One of the world’s highest profile ‘climate change sceptics’ seems to have a had a change of heart – miraculously at the same time as he has published a new book! Bjorn Lomborg has now said that global warming is ‘undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today the Guardian reports, saying in his new book Smart Solutions that tens of billions of dollars need to be spent to battle climate change – on clean power, on climate engineering concepts such as cloud whitening to reflect back the sun’s rays, planting trees and on adapting to climate change by eg building up sea defences. He wants the new money to be funded by a carbon tax which he says could raise $250 billion per annum which he would allocate as follows : $1 billion in geo-engineering; $50 billion on adapting to change; $100 billion on research and development of clear energy technology (wind, wave, solar); and $99 billion on healthcare, clean water and education.

In other news, there is increasing pressure on Rajendra Pachauri, who leads the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to stand down and let someone new takeover the reins of the organisation, which recently faced widespread criticism for flawed research that showed that all Himalayan glaciers would have melted by 2035. Pauchauri, who has faced criticism for being on the board of energy companies and personally financially gaining from his role at the IPCC has said that he has no intention of resigning unless the 194 governments who control the IPCC ask him to go.

Fewer flyers are offsetting their flights – in fact just 7% offset now – despite well over half being aware of offset schemes. A study of passengers at Stanstead airport in the UK by the Civil Aviation Authority said that 93% of passengers didn’t offset – but 56% were aware of offsetting.

Greenpeace have let us know that their activists have “evaded massive security” including Danish navy commandos and have scaled Cairn Energy’s controversial oil rig off Greenland in Arctic waters. Activists are now hanging from tents suspended from ropes. For live updates go to http://links.mkt1875.com/ctt?kn=1&m=35748175&r=MzYzNzA2Nzk5NAS2&b=2&j=ODA4MDIxOTMS1&mt=1&rt=0.

]Friends of the Earth are urging EU countries to stop their African ‘land grab’ in the race to open up more production for bio-fuels to meet new EU targets. In the report Africa – up for Grabs, Friends of the Earth says the EU needs to drop its goal of producing 10% of all transport fuels by 2020 saying that vast swathes of rainforest will be cleared and local communities will be deprived of farmland and food with the UN estimating that biofuel production could push up food prices by 40% over the coming decade.

The plan that all UK new homes would be ‘zero carbon’ by 2016 is to be scaled back in the face of pressure from house builders. The plans was to achieve a massive reduction in carbon emissions, including emissions from household appliances, hearting and lighting and energy saving plans included installing solar panels on new builds.

The Good, the bad and the bugly

 A special awards ceremony at the Assembly Hall in Islington has recognised the efforts of school children accross the Borough on environmental issues. Efforts at the schools which inclued New North School and Tufnell Park School included giving up their lunchtimes to monitor energy use and doing gardening. Sadia, Anika, Amirah and Jessica from New North School said “the reason these awards are important to us is because it tells everyone our school is eco-friendly and it makes us feel proud that our hard work staying green has been recognised.

Bad boys – fly-tippers who illegally dumped used tyres on land in King’s Cross ln London have been given jail sentences following an investigation by Islington Council. Malcolm Regan, Michael Briggs and Anthony Gustave were caught at the site near the Channel Tunnel rail link in York Way in May 2009 after Council investigators had managed to track the vehicle they were using and then alerted police, who arrested the three men at the scene. About 3,000 tyres were found dumped at the site. All three defendants pleaded guilty to two counts of depositing controlled waste in York Way in May 2009, in breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Regan, 44, of Bow, E3, was sentenced to four months in prison. Briggs, 29, of Bethnal Green, E2, and Gustave, 32, of Hackney, E8, were given three months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, with 120 hours community service and curfew conditions. They were also ordered to pay costs of £250 each.

 

And bad apples – Apple have banned iPhones from a UK green ranking scheme which is designed to assess the ecological impact of handsets – Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung are part of the scheme launched in partnership with Forum for the Future and is based on 63 questions which cover topics such as the energy and resources used in manufacturing the phone and its components. 02 rated the Sony Ericsson Elm as the most eco-friendly phone.

