The festival is known for its focus on creating an immersive experience that combines music with visual art and other creative forms. Houghton typically attracts a diverse audience and provides a platform for both established and emerging artists to showcase their work in a distinctive and inspiring environment.

The festival is also known for its picturesque setting as it is held at Houghton Hall, a Grade 1 listed building commissioned by the UK’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

The festival has received high acclaim, with Annabel Simpson of The Standard stating:

Houghton’s simple formula of extended DJ sets, bespoke sound systems, stunning settings, hidden stages and art installations created something very special. Throw a 24 hour music licence into the mix and the result is pure bliss.

However, this year the festival will take a slightly different form as The Quarry, one of the 14 stages, will not open due to high water levels resulting from heavy periods of rainfall throughout the year.

The festival made an announcement on a social media post, stating that “the Quarry sits at a low level on the water table, therefore it is susceptible to flooding. For the last month, we have been pumping water out every other day in the hope we would solve the problem. However, relentless rain has meant we were fighting a losing battle.”

To accommodate the artists that were meant to perform on The Quarry stage, the festival gained permission from the council to extend the finish times of two other stages in order to redistribute the artists. The Derren Smart Stage is now set to close at 3am and The Old Gramophone at 5am.

Houghton line-up – Friday

This is not the first time Houghton has been affected by the elements. In 2019, Houghton had to cancel the festival due to weather warnings, stating that they were “forced to bow to mother nature in the face of an unusually vicious storm.” The weather warning was correct, and Houghton Hall experienced a storm that was far stronger than predicted, with dangerously high wind speeds that would have put festival-goers at risk.

Despite the impediments to the festival’s operations brought on by the weather, Houghton will still run at full swing. Over 200 artists are set to perform, including Aba Shanti, Jade Seatle, Ben UFO and Zip, who will play with Craig Richards.

Information about tickets can be accessed here.

Bez took to his Instagram to announce the release to fans, the post also supplied a snippet of the psychedelic video and track featuring the dancer and percussionist’s debut vocal performance.

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A post shared by Bez (@bezmondays)

The new release is the first track in which includes a traditional vocal appearance from Bez and also features vocals from Firouzeh. Previously known for his maraca playing and famed interactive stage antics, it is exciting news for fans old and new to hear Bez take centre stage. The press release for the new track has provided the following description, “hypnotic homage to the glory days of acid house“.

The track seems to serve as a dedication to the Second Summer of Love, the cultural phenomenon which took the United Kingdom by storm within the late 1980s, most predominately the summer of 1988. The cultural wave saw the rise in popularity of acid house, electronic dance music and the rave scene, fuelled by certain drug influences such as MDMA, the psychedelic and hedonistic scene was particularly taken upon by the nation’s youth. With these factors mixed together, this new musical philosophy embodied itself within the ideologies of freedom, pleasure and indulgence.

It is this sense of freedom in which ‘Flying Bus’ sets out to embody and along with a nostalgic wish for the past, Bez, DJ Doorly and Firouzeh are determined to take the listener back to their youth, full of fun and parties. Bez’s vocal line tells the story of the iconic Glastonbury stage Flying Bus, which is said to be the most rambunctious and often the last to close with parties going on until the early morning and the inspiration behind the song’s title

The accompanying music video also keeps within these cultural themes, the video sees Bez play a colourful bus conductor with DJ Doorly as the magical Bus’s driver. Again, staying within the theme of the 1980’s cultural and music scene, a passenger seemingly dragged down by the burdens of corporate life is taken to the legendary nightclub and music venue, The Hacienda. The Hacienda became a vital part of the dance and rave scene within the 1980s, situated in Manchester, the club became an important role within the career of Happy Mondays and many other bands involved within the genre. The new release’s music video sees Bez and DJ Doorly work with fellow Manchester artists and animators, Friend Party Studios.

The description affixed to the new release’s promo and its music video gives the video’s storyboard and the emotions it aims to conveys: “An office worker’s day gets off to a bad start after being stung by a psychedelic bee, but things get even more trippy when the Flying Bus pulls up. Bus conductor Bez and bus driver Doorly take our hapless hero on an adventure like no other, as he discovers a world of trippy visuals and pure party excess, ending up on the dancefloor of the iconic Manchester club The Haçienda. There’s only one thing to do: free your mind and take a one-way ticket on the Flying Bus!”

