Last year, Hamburg punk rock festival Booze Cruise branched out and started a sister festival in Bristol. Running during the second May bank holiday weekend, at one of the best DIY venues in the UK – The Exchange – it features a whole host of the best new bands from the UK, Europe and the Unites States. Unfortunately, the weekend clashes with long running alternative music festival Slam Dunk, providing a difficult decision for people about which to go to. Here's my top ten reasons to go to Bristol Booze Cruise.
It's important to support smaller festivals to help them grow and continue to exist. The more festivals there are, the more choice people have with what they want to do and the more chances there are for bands to get on bills and potentially play to a new audience. For me personally, supporting a DIY festival is more rewarding than attending a big, corporate sponsored festival. I know I'll have fun at both but I'll feel more a part of something exciting at Booze Cruise.
2. Support Small Bands
I touched on this on point one, but at Booze Cruise you will have the opportunity to see some bands you probably haven't before and no doubt you'll become a fan of those bands. Something that's put me off of Slam Dunk over the past few years is the use of the same collection of bands. A lot of time, it's also bands from twenty years ago and not many who are current. Admittedly, we all like to get a bit nostalgic now and again but we need to support the up and coming bands. If we don't, the scene won't be able to survive and exist like it does today.
3. Non Cis/Females On Stage
A big complaint many people have about festivals is the lack of representation of non-male people. It's nice to see Booze Cruise (along with other DIY festivals like MPF) tackle this. On the line-up this year, they have seventeen out of the forty-three bands that feature non cis/female members which is just fantastic. On the Sunday, the weekend finishes with three of those bands – Ramona, Worriers and Petrol Girls. To me, that's a great statement of intent from the Booze Cruise organisers that they want it to be a festival of diversity and inclusion. I love to see it.
4. International Bands In The UK For The First Time
Booze Cruise offers newer bands from abroad a chance to come to the UK for the very first time. I love seeing bands such as these come over for the first time and gaining more fans each time they come back. Among the bands coming over to the UK for the first time this year are Ramona, Captain Asshole, Moonraker, Typesetter, Disaster Jacks, Higley, Hit Like A Girl, Alright, Late Bloomer and Jabber. So, come see them before they start playing bigger venues!
5. The Exchange
As I said in the introduction, Booze Cruise will be taking place at The Exchange in Bristol. The Exchange is one of the UK's premier DIY venues and has become a regular stop on tours for many DIY bands. The great thing about The Exchange is that it's not just a venue. It's also a vegan café and the headquarters of Specialist Subject Records. If you have time between bands, you can go and enjoy some fantastic cake or buy some records from the shop. It's got everything you could possibly need all in one place!
6. A Friendly Community
From my experience of Hamburg Booze Cruise last year and DIY festivals in general, there's always such a friendly atmosphere at these events. I expect Bristol Booze Cruise to be no different. The crowd of people who attend, whether you know them or you don't, can usually make a good festival a great festival. This is the sort of festival you can expect to come away from having a lot of new friends to meet at other festivals throughout the year.
7. NO CLASHES
One of the biggest headaches from all festivals is the potential for clashes. Something wonderful about Bristol Booze Cruise is that there are no clashes at all. The only thing stopping you from seeing all forty-three bands is the need to eat occasionally. But, with the Exchange café, you won't need to go far for some grub before getting back to the punk rock fun times.
8. Bristol
This isn't really a festival related reason as such. Rather, just a letter of love to the city of Bristol. It's such a beautiful and vibrant place with plenty of things to offer if you've got time either side of the festival. In my experience, it's definitely one of the friendliest cities in the UK and I always look forward to going back there whenever I get the opportunity.
9. Value For Money
All three days of the festivals is just £55. That's a cracking bit of value when you consider it is possible to also see every single band. That's less than £1.30 a band! Compare that to the £75 that it costs to go to Slam Dunk where you'll do well to see ten different bands, you know which one financially makes the most amount of sense.
10. Get Out Of A Rut And Start A New Tradition
A lot of people I speak to continue to go to Slam Dunk every year just because it's what they do. Even if they don't enjoy it as much as they once did, they continue to go out of habit. Bristol Booze Cruise offers such a fantastic chance to do something different, perhaps start a new yearly tradition or even a new bi-yearly one where you alternate between festivals. Booze Cruise offers a fantastic choice that we haven't really had before.
You can buy tickets for Bristol Booze Cruise here.
Check out the Facebook event here.
This top ten was written by Colin Clark.
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