Glade: Is this the best looking dance festival in the UK?

It seems as though UK music lovers have an almost unquenchable thirst for festivals.  Summer in Britain and Europe is now synonymous with festival season; with every single weekend over the 'summer' months offering a boggling choice of outdoor musical gatherings big and small. 

With so much choice on offer, festival organisers need to work hard to make their event stand out above the competition. And nowhere is this more evident than at Glade Festival; the eclectic dance electronic music festival spawned from the popular Glastonbury arena of the same name. 

So much more than a music festival; Glade is a near religious experience of other-worldly fantasy thanks to the valuable input of the award winning Secret Productions team - the creative minds more commonly known for waving their magic wand over perhaps the UK's most beautiful festival; The Secret Garden Party. 

The Glade experience is one of beautiful countryside and beautiful beats, where you can party until dawn without disturbance and without a care in what feels like your very own enchanted Eden. Taking place in the rolling fields and woodland surrounding Houghton Hall, Glade Festival offers four days of quality underground electronic music across 14 individually designed arenas. 

Buy a ticket to Glade Festival, and you'll get four days' access to a fantastical playground of sensory experiences, soundtracked by some of the biggest names in underground electronic music in the world. 

Here are just some of the experiences awaiting Gladers this year:

The Meteor Stage and woodland venues

Making its debut this year, hidden in a thirty-foot deep crater with trees lining its edges and bass bins under the floor. Presented by East London underground party Uppercut, The Meteor is the first of the concept stages this year. Playing all the latest sounds of the underground, surrounded by trees and kicking off the party on Thursday. Deeper in you will find the Liquid Stage, a psychedelic adventure that lasts until eight in the morning. Deeper still you’ll come across members of the Secret Garden family, whether it be medieval bard-core ravers or feral fever badger discos. It sounds insane, and probably will be.

The Pyromid Stage

This year the festival’s central pyramid will be a stage in its own right… that is until it burns down on Saturday night in spectacular fashion. The second concept venue, this stage will house a 360 degree sound system and will be presented by London’s underground heroes Hypercolour and The Sneaker Social Club from Brighton. Expect the programming to be as explosive as the structure itself.

Polyphant

The Secret Garden Party production team have given the digital arts on site at the festival a new lease of life, with artists such as Polyphant commissioned to design a bespoke immersive environment where he will be blurring the boundaries between architecture, light and space. More bespoke installations will be announced soon.

Remix Roller Disco

Home to every kind of remix mash up imaginable, from electro-swing to hoe-step, this venue is going to be full of fun, day and night.  With some serious programming from people who are constantly pushing and blurring boundaries of musical genres in the every direction, this is going to be a sight to behold.

The Rabbit Hole

Dreamt up by the well-known Glastonbury character Hamish Guerrini (aka the White Rabbit), The Rabbit Hole is an immersive wonderland. Crack the riddle, get on your knees and go down the rabbit hole into a madcap world full of characters from the mind of Lewis Carroll. Now a legendary Glastonbury institution, The Rabbit Hole is a must for both first time Gladers and seasoned veterans alike. This year the trip doesn’t just stop at the end of the hole but twists and twirls as you are transported into a club environment like no other on the planet. Expect the unexpected.

Feast of Fools Bardcore Soundsystem

The merry pranksters Feast of Fools, a long standing collective who feature at The Secret Garden Party every year, will be bringing not only their bar - The Honeymoon Tavern purveyor of finest quality British Mead - but also their eccentric band of players, performers and misfits.

Nano Venues

This year there’s a whole host of exuberant pop-up Nano venues to discover and explore. Swing by Madame Electrifies Discotech where swing meets synth and big band meets bass to party like its 1929. Drop in to The Social-i Travelling Gallery offering Ergonomic art for Odd Shaped People and a place to let your creative side flow with body-casting and clay fun. Or chill out in the communal hammock domes or unwind in the magic garden of the 21st Century Cinema.

