Ours Go To 11, Volume 9: Great British Festival Singalongs

At this stage in my life, I don't much enjoy going to rock 'n roll festivals.

I still love live music, and go to numerous concerts each year, but due to reasons of physical comfort and other concerns, standing in a muddy field for 10+ hours with up to 100,000 other people for 3-4 consecutive days isn't my thing.

Sometimes I'm still tempted, and occasionally even go, but not often (except to Milwaukee's Summerfest, which tends to have abundant seating at each festival stage).

I do, however, enjoy watching live streams of festivals, clips on YouTube and recorded telecasts on the MTV Live (formerly Palladia) cable channel.

And with all due respect to Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo and other U.S.-based festivals, the British festivals--Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, V, Isle of Wight, etc.--seem to be the coolest, especially at those times when it seems like everyone in the audience is singing along with the band.

To further illustrate what I mean, here are 11 of the Best British Summer Festival Singalong Songs: (Note: a playlist reel is at the end)


11. Manic Street Preachers - "Motorcycle Emptiness"

10. Mumford & Sons - "The Cave"

9. Coldplay - "Fix You"

8. Radiohead - "Karma Police"

7. Blur - "The Universal"

6. Keane - "Somewhere Only We Know"

5. Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"

4. Feeder - "Buck Rogers"

3. Travis - "Why Does It Always Rain on Me"

2. Snow Patrol - "Run"

1. Oasis - "Don't Look Back in Anger"

Making for easier listening without watching, here is a playlist reel compiling all the above songs in ascending order: