Loaded Mag's Guide To Dancing in the Sunshine
By Nicola Freitas
There’s something about dancing outside in the blazing sun with your mates, surrounded by like-minded people. For a few glorious hours (or days), there’s no work, no bills, no existential dread - just sweat, smiles, and 4/4 kicks rattling your ribcage. There’s no better way to celebrate summer than shaking your arse to some heavyweight beats in the great British outdoors.
But don’t just wing it - here are a few tips. Hydrate, unless your dream is to faint near a Portaloo. Apply sun cream, because there’s nothing sexy about blistered neck skin. And don’t live the entire event through your phone - put it down, you’re not Scorsese. Enjoy it in the moment.
So, where are the best fields, parks, and underpasses to dance like your ex isn’t watching this summer? Glad you asked. Here’s Loaded’s hot five for the rest of the summer.
Jamie Jones Presents: Paradise In The City
📍 Boston Manor Park, London – Saturday 2nd August
💷 Tickets from £66.75 + b/f
🔗 www.paradiseinthecity.co.uk
If you like your house deep, your lineup stacked, and your crowd prettier than a Love Island pool party, Jamie Jones has you sorted. The Paradise don is throwing his first full-scale London festival with four stages, space-age visuals, and more drops than your nan’s WiFi.
Expect a non-stop house and techno feast with heavyweights like East End Dubs, Vintage Culture, Seth Troxler, Fleur Shore, Hot Since 82, and of course, Jamie Jones himself - twice, with a special 2010’s throwback set, just in case you missed him the first time.
We Out Here Festival
📍 Wimborne St Giles, Dorset – 14th to 18th August
💷 Tickets from £290 + b/f (weekend camping). Day tickets from £69 + b/f
🔗 www.weoutherefestival.com
If your idea of dancing includes Afrobeat, broken beat, jazz-funk, hip hop, and actual live instruments, We Out Here is your field of dreams. Founded by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson, it’s a celebration of music, culture and community — but don’t worry, it’s still a filthy good time.
Yes, it’s got yoga and poetry and craft ale, but it’s also got serious groove: DJ sets, live bands, late-night forest parties and spontaneous dance-offs to rare soul cuts you’ll pretend to know. You’ll be stripping off - keep the boxers on, no one needs to see that - and diving into this wonderful melting pot of UK club culture.
Perfect for the lad who can list off Boiler Room sets while explaining the difference between Sun Ra and Suncream.
UNDER August Weekender
📍 Under the Nene Parkway Flyover, Peterborough – Sat 16th & Sun 17th August
💷 Tickets from £29.95 + b/f
🔗 www.under.events
A rave under a flyover in Peterborough? Sounds bleak - until you experience it. UNDER turns grey concrete into outdoor clubland with graffiti murals, a monster sound system, and two days of bassline worship.
Saturday’s all about house and garage nostalgia with Katy B, Mike Skinner (DJ set), and a live set from Ms Dynamite and So Solid Crew. Sunday goes full D&B armageddon thanks to Radio 1’s Charlie Tee and her Unitee brand - Wilkinson, A.M.C., and Charlotte Haining bring the heat.
It’s sweaty, industrial, and brilliantly unhinged - like a warehouse rave with daylight and functional toilets.
Love to be… Festival
📍 The Stray, Harrogate – Saturday 6th September
💷 Tickets from £55 + b/f
🔗 www.lovetobeevents.co.uk/events-1
Up in Harrogate, Love to be… is proof you can throw a sexy, soulful house festival north of Watford Gap. After a sell-out debut, they’re back with a new stage setup, mad visuals, entertainers, and a VIP area for those of you who can’t queue without a meltdown.
The lineup’s banging too: Armand Van Helden, The Shapeshifters, Ultra Nate live, and even Gok Wan getting stuck in on the decks. Yes, Gok. From daytime TV to dancefloor weapon - we love a rebrand.
Boundary Brighton Festival
📍 Stanmer Park, Brighton – Friday 26th & Saturday 27th September
💷 Weekend tickets from £59.50 + b/f. Day tickets available
🔗 www.boundarybrighton.com
Brighton’s biggest party has gone double time. For the first time ever, Boundary becomes a two-day genre-splitting dance-off: Friday is all house and techno, while Saturday dials up the bass, grime, and jungle to face-melting levels.
Friday is Ibiza-on-Sea with Gorgon City, Josh Baker, East End Dubs, Max Dean, and Rossi to name a few. Saturday brings the carnage with the likes of Andy C, Giggs, Girls Don’t Sync, A.M.C., and Shy FX. Brighton’s beachy backdrop doesn’t hurt either - perfect for your comedown fish and chips the next day.
Dancing in the sunshine is the closest most of us get to spiritual enlightenment, so now you’ve got your go-to targets, grab your shorts and get your groove on…