Now in its second year, The Hop Farm Festival has announced another strong lineup. After last year’s scoop of getting Neil Young to headline, I had a feeling it’d be a one time event, however it turns out that this year they’re back bigger and stronger, now a two day event on Saturday July 4th and Sunday July 5th. This year the event is headlined by The Fratellis (pictured right) and Pigeon Detectives on the Saturday night whilst Paul Weller headlines the Sunday.

Billed as the only major UK festival to be sponsorship free and without VIP areas, the event joins the long list of events that attempts to provide a higher quality experience than the usual “big names, small facilities” approach of some festivals, and this year builds upon its successful first year to come back bigger and stronger for 2009.

Joining the headliners are a raft of great bands that are doing the rounds of the festivals this summer – Florence and the Machine, Noah and the Whale, The Joy Formidable, Ladyhawke, Doves and Editors all playing across the weekend.

This year, Hop Farm adds a dance tent to join the ranks of their competitors, featuring Etienne De Crecy on Saturday night. Widely celebrated for his groundbreaking ‘French Touch’ sound, he will be sure to whip the crowd up into a euphoric frenzy to close the night, whilst 2ManyDJs are heading up the Sunday night set, bringing the dance stage to a euphoric finale.

Weekend tickets are £125.00 incl. camping and parking and with day tickets at £65.00, and are available now from Ticketmaster and See Tickets.

Top photo comes from *hoodrat*’s flickr stream under the creative Commons license.

The Pigeon Detectives are joining the ranks of those bands announcing tours today, by announcing a sizeable UK tour for November and December to capitalise on their success this year.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (8th August) at 9am.

Monday 24th November – Grimsby Auditorium
Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th November – Wolverhamption Civic Hall
Thursday 27th November – Newcastle Carling Academy
Friday 28th November – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Sunday 30th November and Monday 1st December – Glasgow Barrowlands
Tuesday 2nd December – Nottingham Rock City
Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th December – Manchester Academy
Saturday 6th December – London Alexandra Palace
Sunday 7th December – Reading Rivermead
Monday 8th December – Swindon Oasis
Tuesday 9th December – Bournemouth Solent Hall
Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th December – Leeds Carling Academy

The Pigeon Detectives, Fratellis, Zutons and CSS have all been announced to be headlining their own three night UK and Ireland tours for MTV as part of their “Brand Spanking New” tours. Some of the best names and up and coming names in the music biz will be making their way around the country, playing venues smaller than they normally do. So be sure to get your tickets when they go on sale on Friday (7th March) at 9am.

The Pigeon Detectives / The Metros / The Rascals
Monday 28th April – Cambridge Junction
Tuesday 29th April – London Islington Academy
Wednesday 30th April – Liverpool Academy

The Fratellis / The Ting Tings / Alphabeat
Sunday 27th April – Cambridge Junction
Monday 28th April – London Islington Academy
Tuesday 29th April – Liverpool Carling Academy

The Zutons / One Night Only / The Script
Sunday 4th May – Cardiff University
Monday 5th May – Glasgow ABC
Tuesday 6th May – Dublin Academy

CSS / The Futureheads / MGMT
Monday 5th May – Cardiff University
Tuesday 6th May – Glasgow ABC
Wednesday 7th May – Dublin Academy

One of this years hottest new bands, Pigeon Detectives have announced a new tour that, quite frankly, would make most bands wet their pants. Tickets are on sale at various points from Thursday (7th June) at midnight up to Friday (8th June) at midday. Be sure to get tickets now, because come closer to the time they’ll be going for large amounts on eBay.

They’ll be playing:

OCTOBER
15 Aberdeen Lemon Tree
16 Inverness Raigmore
18 Dundee Fat Sams
19 Fort William BA Club
20 Ullapool Village Hall
21 Glasgow Arches
24 Durham Studio
25 Newcastle University
26 Scarborough Vivaz
28 Manchester Academy
29 Blackpool Empress Ballroom
30 Hull University
31 Liverpool Carling Academy

NOVEMBER
2 Skegness Embassy
3 Sheffield Union
4 Peterborough Cressett
5 Norwich Waterfront
6 Nottingham Rock City
8 Wrexham Central Station
9 Bangor University
10 Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
11 Keele University
13 Swansea University
14 Bristol Anson Rooms
15 Exeter Lemon Grove
16 Portsmouth Pyramids
17 Bournemouth Fire Station
19 Reading Hexagon
20 Oxford Zodiac
22 London Forum

…phew!