A mere half-week remains before Barcelona is to host the triumphant return of the sweet, heavy and blissful sounds of AMFest.

When artists offer humble acknowledgement of how well they’re being treated by the crew and how nice it is to play for such a welcoming audience it just underlines what a special festival this is.

Joseph Norman and Emma Filtness went to Roadburn Festival this year. Read their very detailed thoughts and review of this year’s festival edition.

Our London-based writer Joe Norman will cover Roadburn Festival for Echoes and Dust this year. So, read his preview to get the excitement going, or to check out some of Joe’s recommendations.

The Ritz’s famed sprung dancefloor is doing its bouncy thing beneath a leaping pit of bodies and the air is pulsing and expanding with energy and excitement. Up on stage, Girl Band are tearing the roof off, firing out great chunks of sound that explode …

Everybody needed this weekend, full of music and laughter, good food and good company. It was much-needed therapy for the soul.

Part 3 of our Roadburn Redux coverage. “It was maybe one of the most egalitarian musical ventures to have been attempted, not just during this lockdown but ever.”

Part 2 of our Roadburn Redux coverage. “Even online, Roadburn really is like no other festival: diverse, innovative music whose heaviness always cuts deep.”

Part 1 of our Roadburn Redux coverage. “It got far, far closer to that magic than I imagined possible for a digitally distanced event. A fantastic achievement from all involved.”

Roadburn Festival returns this year as ‘Roadburn Redux’, which takes place online with loads of things to choose from. Echoes and Dust looks ahead to see who and what is involved this year.

With the stroke of a Covid-19 pen, Birmingham’s brilliant but lockdowned Supersonic festival became the virtual, Sofasonic. Jared Dix was sitting comfortably and gives us the full DFS. . .

Heavy Psych Sounds Records brought some heavy Stoner and Psych Rock vibes to Camden’s Underworld in a one-day mini-festival.

Day 2 of Sheffield’s HRH Prog festival saw great turns from Canterbury legends Soft Machine and Caravan, amongst others.

We headed to Yorkshire for the weekend to keep abreast of developments at the UK’s biggest prog festival, and heard great sets from both The Vintage Caravan and Gong on Day 1.

There’s far more to Glastonbury’s music scene than just a once-yearly festival in nearby Pilton. We relive 10 highlights from this year’s psychedelic celebration at The King Arthur here and now.

Like the previous year, this 2019 edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival proved to be as exciting as it was unpredictable, a fertile ground where unmet expectations on one end are inevitably traded off with amazing discoveries found not far elsewhere.

With such a large and diverse selection of bands I was spoilt for choice; my only regret is that I didn’t see enough. All that can be asked of Wild Paths Festival going forward is that it keeps true to its local-community-led approach while still aiming even bigger and better. I really hope it is here to stay and can grow and support itself over the years to come.

Devotees to the sounds of hipness, rejoice! The time has come for your sacred, yearly mass, for Pitchfork Festival will shortly return, bigger and bolder than ever, for its ninth consecutive year at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris.

Cult of Luna, Caspian, Meshuggah – ArcTanGent’s superb if soggy Saturday line-up was nigh on exhausting. Gaz Cloud donned the wellies and squelched his way through a muddy but magnificent 11 bands in 12 hours.

“If you see me at ArcTanGent this weekend – remind me that I hate camping and festivals and to never do it again. Thanks” That was my Facebook status update on August 14, 2019. Three days later and my mind was changed completely. . . About one of those things. . .

Green Man remains a gathering of like-minded, wonderful people – people who care for others, care for this earth we live on, and care for the utterly gorgeous music and art that makes the festival so special.