Edinburgh Festival 2019 reviews: Enough / Spliced

Two compelling examinations of femininity and masculinity at the Traverse Theatre

Enough ★★★★   

Immaculately turned out in winning smiles, navy and nylon, cabin crew Jane and Toni dispense comforting reassurance and flirty glances to passengers at 30,000 feet. Down on the ground, though, they’re juggling kids, kitchen colour-schemes and semi-rapist boyfriends. And what’s that age-old rumble coming from deep in the ground?

Florence + the Machine, BST Hyde Park review - mastering the matriarchy

★★★★ FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, BST HYDE PARK Mastering the matriarchy

Florence Welch delivers the perfect set for London's biggest summer festival

It’s a rare thing that musicians sound better live than they do on Spotify. But Florence Welch sings a note perfect set – even when jumping up and down like a pogo stick, whirling and spinning, or sprinting along the front of the stage to meet fans.

Glastonbury Festival 2019: hot as hell and a thousand times as fun

★★★★★ GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL The epic Somerset blow-out wins yet again

Kylie, Miley, Stormzy, sunny, and very naughty, the epic Somerset blow-out wins yet again

As ever theartsdesk’s Glastonbury report arrives after all other media coverage. Despite management pressure Caspar Gomez refuses earlier deadlines. He told Editorial, “The press tent is like an office, a place of work, full of laptops and coffee. Who needs that?” His annual saga doesn’t attempt to compete with Tweeted micro-reviews or ever-available BBC iPlayer festival highlights. It takes a winding road, explores the scenery, the musical-chemical highs and body-worn lows, capturing in fuller form than anywhere else a most singular plunge into Glastonbury 2019.

Download Festival: downpours can't dampen spirits at metal bonanza

★★★ DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL Downpours can't dampen spirits at metal bonanza

Def Leppard, Slipknot, Tool and Slayer keep the riffs coming at the carnival of heavy rock

Download is Britain’s premier metal festival, attended by all ages. Theartsdesk’s three person team offer up their reviews of one day each, as they navigated their way between Eighties hair metal, contemporary Viking metal and any other metal you might care to imagine…

Friday 14th June

By Ellie Porter

Bon Iver, All Points East festival review – powerful, poignant and a little bit weird

★★★★ BON IVER, ALL POINTS EAST Powerful, poignant and a little bit weird

Justin Vernon and friends head up the final day of the mammoth London event

With thousands of people trooping in to see headliners including The Strokes, Bring Me the Horizon, Mumford and Sons and, tonight, Bon Iver, this corner of London’s beautiful Victoria Park has become a bit of a dustbowl – and the dust certainly gets kicked up as the 10-day festival concludes.