 

Lastly bugs – A fun day out for the family including demonstations on vegetable gardening, beehive care and a mini-beast safari takes place on the 18th September at St Lukes Centre, Islington. Email kerry.kirwan@islington.gov.uk for more details.

http://www.islington.gov.uk/Council/CouncilNews/PressOffice/2010/08/PR4212.asp 

UK FESTIVAL AWARDS AND CONFERENCE DETAILS ANNOUNCED

The third annual UK Festival Conference has been launched with new media partners. Tickets for the Conference and the Awards on now sale for Thursday, November 18th 2010 at the British Music Experience, O2 Complex, London. The third annual Festival Awards UK Conference launches today with the addition of Brand Republic as a media partner. Set to take place on Thursday 18th November 2010 at the British Music Experience, part of London’s The O2, it has fast become the leading event for the Britain’s festival business, bringing the industry together to discuss the most pressing topics facing the sector. Following the huge success of last year’s Conference, Festival Awards Ltd, the organisation behind the Conference & Awards 2010 has expanded the number of panel discussions and recruited a further two of the UK’s leading media outlets as partners to this year’s event. Renowned international live music industry magazine Audience and the UK’s leading advertising, marketing, media and PR portal Brand Republic will join last year’s partners, Music Week, LiveUK, TPi Magazine and IQ to host conference sessions. As the UK continues to struggle with difficult economic conditions, Conference media partners will bring their individual expertise and market experience to produce discussions on the key issues in the festival industry – providing delegates with access to the most up-to-date thinking and developments. A topline overview of the six Conference Sessions is as follows, with further details including industry expert panellists to be announced in due course:

‘Making your festival profitable’ – in association with Music Week. Running a festival is a fun – but risky – business, especially with so much competition in the market and difficult economic conditions. From policing expenses and infrastructure to all the little “extras” that give events their uniqueness, what options are there for cutting costs without compromising quality, and what non-traditional revenue streams can be accessed? This panel of experts will show you how.

 ‘Best Practice for Leveraging Branded Activity at Music Festivals without selling out’ – in association with Brand Republic. More information about the Brand Republic session will be announced shortly.

‘Non-ticketed events should be banned…discuss’ – in association with TPI. The Love Parade disaster was a tragic example of the dangers presented by non-ticketed music events, but there is also evidence that, if managed properly with the correct crowd control measures, these events can operate safely. Key figures in crowd management will debate the viability of banning non-ticketed events and discuss the pivotal relationship between crowd control measures and the enjoyment of the festival-goer.

 ‘The Crime Busters’ – in association with LIVE UK. Although festivals have exemplary crime rates, compared with communities of the same size, large crowds of young people enjoying themselves are still seen as easy prey for organised crime gangs. In a follow-up to last year’s panel, LIVE UK will be reviewing the effects of this season’s anti-crime initiatives, discussing new ideas and looking at the threats festival organisers still need to be aware of..

 ‘Battle of the Bands’ – in association with Audience. While tens of thousands of aspiring wannabes worldwide are constantly locked in battles for prizes and profile, there’s a maelstrom of conflicts taking place at the top of the business, as festivals fight for the best artists and agents struggle to secure prime positions and fees. Acts mean audiences; with fans even prepared to move between countries to see their favourite artists. This panel examines this relatively new dynamic.

 ‘Dispatches from the Field’ – in association with IQ. Part of the joy of festivals is their unpredictability. From hurricanes and heatwaves, to riots and revelry, we all have a festival tale or two, but this panel of industry experts have them in abundance. IQ Magazine will be welcoming an allstar cast to the stage to swap festival tales from the frontline, as they share some of their highs, lows and most unusual moments from the field.

James Drury, the newly appointed Managing Director of Festival Awards Ltd said: “Last year’s events were a real success, with over 1,000 people at the Awards, and 500 at the Conference. We are building on those achievements to make 2010 even better. The number of conference panels has been increased to six in order to provide more opportunities for debate of the key issues in the industry, while the Awards ceremony will again see the highlights from the last 12 months picked out by thousands of festival-goers and our judging panels of journalists and industry experts. The British festival industry is regarded the world over as a model of best practice thanks to its professionalism, and the market’s vibrancy and popularity. After a day of thought-provoking conference sessions, the UK Festival Awards will be a celebration worthy of another year of great achievement.”

