These are the top UK events in July 2019

Just when you thought you’d escaped the portaloo, they pull you back in, with almost all July 2019’s top UK events void of plumbing. Not that we’re complaining. 

Leeds institution Cocoon In The Park takes our number one spot for the northern regions, bowing out after 11 years. Don’t miss homegrown talent Annie Errez and Bobby O’Donnell alongside big guns like Sven Väth. 

Bluedot at stargazer’s paradise Jodrell Bank in Cheshire will be more future-proof. Learn to make a spacesuit and hear lectures on civilization relocating to other planets, if you’ve brain cells left after Kraftwerk, K Á R Y Y N, DJ Mag podcastee Kelly Lee Owens, Peach, Willow, Josey Rebelle and more. 

Former free party Beat-Herder is back in stunning Ribble Valley, and rave-y as ever— Skream, Billy Bunter, Bill Brewster and Mark XTC are down. And the much-loved Kelburn Garden Party in Largs has its 10th birthday. Rex Club don Chloe, rising technoist Nightwave, Optimo’s JD Twitch and jazzy Glaswegian Rebecca Vasmant on-site. 

Intimate, artsy and bass-y, Kallida has a new country house to run amok in— Sparkford Hall in Yeovil. Drafting veterans and top new talent alike it takes pole position for West, Wales and Midlands. Farmfest has a great reputation for attention to detail, with Portico Quartet, old school beauties A Man Called Adam and James Holden & The Animal Spirits doing live stuff; then you have the likes of Hodge, Call Super and emerging UK heads Ellie Stokes and Em Williams in the booths. 

For a broader musical scope think Westival; Orpheu The Wizard and Marcellus Pittman meet Sheffield-based Zanzibari songstress Mim Suleiman and London dubbers Nubiyan Twist. Elsewhere, El Dorado seizes a 19th Century castle for Kool & The Gang, Todd Terje, Breakage, recent DJ Mag HQ guest Folamour and Madam X. And the award-winning Nozstock is always great— Remarc, Ed Rush, Benny L and Soul II Soul play. 

London is less outdoors, aside from Naked City at Beckenham Park. Don’t miss DJ Python, Afriquoi or the vocal talents of Fatima (Alexander Nut is also there). Studio 338 gets a new regular party with Strange Places— the opener looks so good it’s our top pick. And HVYWGHT returns to Fire with Commodo and Boofy’s b2b experimentalism, Egoless’ grime stylings and Bengal Sound’s continent-colliding beats. 

Outside the capital, but similarly indoors, Hastings has Hybrid with a raw and dirty electro dream team— Null + Void’s Kirsti, Hatch and ADJ of Pyramid Transmissions and UK legend Radioactiveman. Sophisticates, meanwhile, hit Manchester International Festival from Thursday 5th July. 14 days of world premieres include Queens of the Electronic Underground, with Mary Anne Hobbs, ballet-loving multifarious sound artists Jlin, politicised synth siren Holly Herndon, Houndstooth alt-techno type Aisha Devi, LA abstract popper Katie Gately and Swedish composer Klara Lewis.

Complete monthly listings for the UK can be found in DJ Mag’s current print edition, July 2019, Issue 595, fronted by the incredible SOPHIE. 

LONDON / SOUTH

1. STRANGE PLACES 
SATURDAY 27TH JULY 
STUDIO 338, LONDON
If you’re looking for a daytime party in the UK capital there are worse places to go than Studio 338. The Greenwich spot offers spectacular views over the city from its terrace— a huge space that would make many venues in much warmer climes green with envy. 

For Strange Places the music looks set to make just as much of an impact, with an accomplished list of players vying for attention to kick this new series into action. Dan Beaumont is a London ledge who defines the term ‘selector’, and he’s just for starters. You also get the not-so-small matter of Eris Drew, Powder, re:ni and rRoxymore, making this a session primed to introduce people to the farthest reaches of house, techno and some inter-planetary cosmic bits drifting between the two.
2PM - 6AM / £15 

2. NAKED CITY 
SATURDAY 27TH JULY 
BECKENHAM PARK, LONDON 
Alexander Nut, Neneh Cherry, LTJ Bukem, Fatima, Kamaal Williams, Henry Wu, DJ Python, Mafalda, Fred P, Afriquoi, more.   
12PM - 10.30PM / £35

3. HVYWGHT PRESENTS: INNAMIND 
FRIDAY 5TH JULY 
FIRE, LONDON 
Egoless, Commodo B2B Boofy, Goth Trad, Bengal Sound, more.
11PM - 7AM / £13 - £18 

4. ORIGINS DAY & NIGHT 
SATURDAY 20TH JULY
MICK'S GARAGE, LONDON 
Randomer, Anastasia Kristensen, more. 
3PM - 4AM / £5 

5. HYBRID 
SATURDAY 27TH JULY
BLACK MARKET VIP, HASTINGS
Radioactiveman, Kirsti, Hatch, ADJ, Japhy, more. 
7.30PM - 3AM / £6 - £10 

NORTH / SCOTLAND / NORTHERN IRELAND

1. COCOON IN THE PARK 2019
SATURDAY 13TH JULY 
TEMPLE NEWSHAM, LEEDS
Leeds has had the best and worst of times in 2019. Mint Club, Church and Canal Mills have bowed out under the weight of various issues. But, on the positive side, the second Inner City Electronic last month proved there’s still loads of life left in Yorkshire’s biggest dog, and now we get to savour this 11-year-old institution. Sadly, though, it's the last ever instalment in its proud history. 

