Believe it or not, there’s more to the English weather than cold, wind and unexpected snow. Hopefully by July there’ll be a bit of sun about the place, as 27 and 28 July is when this year’s Riverside Festival is set to take place in its regular idyllic setting of Charlbury.

Amazingly, this will be the eighteenth year for Riverside, and thankfully the organisers aren’t going to reinvent or change the format of what is one of the nicest Oxfordshire music events of the year. Over two days (from midday to 10.00 pm on Saturday, and 11.00 am to 8.00 pm on Sunday), the free festival includes all kinds of local bands and musicians playing on several stages, along with comedy, family-friendly stuff, food, and what might be described (badly) as a ‘chilled-out vibe’.

This year, there will be a stage run by Truck Store and Rapture Records, who will doubtless add some gems to the line-up, some of which has already been announced. So far confirmed to play are DB Band, The Byronics, Brickwork Lizards, The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, Swindlestock, The Kites and Death Of Hifi. More to come soon, we’re sure!

Find out more and keep up to date at the Riverside Festival website.

The Riverside organisers will also run a stage at Cornbury Festival, for which so far they’ve lined up The Inflatables, Ran Kan Kan, Black Hats, Brickwork Lizards and The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band. Confusingly, also playing will be The New Forbidden, who feature Loyd Grossman in their number.