Anyone who has been avoiding doing the xmas shopping because they can’t deal with the unwashed masses could bypass it all by giving the gift of a musical day out. Not only will you have the chance to introduce someone to some decent music, but you won’t have to deal with crowds of annoying people buying cheap shit no one needs for people they don’t like. (bah humbug)

Next year’s Future Music Festival has some interesting bands on the bill, with more live bands than usual including Franz Ferdinand, Prodigy, Empire of the Sun and Does it offend you, Yeah? The next line-up announcement will be soon.

Summadayze has The Presets, Technotronic (seriously!) and Infected Mushroom all doing live sets for our bouncing pleasure.

Until Sunday, Mellen Events has cheap earlybird tickets to both festivals and double packs on sale which means you can do your xmas shopping online and avoid the usual stab stab bury bury . (Or is that just me?)