As per usual the Papa, Sven Väth, will be taking centre stage on the only stage of day at this single-rig celebration of techno and tech. Direct from Detroit, Carl Craig joins in the action, with a host of UK faces also playing out. Patrick Topping, Eats Everything and Alan Fitzpatrick top the domestic list, with FUSE’s Enzo Siragusa and Rich NxT also representing alongside local heavies Annie Errez and Bobby O’Donnell. It will be bittersweet come last orders, so get involved while you can. 
10AM - 11PM / £50 - £75

2. BLUEDOT 
THURSDAY 18TH - SUNDAY 21ST JULY 
JODRELL BANK, CHESHIRE 
Kraftwerk, Kelly Lee Owens, Peach, Willow, Josey Rebelle, K Á R Y Y N, more. 
12PM - 12PM / £179.25 

3. KELBURN GARDEN PARTY
THURSDAY 4TH - SUNDAY 7TH JULY 
KELBURN CASTLE, LARGS
Leftfield (DJ), LTJ Bukem, Nathan Fake (live), Acid Arab, Chloe, Nightwave, JD Twitch, Rebecca Vasmant. 
6PM - 3AM / £89 - £129 

4. BEAT-HERDER FESTIVAL  2019 
FRIDAY 12TH - SUNDAY 14TH JULY 
RIBBLE VALLEY, LANCASHIRE 
Skream, Benny L, DJ Q, Huxley, La Fleur, Metrik, Psychemagik, Billy Bunter, Bill Brewster, Mark XTC, Victor Simonelli, Groove Armada, Sugar Hill Gang, more. 
12PM - 12AM / £158.85 

5. QUEENS OF THE ELECTRONIC UNDERGROUND 
SATURDAY 20TH JULY
O2 RITZ, MANCHESTER
Mary Anne Hobbs, Jlin, Holly Herndon, Aisha Devi, Katie Gately, Klara Lewis. 
8PM - 2AM / £17 - £22 

MIDLANDS / WEST & WALES

1. KALLIDA 2019
FRIDAY 19TH - MONDAY 22ND JULY 
SPARKFORD HALL, YEOVIL
Opting to move on from the notorious Baskerville Hall, Kallida heads way down south to a different address but promises much of the same. So that’s three nights of madness and mayhem, visual arts and heads-y sounds, making for a house party to end all house parties. Which sounds ideal. 

As with its previous editions, the line-up represents respected and revered faces alongside a few that won’t be too widely recognised. So that means plenty of opportunities to make new discoveries. At the major end you’ve got the likes of UK bass stalwart Joy Orbison, rave originators 2 Bad Mice, genre-straddler DEBONAIR, cult garage-stepper Sully, and Parisian 'King of Blends'-cum-Boiler Room host Teki Latex. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll also find rising UK footworker FAUZIA, world-y beats from Ahadadream (of No ID— featured in June's DJ Mag), the aural acid trip that is DJ Rail Replacement Bus Service and London club crew Make Me. 
12PM - 3AM / £115 

2. WESTIVAL ’19 
FRIDAY 19TH - MONDAY 22ND JULY 
SHIPPING HILL FARM, TENBY
Marcellus Pittman, CC:Disco, Cervo, Esa, Jamie Tiller, Orpheu The Wizard, Mim Suleiman, Nubiyan Twist, Yaaba Funk.
9AM - 12PM / £20 - £80 

3. FARMFEST
THURSDAY 25TH - SUNDAY 28TH JULY 
GILCOMBE FARM, SOMERSET 
Portico Quartet, A Man Called Adam, James Holden & The Animal Spirits, Call Super, Shanti Celeste, Maurice Fulton, Coldcut (DJ), Hodge, Raw Silk, Ellie Stokes, Em Williams, more.
4PM - 4AM / £92

4. NOZSTOCK: THE HIDDEN VALLEY
THURSDAY 18TH - SUNDAY 21ST JULY 
BROMYARD, HEREFORDSHIRE 
Remarc, Ed Rush, Benny L, Marcus Nasty, Danny Byrd, Soul II Soul, Sonny Wharton. 
11AM - 12AM / £130 

5. EL DORADO FESTIVAL  
FRIDAY 5TH - SUNDAY 7TH JULY
EASTNOR CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE  
Todd Terje, Andy C, Kool & The Gang, DJ Seinfeld, Chaos In The CBD, Joey Negro, Detroit Swindle, Folamour, Mall Grab, Breakage, Dimension, Madam X, Kettama, more. 
10AM - 12PM / £160

Martin Guttridge-Hewitt is DJ Mag's clubs listings editor— shout at him on Twitter @martinghewitt