Off the record: Pop in the park

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Breath of fresh air: The Ting Tings will play at Somerset House this summer

The sun has lately shown its face and our thoughts turn to flip flops and standing in a field watching a band or two.

However, for many London sophisticates, the process of sitting in a month's worth of traffic, hammering tent pegs and getting dressed in a crouching position may be a shade outré.

Thankfully our options for some musical fresh air close by remain wonderfully broad.
The fence posts have moved somewhat this year, with Rise and the Innocent Village Fete absent and Wireless reduced from four days to two, but there's a promising new one in store too. The Serpentine Sessions (29 June-1 July, 0844 576 5483, www.serpentinesessions.com) offer an intimate 3,000 capacity and sets from the kind of acts you sit down and ponder — Regina Spektor, Bon Iver and Tindersticks. It's not quite as blissfully leafy as the website implies, being simply the same well-trampled Hyde Park set up of the previous days' Hard Rock Calling festival minus the main stage.

Hard Rock Calling itself (26-28 June, 0870 534 4444, www.hardrockcalling.co.uk) usually gives every impression of being programmed by Jeremy Clarkson but it's managed to lift its profile this year by featuring two Glastonbury headliners in Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, and expanding to three days to include relative whippersnappers The Killers.

Hyde Park concludes its summer with Wireless (4-5 July, 08444 771 000, www.wirelessfestival.co.uk), now truncated and focusing on dance and hip hop with sets by Basement Jaxx, Kanye West, Dizzee Rascal and The Streets. Those that way inclined should also move their dancing feet towards Clapham Common on the August bank holiday weekend, when South West Four boasts a line-up of major DJs including Sasha and John Digweed (29 August, 0844 847 2467, www.southwestfour.com) and Get Loaded in the Park presents dance acts such as Orbital and Röyksopp (30 August, 0844 847 2467, www.getloadedinthepark.com).

The park is pleasant enough but what really sets London apart from the camping crowd is a unique backdrop. The Neoclassical courtyard of Somerset House has been the serene setting of choice for classy outdoor gigs since 2002, and this year an extensive choice includes Bat For Lashes, The Ting Tings and Lily Allen (9-18 July, 0870 534 4444, www.somersethouse.org.uk/music).

Or for those whose concert experience must include a historic building, a patterned rug, hamper and possibly a tiara, there are numerous evenings lined up at Kenwood House (27 June-22 August, 0844 412 2706, www.picnicconcerts.com), Hampton Court (2-13 June, 0844 811 0050, www.hamptoncourtfestival.com) and the Tower of London (10-20 Sept, 0844 888 9991, www.towerfestival.com). Expect a restrained mix of popular classical and mainstream pop performers.

Speaking of mainstream pop, Capital FM is offering a handy roadshow-style summary of the year's chart-toppers with the revival of the radio station's Party in the Park, now revamped as the Summertime Ball and moved to the Emirates Stadium (7 June, 0871 22 22 958, www.capitalradio.co.uk/music-showbiz/summertime-ball). Leona Lewis, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and reforming pop beefcakes Blue will all play sets.

The cooler kids will prefer the Underage Festival in Victoria Park (2 August, 0844 477 2000, www.underagefestivals.com), an indie extravaganza strictly for 14- to 18-year-olds starring parent-unfriendly bands such as The Horrors, Hadouken! and The XX. Grown-ups with teenage tendencies can attend something similar in the same place, with many of the same acts, the day before at the Field Day Festival (1 August, 0844 477 2000, www.fielddayfestivals.com). The Hackney park's summer also includes the Lovebox Weekender (18/19 July, 0870 534 4444, www.lovebox.net) where London's most eclectic line-up ranges from Duran Duran to New York Dolls, Doves and Groove Armada.

And if you really must abandon the Smoke and unfurl your tent, why not try one of the lesser-known weekends such as Cornbury in Oxfordshire (11/12 July, 0871 472 0420, www.cornburyfestival.com), with a scenic Cotswolds setting plus Sugababes and The Pretenders, or Beachdown near Brighton (28-31 August, 0871 424 4444, www.beachdownfestival.com), which offers Grace Jones and Super Furry Animals. Other smaller weekenders with fine reputations and plenty of tickets available are Latitude in Southwold (16-19 July, 0871 231 0821, www.latitudefestival.co.uk) and Camp Bestival in Dorset (24-26 July, 0844 888 4410, www.campbestival.co.uk).

But even if the weather's been balmy, remember what country this is. The festival with a Tube line, and your own bed at the end of it, might just be London's greatest summer invention.
 

 

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