| Music Festival Name: | Wakestock |
| Location: | Wales Penrhos, Wales (2000–2014) Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (2008) |
| Years Active: | 2000–2014 |
| Founders: | Mark Durston |
| Dates: | 1st weekend in July |
| Genre: | Indie rock, Dance, Rock, Grime, Rap |
| Website: | http://www.wakestock.co.uk |
Wakestock was Europe's largest wakeboard music festival, combining the cultures of music and wakeboarding. It was held on the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales, in between Pwllheli and Llanbedrog.
Founded by Mark Durston, the festival began in Abersoch, north Wales back in 2000, when it was a wakeboard contest with a party in a car park for 800 people, and from then on played host to some of the industry's leading bands and DJs, along with the biggest wakeboard competition in Europe. In 2008 50% of the festival was sold to Kilimanjaro Live aka KiliLive.com. In 2010 the festival entered its second decade and become part of the World Wakeboard Series. After the 2010 festival founder Mark Durston took an exit to work on other projects with full ownership then taken on by Kilimanjaro Live.[1]
The festival was split over three sites - the main festival site at Penrhos, Pwllheli Marina hosts the main wakeboard competition and Abersoch Bay hosts the Big Air Classic competition. The festival prides itself as being at the foot of the Snowdonia Mountains and looks out over Cardigan Bay.
The festival had its own wakeboard 'Pool Gap' that allows the wakeboarders to showcase the sport up on the festival site. The Pool Gap consisted of two pools containing a total of 200,000 gallons of water connected by street style handrails that the wakeboarders slid along whilst being towed by an overhead cable system.
In February 2015 it was announced on Twitter and Facebook that the festival would not be held that year, but would return for 2016.[2] In 2016 the festival was cancelled again. Organisers said, "It isn’t necessarily the case that Wakestock will never happen again but a significant level of investment in terms of time and money will need to take place ... before any commitment takes place."[1] As of 2017 there have been no further announcements and the official website has been closed.
Up until at least 2013[3] the festival had three stages. Originally these were called the "Open Air Stage", the "Misadventures Stage", and the "Relentless Stage". The names were later changed to West Stage, East Stage, and South Stage. Across all three stages there was a mixture of live bands and DJs.
This was the last festival to be held. Acts included: Tom Odell, Frank Turner, John Newman, Razorlight, Clean Bandit, Duke Dumont, Gorgon City, Frightened Rabbit, Ella Eyre, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Jess Glynne.[4]
Included: Bastille, Rudimental, Example, Magnetic Man, James, Twin Atlantic, Wiley, The 1975, Wretch 32, Zane Lowe, Echo & the Bunnymen, Candelas, Huw Stevens, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Kids in Glass Houses, Yr Eira
The campsite opened from 1pm on Thursday 5 July. From 6pm the campers could attend the Wakestock pre-party if they had purchased a Thursday night arena pass for £10. They also needed to be in possession of a weekend camping, single day camping or vip weekend camping ticket. Nitro hosted the Thursday night pre-party with DJs Jaguar Skills, Nitro resident Jigsaw and Plastic Thumbs in the East Arena, doors opened from 6pm-12am.
On Thursday 19 July at 12.50am Channel 4 aired a programme showing the highlights of the festival.
| West Stage | |||
| Friday 6 July | Saturday 7 July | Sunday 8 July | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calvin Harris Rizzle Kicks Huw Stephens Random Impulse Alunageorge L Marshall Burns Lilygreen & Maguire | Dizzee Rascal Katy B Zane Lowe Goldierocks All The Young Swiss Lips Y Bandana | Ed Sheeran Chiddy Bang Benjamin Francis Leftwich Clement Marfo Mikill Pane Ryan Keen Br Lewis | |
| East Stage | |||
| Friday 6 July | Saturday 7 July | Sunday 8 July | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flux Pavilion Hadouken! Koan Sound Smiler Bastille Lulu James Sen Segur | Annie Mac DJ Fresh Live Ms Dynamite Breakage Karma Kid Jigsaw Ifan Dafydd | The All American Rejects Funeral for a Friend Yashin Straight Lines A Plastic Rose Sŵnami | |
| South Stage | |||
| Friday 6 July | Saturday 7 July | Sunday 8 July | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Contrast feat Jessy Allen and Dynamite MC Friction Major Look Plastic Thumbs Jigsaw Ed Mackie F-Block | Jacwob Doctor P Delta Heavy Jagga Simplex Ben Proudlove Andy Carr | Redlight B.Traits Youngman Jimmy Needles Heavy Feet Church | |
| West Stage | |||
| Friday 8 July | Saturday 9 July | Sunday 10 July | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellie Goulding Kids in Glass Houses Huw Stephens Lethal Bizzle Neon Trees Wolf Gang Ben Howard Mr Phormula | The Wombats Beardy Man The Joy Formidable Fenech-Soler Little Comets All the Young Bare Left | Biffy Clyro The Cribs The Noisettes Charlie Simpson Pulled Apart by Horses Sibrydion | |
| East Stage | |||
| Friday 8 July | Saturday 9 July | Sunday 10 July | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase and Status Zane Lowe Chiddy Bang Kissy Sell Out Dev Yasmin Rizzle Kicks | Kelis Sub Focus Far East Movement Modestep Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Friends Electric Giant Steps | Example Wretch 32 Ed Sheeran Jaymo and Andy George Random Impulse Encore | |
| South Stage | |||
| Friday 8 July | Saturday 9 July | Sunday 10 July | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DJ Fresh and Dynamite MC Danny Byrd Brookes Brothers Union Tek 1 Micky Slim Gutterfunk | Caspa and MC Rod Aslan Herve Nero Redlight Plastic Thumbs Jigsaw | Jaguar Skills Masters in France Colorama Mr Huw Inner Party System Pocket Trez | |
Open Air stage
Misadventures Stage
Relentless Live
Open Air stage
Misadventures Stage
Relentless Live
Open Air stage
Misadventures Stage
Relentless Live
Full list of acts as follows:
Open Air Stage
XFM Stage
Relentless Pyramid stage
Open Air Stage
XFM Stage
Relentless Pyramid stage
Open Air Stage
XFM Stage
Relentless Pyramid stage
See main article: Wakestock 2008.
Full list of acts as follows:
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Incomplete list of acts:
Wakestock is involved with the local community and has partners from the surrounding area as well as some global names.
2010 partners list