As live music becomes an ever-more important source of income for artists faced with declining record sales, so festivals have become an ever-more important part of the music calendar. Yes, they’ve been hijacked by commerce to an extent, but they still offer plenty of value if you can survive for three days without a shower. (Don’t mention the mud.) This quiz starts with 15 straightforward questions, then continues with a quickfire test of your knowledge of festivals both national and international.
Answers: here
1 Where did Led Zeppelin play two massive outdoor shows in 1979, shows that would prove to be their last UK appearances for more than 20 years? When the band reunited to play at London’s O2 in 2007, who replaced the now-deceased John Bonham on drums?
2 Which multi-arts festival started in 2009 at Henham Park in Suffolk? Which Northern Irish band were the first act to headline the main Obelisk Stage?
3 What’s the name of the festival held every August Bank Holiday weekend that takes its name from a famous Liverpool club? The festival takes place in Daresbury – in which English county?
4 Which annual festival originated in Strathclyde but moved to Balado Airfield in Kinross between 1997 and 2014? Which Perthshire venue hosted the event in 2015 and 2016?
5 Which festival takes place in Great Tew in Oxfordshire, having vacated the site from which it originally took its name? Confusingly, another festival now takes place on the original site: what’s it called?
6 In which US state is Woodstock, site of arguably the most famous festival of them all in 1969? And who directed the 2009 film Taking Woodstock, about the birth and organisation of the event?
7 Which festival provided Matthews Southern Comfort with a number one hit without them even being there? Band leader Iain Matthews was previously the singer with which English folk rock band?
8 Which Danish festival was started by two high school students in 1971? What’s the bizarre ‘sporting’ event that takes place on the Saturday of the festival?
9 Of the following bands, which two did not play at Woodstock in 1969: Santana, the Band, Derek & the Dominos, Arthur Lee & Love, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly & the Family Stone?
10 At which 1969 festival in the US did the Hell’s Angels, who were providing unofficial security, get involved in a fracas that led to the death of Meredith Hunter? Which band were on stage when the fighting broke out?
11 Drawing nearly 90,000 visitors each year, what is the biggest music festival in Belgium? What’s the name of the one-day event held a week later that showcases older, longer-established acts?
12 Who, in 2008, became the first hip hop artist to headline Glastonbury? Which rapper filled the same Saturday-night slot in 2015?
13 What’s the name of the annual food and music festival that Alex James hosts on his Oxfordshire farm? Which famous chef is his collaborator on the project?
14 Which festival takes place at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia every year? And what’s the name of the coastal spin-off that started in 2014?
15 What has been the official capacity of the Glastonbury Festival from 2007 to 2016? What is the name of the closest village to the site?
16 Since 2000, who are the only two solo female acts to have headlined Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage?
17 Where has the Governors Ball taken place on the first week of June since 2011? What happened on the Sunday in 2016 when Kanye West was due to headline?
18 T Rex played to 1,500 people in Somerset in 1970: what did they start in doing so? Who stepped in at the same venue the following year when Pink Floyd cancelled their show?
19 Which festival takes place on the weekend after the August Bank Holiday in a Dorset pleasure garden? Which record label curated a day at the festival in 2012?
20 Conceived by Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction as a one-off event, which festival has taken place annually in Chicago’s Grant Park since 2005? Which South American city was the first outside the US to use the same brand for its music festival (there are now four in South America and one in Berlin)?
Match the British festival to the venue.
21 Lulworth Castle, Dorset. 22 Steventon, Oxfordshire. 23 Charlton Park, Wiltshire. 24 Victoria Park, London. 25 Donington Park, Leicestershire. 26 Escot Park, Devon. 27 Robin Hill, Isle of Wight. 28 Southbank Centre, London. 29 Brecon Beacons, Wales. 30 Brighton.
Festivals: Beautiful Days, Bestival, Camp Bestival, Download, the Great Escape, Green Man, Lovebox, Meltdown, Truck, WOMAD.
Now, do the same thing in reverse for these international festivals.
31 Primavera Sound. 32 Splendour in the Grass. 33 Secret Solstice. 34 Coachella. 35 Bonnaroo. 36 Magnetic Fields. 37 Edge of the Lake. 38 South by Southwest. 39 Bahidorá. 40 Burning Man.
Venues: Austin, Barcelona, Byron Bay, California, Iceland, Manchester (Tennessee), Mexico, the Nevada desert, Rajasthan, Switzerland.