Applications have now opened for the Festival Awards UK. Almost all of the Awards are voted for by the fans, and the public can vote for categories that include Best Major, Medium and Small Festival, The Grassroots Festival Award, Best Family-Friendly Festival and of course…Best Toilets. Public voting in the Awards is weighted by attendance, so smaller capacity events have an equal chance against the larger ones. Our own ‘Greener Festival Award’ for the greenest of the green UK festivals will also be made on the day and we are hoping as many festivals as possible who took part in our Greener Festival Awards scheme can turn up to pick up their ‘bottle’ trophy and have their photo taken with us and Greener Festival Awards sponsor Roberston Taylor insurance brokers. Other awards, such as Best Line-Up, Promoter of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award are decided by judging panels made up of industry experts and journalists

To have an event included on the long-list, organisers need to fill out a short application form at http://uk.festivalawards.com/index.cfm/apply/  by 12 September. Last year almost 500,000 votes were cast.  The winners are announced on 18 November at the gala ceremony at Indigo2 at The O2 in London, which attracts over 1,000 people from the industry

Tickets for the Festival Awards UK Conference & Awards 2010 have now gone on sale via the exclusive ticketing platform HMV Tickets and are available in the following price structures. Delegates wishing to attend the Conference and/or Award events can combine ticket packages to suit their needs:

Platinum Ticket £145 • Table seat for Festival Awards show with some complimentary drinks at Indigo2 (12 seats per table; option to buy full table available) • Three-course gourmet meal with wine • Entry to UKFA after-show party • Delegate Bag

Conference only £60 • Full conference delegate pass to all sessions at British Music Experience, The O2, London • Copy of the UK Festival Report • Drinks reception • Delegate Bag

Awards only £30 • Mezzanine access to the Awards show at IndigO2, London • Entry to after-show party

More information on the Festival Awards UK Conference & Awards 2010 can be found at www.festivalawards.com  and www.festivalconference.com , while tickets can be purchased directly from HMV Tickets by visiting www.hmvtickets.com/festivalawards/events/1311

BBC Countryfile at the Big Chill

If you missed it, you can check out a really good report on greener festivals from the BBC as part of the Countryfile programme, which was first shown on Sunday 23rd August and is now up on the BBC iPlayer. It features contributions from our very own Claire O’Neill, Big Chill production manager Claudia Langmead, from land owner James Hervey-Bathurst and from Melvin Benn, boss of Festival Republic and organiser of the Big Chill and explores the impact of audience travel on greenhouse gas emissions, recycling and the waste left behind a festivals by the fans and returning the land back to the beautiful coutryside it usually is. The second part on the hard work which is the ‘clear up’ and the positive ecomomic impact of the Big Chill is at about 31.20 minutes in.

The iPlayer link is http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tl5fv/Countryfile_22_08_2010/  and John Craven’s report starts at about 09.40 minutes in

6.0: HOW HEAP AND PEBBLE TOOK ON THE WORLD AND WON

6.0: HOW HEAP AND PEBBLE TOOK ON THE WORLD AND WON

Created and Performed by Valentina Ceschi and Thomas Eccleshare

National Tour 2010  – THU 9 SEPTEMBER – FRI 12 NOVEMBER, 2010Winner of the Arches Brick Award and nominated for a Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Festival 2009,  

6.0: How Heap and Pebble Took on the World and Won is a prescient tale for our times, touching on pertinent themes of ecology and sport. Combining physical theatre, clowning and audience interaction, this is a delicate, funny, and touching exploration of how we cope with loss, on a human and on an environmental scale. It is the story of Heap Krusiak and Pebble Adverati, the greatest ice dancers of all time, who refuse to be defeated by a world that has run out of ice: instead they defiantly don their skates and perform their free dance, this time on a wooden floor, in theatres across the country.6.0: How Heap and Pebble Took on the World and Won was developed at the Battersea Arts Centre. It previewed at Latitude Festival as a Pick of the Pleasance, before premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2009 and will tour the UK in Autumn 2010.

