Warming up for a tents summer

AS the season of music festivals is almost upon us, party animals all over London are spending hours making phone calls to secure tickets for this summer's myriad field-based happenings. They are, let's face it, our pilgrimage - music and getting off your face are all we believe in these days.

Getting sorted for the festival season is like a military operation, so much so that, and (whisper it quietly), there are now just too many. Personally, I can't face sleeping in a tent almost every single weekend this summer. I like my bed, particularly after a heavy night. Still, that doesn't mean that some of the festivals aren't well worth getting sorted out for. The trick is to pick one great one and harangue everyone you know into signing up for it. Glastonbury is obviously always a winner, Bestival and Secret Garden should both be in the running and newbie Rock Ness on the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland is worth a look, too.

Here in London, Wireless, SW4 and Lovebox have the added bonus that you can slip off to a club afterwards or head home to bed. But with festivals come festival warm-up club nights. Now, it was at Bestival 2006, at 5am on Saturday morning, that I watched someone from A Clockwork Orange get married to a girl dressed as a cycle path (yes, yes - they were both cycle/psycho paths) in an inflatable church, as I danced just outside next to a giant exclamation mark. So you'll know what to expect this Saturday at Turnmills as the Bestival posse take control. Expect cutting-edge sounds from The Glimmers, Funk D'Void, Justin Robertson, Rob Da Bank, Dub Pistols and many more, plus free haircuts, a swap shop and a fancy dress competition with the prize of a pair of tickets to this legendary festival.

Definitely not sanctioned by Glastonbury, and about as far from the spiritual nonsense of hippiedom as it's possible to be, is Hood-stonbury '07 at 93 Feet East tonight. Run by the gobby posse who produce the Styleslut blog (styleslut.blogspot.com), it's a deeply trendy, ultra-ironic mash-up of grime, guitars and ghetto-fab punters clad in Kangols, gold chains and hi-tops. This is cutting-edge clubland's answer to festivals and it deserves your support.