The Hidden Valley – celebrating 20 years 
Friday 20^th – 22^nd July 2018
@ Rowden Paddocks, Bromyard, Herefordshire, HR7 4LS
Tickets: From £115 for adults / From £95 teens / 12s and under free
www.nozstock.com / @Nozstock

Artists TBA January 2018

In 2018 Nozstock The Hidden Valley will reach its 20^th anniversary, entering a small group of festivals who have reached two decades of creating magic in the country. Starting from very humble beginnings, its founding ethos remains part of the festival to the present, with Nozstock not only a genuine weekend of escapism far from the madding crowds, but also one which has kept the same flourishing spirit; it’s a festival with abundant heart, integrity and authenticity at every turn, as well as amazing fun across the beautiful site set on a working farm in Bromyard, attracting one of the country’s most wonderfully diverse audiences.

Curated by the father and daughter duo of Noz and Ella and a huge extended family who work across the entire festival, there’s a unique charm and energy to Nozstock unlike anything else in the country with an eclectic range of music from hip-hop, ska, punk, rave, drum and bass, folk, soul and more, matched by an equally vibrant crowd drawn from across the country. The festival also features a huge range of entertainment, activities and inspiration, with games, pop-up performances, and workshops at every turn.

Soundwave Festival – the 10^th and final edition
Thursday 26th – Monday 30^st July 2018
@ The Garden Resort, Petrica Glava 34, 22240, Tisno, Croatia
£129 for 5 days (club and boat parties extra)
www.soundwavecroatia.com / @soundwavecro

Headliners so far include: First artists revealed are Jordan Rakei, Romare (live), Submotion Orchestra (live), Horse Meat Disco, DJ Marky, Sons Of Kemet, Channel One Soundsystem, Riot Jazz (live), Al Dobson Jr, Tenderlonious, Mahalia, Chunky, SNO, Desta, Jonny Dub, Rich Reason, DJ Gilla, DJ BobaFatt and DJ Mo Fingaz

Next summer in Croatia will herald the final ever Soundwave Festival, concluding what has been an epic odyssey on its tenth birthday. The last Soundwave is an opportunity to return to the idyllic Dalmatian coastline one more time and savour some of the world’s finest live artists and DJs from across broken beat, reggae, afro, acid jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk, drum and bass and much more.

As one of the longest running events in the dazzling Adriatic region – along with The Garden Festival and Outlook – the sublime Soundwave has very much always taken its own adventurous path, staying true to its original roots built across a beautifully diverse music spectrum whilst weaving a mesmeric holiday and festival into a glorious weekend. This is the last chance to experience what is widely regarded as one of Europe’s finest boutique events, celebrating a decade of festivals in its spiritual home of Tisno, under the sun and stars across the festival’s intimate coastal site and open-air club, Barbarella’s.