Summer 2010 is full of beach BBQ's and music festivals

The summer time is upon us once again, and what a glorious this summer of 2010 is turning out to be. I for one have had many picnics on the beach this year as it is the truly fantastic weather that allows me to do so. British summers are notoriously wet and dull, such as the summer of 2009 which saw many barbecues called off, many music festivals washed out and a lot of disappointed faces all round. I remember waiting until October for the good weather to hit, and when it still hadn't I just gave up and waited for the snow.

This year is set to change all that. I have big plans for the weeks ahead, one of which is to visit as many music festivals as humanly possible. I hope to surpass the amount of festivals that the average music lover would attend as I have a lot of free time this summer. I have pre-booked a lot of my music festival tickets and can't wait to get into the swing of things with friends and the ones I love. I'm not new to the music festival scene and I never really spend just a few hours at the music festivals I attend. If I can I will buy the weekend camping tickets that allow me to stay in the vicinity for a few days and see as many of the music acts as I can. Obviously you can't be in all the places at once and see all the music acts at the same time, therefore it is best to have a music festival schedule, allowing you to navigate your way around the event and stick to the times as best you can. Schedules do tend to take some of the fun away from the music festival, so use it as a guide, but don't count it as the be all and end all of having a good time.

I have found that lately the music festival scene has been pretty dominated by the marketing involved as of course, music festivals are big business for anyone wanting to get in on the act. I'm sure the live acts themselves always do well with the money they make. Music festivals and touring in general looks like opportunity that is much more profitable than CD sales once were. I have heard many different people stating that the times when buying physical music have passed as it is all about downloading, both legally and illegally. It is the illegal downloads that damage the music industry although that is debateable too. For example I know many people who might have downloaded a track or two from a new album released by the artist they love and then go out and buy that album based on that one song they downloaded. It's all swings and roundabouts.

Back to the plan; the music festivals this year have some amazing line ups, and for the genres I love (electronic, trance and house) they couldn't be better. I would advise anyone wanting to go to some music festivals to be prepared though as they can throw up some unforeseen events. For example the weather can, and may do change at the drop of a hat, so do pack some form of waterproofs to take with you. A quality tent will protect you from the elements too if there are any. A couple of music festival golden rules are to take a lot of water with you and drink as much of it as you can. The summer sun will dehydrate you immensely, especially if you're drinking alcopops. The last tip is to take a mini first aid kit with you too as the queues at music festivals for the first aid help are always extremely long.