‘Brilliant…intelligent and poignant’ Lyn Gardner, the Guardian

Running Time: 60 mins / Further information: www.dancingbrick.net

Tour dates

BAC, London
Thu-Sat, 9- 25 Sep
www.bac.org

South Hill Park, Bracknell
Mon 13 Sep
www.southhillpark.org.uk

Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury
Tue 14 & Wed 15 Sep
www.salisburyplayhouse.com

MAC, Birmingham
Wed 29 Sep
www.macarts.co.uk

ARC, Stockton on Tess
Wed 6 Oct
www.arconline.co.uk

Oxford Playhouse, Oxford
Thu 7 – Sat 9 Oct
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
olmen Centre, Cornwall
Fri 15 Oct
www.constantinecornwall.com

Prema Arts Centre, Gloucestershire
Sat 16 Oct
www.prema.demon.co.uk

Theatre Royal York
Sat 23 Oct
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Warwick Arts Centre
Tue 2 & Wed 3 November
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk

Nightingale, Brighton
Thu 11 & Fri 12 Nov
www.nightingaletheatre.co.uk

WANTED: Bestival Green Team volunteers

Bestival are looking for dedicated and brilliantly green minded volunteers for the Bestival Green Team.

Bestival is keen to measure and reduce its impact on the environment, including its carbon footprint and the Green Team will be an invaluable part of making this happen.

If you are interested in getting involved, would like to know more, and are available from 8th-13th September to go to Bestival please fill in the application form using the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BestivalGreenApplication2010

Contact me via email – aylinmcnamara at yahoo.com to get your application reviewed immediately.

Please fill in the application form as soon as possible to secure your place.

Also if you know any other wonderful green thinking and enthusiastic people who would love to get involved please put them in touch.

Is Oya leading the green parade?

This from the BBC: “From mountains of litter, to diesel-guzzling electric generators and fields transformed into temporary car parks.  many music festivals promote an environmentally friendly ethos but their carbon footprints often tell another story. This weekend, Norway’s award-winning Øya festival is showing how things can be done differently”. Have a look at the BBC’s report – and with hydro electric power driving the stages and site wide recycling including the sewage Oya is certainly doing its best to get cleaner and greener!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10964307

http://oyafestivalen.com/pages/eng/1-news

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Watchet gets solar boost

Audience magazine reports that the Watchet Live festival are utilising solar and wind power to reduce their reliance on electricity from fossil fuels. Watchet Live organiser Mark Bale has tied up with our friends at Croissant Neuf (winner of an ‘outstanding’ Greener Festival Award in 2009) who are providing their solar powered stage as the second stage at the 3500 capacity event.  Mike Beale said that using the stage “reduces our generators and diesel by about one third” adding “we are also able to use it as an educational process, demonstrating what is possible using renewable energy and we’ve been able to win a grant from Local Action for Rural Communities on the basis of using environmental facilities as a way of attracting tourism”. Headliners at the August Bank Holiday weekend bash include The Beat and Adrian Edmonson & The Bad Shepherds. 

www.watchetfestival.co.uk

Hadra and Grassroots spread the green message

 

Grassroots is a wonderful one day festival set in Val de Mare, Jersey. After a journey to the event by train, ferry and shuttle we were instantly struck by the lack of any rubbish on the floor. Grassroots commitment to reducing waste and keeping their site clean, as well as responsibly disposing of what is wasted is excellent. They had a reward scheme which was particularly utilized by the children where a full bucket of recyclable plastic bottles and cans could be exchanged for drinks tokens. They had only one local catering company and required them to use compostable packaging for any food containers. The initiative I was most impressed by is something I’ve been championing over the past year since hearing a similar scheme at Bonnarroo festival in Texas. There was no bottled water sold on site. There were refillable bottles sold for £1 and water filling stations around the site. This was facilitated by Jersey Water, and every pound collected went to charity Water Aid. This is hugely commendable on the part of the organizers who have foregone income from water sales for the sake of the environment and care for our finite resources. Organisers Allez-Oop are also informing the council of where Jersey infrastructure could be improved to assist with responsible waste management, for example provisions for industrial composting.

