DRINK IT IN
The music and beer festival returning to UK airport this summer – with live bands, axe-throwing and £18 tickets
See the line-up for the event plus who's playing at some of the UK's biggest music festivals this year
A UK airport is set to host a music and beer festival this summer following the success of last year's event.
It's not uncommon for people to get themselves a pint at the airport, with some treating their pre-flight beer like a sort of tradition.
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However, at London Southend Airport, people turn up for the pints without having any plane tickets booked.
A festival combining live music, street food and locally brewed beers is due to return to the airport for a second time this summer.
This year's at the Vulcan will be held on Friday, August 2 and Saturday, August 3 in the Vulcan Restoration Trust's hangar.
Southend brewers Black Box and Maldon brewery Datum Attitude will have 35 different beers and ciders on offer between them.
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There will also be a Pimms and prosecco bar as well as another bar selling gin & tonics and a wide selection of cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.
The festival also promises a "parade of excellent street food vendors" including Time To Thai Noodles, Gourmet Burger Bar, Brick Lane Bagels Stand and an ice cream and doughnut kiosk.
Among the bands confirmed so far are Sons of Bourbon, Ruby Robinson & Jazz Quartet, The Long Run, Throw Back To The Future and Faux Fighters.
Other bands and solo artists are set to be added to the line-up, with seven hours of live music planned each day.
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There will also be a tabletop shuffleboard and bar skittles as well as some outdoor axe throwing and several other activities and games.
Tickets are already on sale at the price of £18 per day for adults and £4 for accompanied under-18s.
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They include a complimentary festival beer glass and £3 off your first pint with Black Box Brewery.
Each pint will cost £4.50 afterwards.
Who's playing which festivals this year?
Music festivals are a huge part of summer in the UK. Here's who is playing at some of the biggest ones across the country.
Glastonbury
This year's Glasto headliners include Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and Sza, while Shania Twain, Cyndi Lauper and PJ Harvey are among a number of other names to have been confirmed.
Isle of Wight
This year's Isle of Wight festival will be headlined by The Prodigy, Pet Shop Boys and Green Day.
Reading & Leeds
Taking to the main stage at this year's Reading and Leeds festivals will be Blink 182, Fred Again, Lana Del Ray, Liam Gallagher, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Gerry Cinnamon among others.
Latitude
Kasabian, London Grammar, Duran Duran, Keane, Rick Astley and Rag 'n' Bone Man are among those to be included in the lineup at the Suffolk festival this year.
Camp Bestival
At this year's Camp Bestival, held at Lulworth Castle in Dorset, guests can see the likes of Paloma Faith, Pete Tong, McFly, Orbital, The Darkness and Sophie Ellis-Bextor among others.
Southend isn't the first airport to be turned into a place for parties.
The now defunct Tegel Airport in Berlin has been transformed into Turbulence TXL - the airport's former IATA code - which celebrated its launch with a "lift-off" rave earlier this year.
Party-goers can make use of the airport’s canteen, which has now been repurposed as an event space.
listed the space at 13th in their 24 best things to do in the world in 2024, saying big things were being planned at the former airport.
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They wrote: "The building, famous for its striking brutalist architecture, can host up to 700 people.
"According to the nightclub’s Instagram, the space is ‘planning big things for the open air season next year’. Grab your grungiest, stompiest dancing shoes."
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