Artful Badger

Another collective from The Secret Garden Party joins Glade this year. Introducing the Artful Badgers, feral disco denizens where the party always gets as weird and surreal as it does down right rude and dirty.  If you’ve not seen these guys in action, you’re in for a treat…

New Sanctuary

This year, the Sanctuary is evolving.  There will of course still be an incredible healing area, with therapists skilled in all the holistic arts – from reiki to massage, acupuncture to reflexology, gong therapy, holistic therapy and all that’s in between. There's also a spa, consisting of hot tubs, saunas,sweat lodges, changing rooms and more.  All brought together in a beautiful area in and out of the trees.  This will be a place to relax, indulge yourself and get seriously clean, both inside and out.

Cafés

This year at Glade, a great deal of love gas been poured into the cafes and food stalls.  Places to chill, laugh…and eat cake! Cafes are the heart and soul of any independent festival, so this year Glade’s gone all out to source some of the best independent traders around. The food court will be a place to meet your missing friends, take a breather from the madness of the festival, regroup, relax and unwind.  There will be a huge variety of food and drink from all around the world on offer, including many vegetarian and vegan options.

Boutique Camping

Gladers who fancy treating themselves to a little luxury over the festival can do no better than getting involved in boutique camping.  With several packages on offer including tipis, yurts and even Beryl – a three bed Cornish country cottage on wheels – there is no better way to experience Glade.  Private facilities, including express parking and festival tickets, come as standard, with each package.  

With an incredible rural site, burning stages, woodland parties 3D Funktion One Soundsystems, and pioneering collectives & labels representing every electronic genre over 14 stages showcasing hundreds of DJs and live acts from around the globe, Glade 2012 is set to become the must-go-to festival for all lovers of underground electronic music.

Watch the brand new Glade 2012 video teaser here:

Download the free ‘Sound Of Glade 2012’ album here for a taster of some of this year’s musical delicacies.

2012 Headliners:

GLADE STAGE

SVEN VATH, ANDY C: ALIVE (Live), RUSKO, VITALIC (Live), PRETTY LIGHTS (Live), EXCLUSIVE UK FESTIVAL APPEARANCE from PLANTAGE 13:, STEPHAN BODZIN, OLIVER HUNTEMANN, FOREIGN BEGGARS, TODDLA T & MC SEROCEE, MARC ROMBOY (Live), EXTRAWELT (Live), TRICKA, TECHNOLOGY (KRAFTY KUTZ, A SKILLZ & DYNAMITE MC), STANTON WARRIORS, SYSTEM 7 (Live), DUB PISTOLS (Live), ROBERT BABICZ, DRUMSOUND & BASSLINE, SMITH, DON LETTS, GAUDI (Live), FREQ NASTY, KILLAFLAW, THE CORRESPONDENTS (Live), SUBMOTION ORCHESTRA

OVERKILL ARENA

DILLINJA, DAEDELUS, JIMMY EDGAR (Live), BODDIKA, ADDISON GROOVE, SL2, KUEDO, PINCH, DJ RASHAD, SI BEGG, RAIDEN / KAMIKAZE SPACE PROGRAM, LANDO KAL, CEEPHAX ACID CREW, OM UNIT, DJ HIDDEN, RANDOMER, REMARC, MUTANT BASS & BLACK BUTTER SHOWCASE: HYPERCHORD

PYROMID STAGE

HYPERCOLOUR & SNEAKER SOCIAL CLUB PRESENTS: MOSCA, EATS EVERYTHING, APPLEBLIM, ALEX JONES THROWING SNOW, WEST NORWOOD CASSETTE LIBRARY, AL TOURETTES, DONGA, CEDRIC MAISON

METEOR STAGE

UPPERCUT PRESENT: KOAN SOUND, AKIRA KITESHI, SHOWCASE FROM: EARNEST ENDEAVOURS, SKANKY PANKY, DONKY PITCH, SENSELESS RECORDS, COLONY PRODUCTIONS, JUMP MUSIC

Tickets for Glade Festival are now available through Skiddle. Get yours below. 

Tickets are no longer available for this event