The Bolton born cultural personality has provided the following statement concerning his recent collaboration, reinforcing the song’s musical and lyrical themes. “It was a brilliant work trip to Ibiza to collaborate with Doorly at his studio that created this tune, My Flying Bus stage at Glastonbury is really special to me and a great hangout for the hardcore party people. I’ve been missing it so much and this track conjures up that Flying Bus magic. The song is about that freedom you feel when you’re gathered with like-minded people. This is the first vocal track I’ve ever brought out and I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I hope people will get ‘on the bus’ and enjoy it, get lost in a moment in time, that’s the whole vibe!”

DJ Doorly has also spoken about the experience working with Bez and what fans can expect next from the duo. “Writing a track together with the legend Bez was a hell of a lot of fun, not sure if you’ve met him but he’s a bit of a character, We really bonded over our shared love for the transatlantic Acid House movement from the late 80s/early 90s. Our aim was to bring a slice of that magic coming out of Chicago and Manchester around that time, with a celebration of Bez’s bonkers Flying Bus party at Glastonbury. It all came together and it’s a real pleasure to have Bez on my Reptile Dysfunction label, you can expect more from us both this year.”

As well as the promise for even more material, Bez and DJ Doorly have been confirmed to embark on a tour jammed full of dates this Summer. Fans can now also catch Bez on YouTube, since the lockdown this year the performer has started a new career path as a fitness advisor. His courses and workshops can be found as online fitness videos on the channel Spoke TV, entitled ‘Get Buzzin’ With Bez‘.

Click here to purchase and stream the track.

However, as the months wore on and the dreaded coronavirus worsened, Caribou had no choice but to be responsible and postpone his shows further. Caribou, real name Dan Snaith, will pick up the UK tour plans next year instead. Other 2021 performances confirmed for Caribou include music festivals Primavera Sound in Barcelona, BBK Lives in Bilbao, also in Spain, and NOS Alive in Portugal, all of which are scheduled for next summer.

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Out now: not one, but two amazing remixes from Sam @floatingpoints. Also a 12” with Sam’s mixes and another with Kieran @fourtetkieran and @morgangeistnyc are available for pre-order now. (Release date July 31st). Link in bio and stories. Art direction @jasonevansfoto . Design @mistermrbcooper

A post shared by Caribou / Daphni / Dan Snaith (@cariboumusic) on Jun 30, 2020 at 6:04am PDT

Caribou released the news to their official Twitter account yesterday, to the great dismay of the musician’s expansive fanbase. The Odessa composer confirmed the last thing that his devoted fans wanted to hear, writing in a heartfelt statement that “unfortunately it’s clear we have to reschedule our UK + Paris tour dates again. Caribou continued on to say that: “Like all of you, we want nothing more than to gather and enjoy live music again, but clearly we have to wait until it’s safe to do so.” One fortunate piece of news, though, is tickets previously purchased by fans will remain valid for Caribou’s 2021 tour and will roll over to next year free of charge. 

Last month, Caribou revealed some fresh new remixes of their hit tracks, Never Come Back and Sister. Mixed by the talented electronic musician, Floating Points, the Rabbit Hole hitmaker shared the news with his 44,000 Instagram followers. Featuring animated designs by graphic designer Matthew Cooper, colourful shapes move to Caribou in a hypnotic fashion. Caribou wrote on the 30th June: “Out now: not one, but two amazing remixes from Sam @floatingpoints.” Obtaining over 10,000 likes and views, the post was met with an excited response from fans. 

A composer, recording artist and producer, sonic triple threat Caribou burst on the scene in 2001 with their memorable debut album, Start Breaking My Heart. Snaith initially began his career under the moniker Manitoba, but following a lawsuit, changed from Manitoba to their current name. 

Since then, the production wizard has put out six sensational studio albums, their most recent being Suddenly, that dropped February of this year. Consisting of encapsulating synthes and soft vocals with a psychedelic twist, the twelve-track record is a calming body of work that, yet it still contains that Caribou kick. Containing widely different tracks like Home, New Jade and Filtered Grand Piano Suddenly is a divergent new spin on an artist that always delivers. 

Dates for Caribou’s 2021 UK and Paris tour are as follows:

06/05/2021 – L’Olympia – Paris – France
08/05 – The Invisible Wind Factory – Liverpool
09/05 – The O2 Academy – Birmingham
10/05 – The O2 Academy – Brixton – London
11/05 – The O2 Academy – Bristol
12/05 – Barrowland – Glasgow
13/05 – The O2 Academy – Leeds
14/05 – Academy 1 – Manchester
16/05 – The Dome – Brighton

Suddenly by Caribou is out now.