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If you’re heading to Benicassim this summer then you’ve got a little over a month to get familiar with the acts on offer. There’s a number of fairly obscure bands playing this year, so it is wise to get on Spotify or Last FM and listen to as much as you can before heading out.

My advice is to make a festival playlist with all the music you can find that relates to this year’s line-up, play it on shuffle and just delete things from the list you aren’t keen on when they play. That way you are left with a reasonable list of the more obscure acts to add to the ones you were always planning on going to see. Simple.

Benicassim festival is one of the best European music festivals around and this year it promises plenty more fun. However, we can offer a word or two of advice for people heading to the festival this year.

Make sure you get your return travel in order in good time because it can be a real chore getting out of Beni on the morning after the festival.

Coaches are a good idea because they go directly from the main campsite and although trains are a little confusing, they are a comfortable and quick alternative.

The most important thing is to make sure you’re going from Benicassim itself rather than from a nearby town because getting to that town on the day could prove trickier than you imagined.

There are bound to be a few people who are little bit disappointed with this year’s Glastonbury line-up, but if you’re one of them, you shouldn’t let it get you down. Instead, it makes sense to use this year to discover all the things about the festival you previously haven’t made the most of because there’s been too much great music.

For starters, you can check out the Healing Field and join in with certain forms of therapy. Then there’s Shangri La which demands a bit of attention. The Crafty Field, Green Futures and the Circus Field are always available and you can also sample the food and drink of various parts of the site.

Remember, Glastonbury is all about discovering new music as well as the things you’re already into, so take a gamble on some names you don’t recognise. When all’s said and done, there’s far more to Glastonbury than the big names on the big stages, which this year leave a lot to be desired.

The Hull Freedom Festival has been awarded funding from the Arts Council England (ACE), despite the fact that the body had its budget cut by £100 million following the Spending Review.

The music and performance arts festival has received £100,000 from the ACE, which will enable it to continue adding more than £5 million to Hull’s economy.

Last year’s Freedom festival featured performances from The Wanted, McFly and Alesha Dixon, as well as an aerial acrobatics performance from Transe Express, the Monster Madness parade and an astounding fireworks display.

Details for the 2011 festival have not yet been revealed, but an announcement is expected soon.

The line-up for the Latitude 2011 festival has been announced, with Suede, Paulo Nutini and The National confirmed as headline acts so far.

The latest announcement sees Eels, Bombay Bicycle Club and Foals joining the headliners at the festival, which is held at Henham Park Estate in Suffolk from Thursday 14th July to Sunday 17th July 2011.

Other acts set to perform are Bellowhead, British Sea Power, Deerhunter, Bright Eyes, KT Tunstall, Hurts, I Am Kloot, Paloma Faith, The Vaccines, My Morning Jacket, Rumer and Villagers.

There are plenty more acts still to be announced for Latitude 2011 though, so watch this space!

A reggae festival aiming to mark the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley’s death will be held at Wembley Arena this coming July.

The One Love Peace Festival is to be named after the iconic Bob Marley gig in Jamaica in 1978 when the I Shot the Sheriff singer encouraged rival political leaders to shake hands on stage. It will have a message of peace – “Throw away your guns, throw away your knives” – and all the proceeds from the landmark event will go to charity.

In honour of their hero, who died of cancer aged just 36, and his great contribution to music, artists such as Busta Ryhmes, Shaggy, Aswad, Sean Paul and John Holt will perform at the peace festival. Marley’s son Ky-mani will also perform some of his father’s best-loved songs.

The Seattle-based band Fleet Foxes have been confirmed as a headline act for the Green Man festival 2011, along with Texas four-piece Explosions in the Sky.

The organisers of the Green Man festival, traditionally held in the Brecon Beacons every year, have started to tease festival-goers and folk fans with a few line-up announcements in the last couple of weeks. Of all the twenty or so bands and artists confirmed for the August 2011 festival, notable acts include:

• Bellowhead
• The Travelling Band
• Villagers
• Holy F*ck
• The Burns Unit
• Polar Bear
• Robyn Hitchcock
• The Low Anthem
• Mancub Babywoman
• The Ramshackle Union Band

This year’s Reading & Leeds Festivals Alternative Stage line-up has been confirmed, with  a range of performances to appreciate. There will be comedy, performance art, film, cabaret acts and late night DJs after the main stages have closed. The entertainment will keep on going throughout the night which can only be good!

The headliners for the Alternative stage have been revealed as Emo Philips, Jason Byrne, Stephen K Amos, Kevin Bridges, Russell Kane, and Rufus Hound who will all perform at Leeds and Reading seperately.

Later in the day, the Alternative Stage will be showing films after the comedy and cabaret acts. To end the night a host of DJs will be performing up until 2.30 in the morning.

Just a reminder about the Leeds festival line-up,as we are not too far away now! 27^th – 29^th August, Branham Park:

Main Stage

Friday:

• Arcade Fire
• The Libertines
• DIZZEE RASCAL
• THE CRIBS
• THE MACCABEES
• MODEST MOUSE
• THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
• MYSTERY JETS
• THE FUTUREHEADS
• THE WALKMEN

Saturday:

• Blink 182
• Paramore
• WEEZER
• CYPRESS HILL
• LIMP BIZKIT
• YOU ME AT SIX
• ALL TIME LOW
• THRICE
• THE KING BLUES
• MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK

Sunday:

• Guns N Roses
• Queens of the Stone Age
• BIFFY CLYRO
• LOSTPROPHETS
• NOFX
• GOGOL BORDELLO
• BILLY TALENT
• A DAY TO REMEMBER
• YOUNG GUNS

Many other acts across other stages are also performing including Ash and Marina and the Diamonds. Make sure to keep an eye out for the Reading line up too.

A man aged 24, from Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, collapsed at around midnight at the T in the Park festival, as he made his way from the main area towards the campsite. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite attempts by the emergency services to resuscitate him.

The death came as tens of thousands of music lovers get ready to enjoy the sounds of some of the world’s top bands on the second day of the festival. Organisers expect 85,000 people a day to attend the festival in Balado, Kinross-shire over the weekend.

There are around 450 officers policing the event, with plain clothes officers and specialist drugs dogs part of the team. It is not yet known if the man was drugged or not.