The Fourth edition of the Hadra Trance Festival took place in Lans-de-Vercour, French Alps this summer. Usually used as a ski resort, power was taken from the mains supply, whilst a number of traders brought solar power with them. Personal generators were banned at the event. The festival implemented a successful re-usable cup deposit scheme using “Ecocup” at the bars, and provided free re-usable butt bins in conjunction with sponsor “Green Addict”. Shuttles were provided from Grenoble train / coach station and free shuttles from Lans-de-Vercour to the festival site, and car share was promoted using covoiturage.fr, VFD, Jaspir and transiere.fr. Many bins for seperation of waste were provided by AREMACS and the Community of the Councils of Massifs of Vercours. Whilst the festival separated compost waste at present the location does not have the facility for food composting, only green composting (trees / plants etc). The site is a location of nature and beauty, and the message to protect this was widely communicated to the audience on website, flyers, posters, tickets, programmes and stalls.

Planet News

Russia's weather is 8C hotter than usual for this time of year

The massive oil leak from BP’s Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico may well be plugged but elsewhere there is mixed news for the environment.  Firstly, the ongoing heat wave in Russia is taking its human and environmental toll, and now the resulting fires and drought in Russia, combined with dry weather in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the European Union have wrecked crops and eaten into stockpiles. “I think it is appropriate to introduce a temporary ban on the export from Russia of grain and other agriculture products made from grain,” Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, told a government meeting in Moscow on Thursday. The ban, along with drought in Australia and floods in Pakistan and heavy rains in Canada and India , are beginning to alarm economist and politicians who are now predicting a global grain shortage in the coming months – and rising prices. The price of grain is already up 7.9% on the news, and is up 91% since June.

In the UK, Drax, operator of the coal-fired Selby power station in Yorkshire, have axed plans for a biomass station at nearby Immingham that would have generated 290 megawatts of electricity – enough for a city the size of Nottingham. Drax blamed uncertainty over long term government policy for the decision to scrap the £2 billion scheme.  Biomass power stations burn wood, straw and agricultural residues and generate electricity.

Better news is that a new car designed to run on gas from sewage has been developed – Wessex Water are generating methane from a treatment plant at Avonmouth, near Bristol. The Bio-Bug will be able to cover 10,000 miles annually on the by products from the waste of 70 homes. As the plant treats the homes of 1.1 million people the company hopes to run its entire fleet of vehicles on the gas.

Lastly, an interesting article in the Times this week by Bryan Lovell titled “if carbon looked like oil, we would act now”. The heading says it all really and Mr Lovell, a Senior Research Fellow in Earth Sciences at Cambridge University  ends up saying this “Deepwater Horizon reminds us that that terrible accidents may take the lives of the skilled workers  who probe rocks to find the fossil carbon that has fuelled our prosperity over the last century. What is written in those same rocks tells us, with increasing urgency, that we simply cannot burn the carbon with impunity” (August 4^th, 2010, p18 Opinion).

Green Phoenix cancelled

The organisers of the Green Phoenix Festival organisers have taken the decision to cancel the festival planned for 19-22 August at Gibside National Trust Estate. Organisers took the decision due to insufficient advance ticket sales, and had no option but to cancel the festival, in order to be able to refund public tickets and deposits from traders.

Festival director Jim Lepingwell said: “We recognize that purchasers may have been waiting to buy tickets on the gates, but we could not professionally take the risk to allow suppliers and traders to set up and artists to travel to us without guaranteeing them an audience. Over the past few months we have taken every step possible to ensure that the festival could go ahead. We are devastated to be cancelling the festival, however we felt it was responsible to do it at this stage so we can completely refund the tickets and deposits. Had we started the set up of the festival as planned for Monday, we would have incurred considerable costs. As it is, all the ticket money and deposits are safeguarded and we are able to completely refund ticket-holders and traders. We want to thank everyone who has supported us this year and the team who have worked very hard to put together the amazing event we had planned.”

Organisers hope to find a way to make some of the music and events happen as smaller events and will let people know as soon as these are confirmed.  Please see www.greenphoenixfestival.org.uk

The new Greener Festival Award 2010 is unveiled!

Winners of the 2010 Greener Festival Award are set to get our brand new trophy – although its not exactly brand spanking new-  as each trophy is made out of a recycled wine bottle – but with a brand new label design by our very own Luke, indicating that the winner has recieved the Greener Festival Award 2010 in one of three classes – Improving, Commended or Outstanding.

In Australia  nine Festivals already have the Greener Festival Award and our Awards Organiser over in Oz,  Amie,  has kindy agreed to locate suitable wine bottles, empty them and affix our labels once she has, ahem, finished with them! The winner in Australia are Bluesfest, The Falls Festival (on two sites) WOMADelaide, Southbound, Fairbridge, Island Vibe, Blues n Roots and Peats Ridge (who were awarded an outstanding Greener Festival Award) and will be gettig their trophies soon.

The final list of Award winners from the UK, European the USA will be announced in September and we hope to hand out the Award Trophies to UK winners at the UK Festival Awards in November (along with the overall Greener Festival award for the best performing UK festival, last year won by the Croissant Neuf Summer Party) and we hope to give out the winners’ trophies to European Festivals at the European Festival Awards at The Eurosonic/Noorderslag Festival in Gronigen, Holland in January 2011 along with the award for best overall “Green ‘n’ Clean” European festival organised by our friends at the European Festivals’ organisation Yourope (won by the Oya Festival last year).

Last year’s Greener Festival Award Trophy was made out of recycled Plastic Bottles, re-moulded Wellington Boots and crushed CDs and designed by Sade Goddard, a student at Keswick School in Cumbria,

Photo:  Ben Challis

http://www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl/en/conference/

Sonisphere moves up a gear

Sonisphere has got bigger – much bigger – and good news for organisers Kililive, the Sunday was a complete and utter sell out as metal fans flocked to Knebworth House in Hertfordshire for a feast of metal, rock, electro and punk.  With a stellar line up topped by Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Alice Cooper, Slayer, Placebo, Motley Crue, Gallows, Pendulum and Alice in Chains the weekend was blessed with remarkably good weather too (last year it rained!) continuing this bloggers run of good luck with festivals this summer – a baking Glastonbury, a roasting Lounge on the Farm and now a glorious sun drenched Sonisphere.

I got the train from London and the shuttle bus at Stevenage station couldn’t have been easier – a distinct improvement on last year when things were a bit more muddled – and well done to the organisers for making train travel so easy. There were big signs up at the station, directing festival goers to the shuttle bus, staff on hand to help and plenty of room for rucksacks and tents.  Its a quick ride over the motorway and then Sonisphere comes into view – with vastly more camping (and parking) this year.

The lovely Lucy showed me round the site just as Skunk Anansie came on stage – we had to stop and watch the end of their set by the way – they were on TOP form – a real eye opener – and Skin hasn’t changed AT ALL – I must get some of whatever she is taking – my picture in the attic is running out of time.  The site is remarkably litter free (for a Festival) and one new innovation at Sonisphere this year was a Coke sponsored recycling scheme where punters could ‘swap for swag’ – returning used plastic bottles to a big stand in the main arena where they could swap them for swag  – 10 bottles gets you a torch and lanyard, 15 bottles a cap and 20 bottles a T-shirt.  It works – when we got to the stand they were urgently trying to get hold of more stocks having completely run out – just as two of the sites most avid collectors returned with more recycling (see picture on the right) ! Sonisphere also now have a 10P deposit scheme on their paper and plastic beer glasses and again it just encourages people to return glasses to the bar for recycling.

We all know left behind tents remain a big problem.  Apart from  their ‘Simply The Fest’ campaign for recycling tents, Sonisphere have teamed up with The Better Festival Group (www.thebetterfestivalgroup.co.uk) to launch the Big Tent Recycle Campaign for 2010 to urge festival goers to recycle tents, sleeping bags and camping mats – it really is best to take all your gear home and reuse it, but knowing some people just won’t do this we really hope this scheme works.

Overall, a bigger, better and distinctly greener approach at Sonisphere this year. Hats (or recycled caps) off to them!

http://uk.sonispherefestivals.com/

You can read Phil Davies’ review on E-Festivals here http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/sonisphere/2010/review-day2.shtml and Scott Williams’ reviews here http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/sonisphere/2010/review-friday.shtml and here http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/sonisphere/2010/review-saturday.shtml and here http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/sonisphere/2010/review-overview.shtm and here’s Virtual Festival’s review http://www.virtualfestivals.com/festivals/reviews/8214/-/-Sonisphere-Festival-2010-Rated

We were at two other festivals this weekend – here’s a link to E-Festivals for what went on at KENDAL CALLING http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/kendalcalling/2010/review-overview.shtml here’s a link to a review of the CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/cambridgefolk/2010/reviewpart3.shtml