The Shakedown Festival is officially crowned as the last festival of the summer, and has the job of brining the curtain down on another spectacular summer of live British music. With a strong reputation of bringing a banging line-up to create a real party atmosphere, this festival delivers year-on-year.

Shakedown Festival was born as recently as 2011, and immediately it launched in impressive circumstances. The event made the most of Brighton’s picturesque Stanmer Park, and attracted a host of big names for the inaugural experience including Example, Ed Sheeran and Razorlight. Organisers haven’t dropped the ball this year, with the acts coming even bigger and better.

Last year’s stack of stars had a distinctly electro-pop feel to them, and this year things have gone in an ever so slightly different direction. With Dizzee Rascal, Katy B and Chase & Status heading things up, expect this to be a party like no other – just hope that the autumn weather holds off for another few weeks.

This year’s festivities are expected to attract up to 20,000 revellers – more than double the number for last year – and many are more than likely to come in the form of new students from nearby universities, Sussex and Brighton. Not a bad way to start your university life, is it?

So to save you bustling your way through 19,999 others to find some fresh acts, we’ve highlighted the cream of the crop in one quick sweep. Here’s what you need to know.

Chase & Status

Headlining the Supercharged Arena is the phenomenal Chase & Status with the mother of all DJ sets. These superstar DJs are known for their blend of genre defying styles and one of the most irresistible forces on the dance music scene. At Shakedown they’ll be armed to the teeth with dance floor anthems and underground classics. Not to be missed.
@ Supercharged Arena

Zane Lowe

After the first Shakedown, an appearance from BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe made the most noise and became the talk of the festival. Zane’s storming sets create a real party atmosphere, combining old school samples, hard-hitting basslines and mammoth drops. Lowe knows how to keep the crowd in the palm of his hand.
@ Supercharged Arena

Freemasons

Brighton’s very own dance production duo make a very welcome homecoming in the brand-new Hed Kanri arena of this year’s festival. Freemasons have been making waves across the country since their formation seven years ago, with remixes of tracks by Adele, Katy Perry and Rizzle Kicks all gaining mainstream radio play.
@ Hed Kandi VIP Arena

Dizzee Rascal

There’s a reason this man is headlining. Already a UK music legend at just 27 years old, Dizzee reinvigorated the British rap scene, securing a Mercury Music Prize in 2003 and spawning several hit singles in recent years. After two years since his last studio album, Dizzee is ready to make a return and set the crowd into a spin.
@ Main Stage hosted by Union/Coalition

Star Power

No matter where you look on the events calendar for this year, nothing else is shaping up the way of Shakedown. The festival spreads a galaxy of superstar acts across three stages, all of which will be making serious noise in their own way. A cacophony of major players on the UK music scene come to Brighton on October 6th for Shakedown including Dizzee Rascal, Professor Green, Katy B, Chase & Staus and Knife Party. Nothing else boasts a line-up quite like this.

Location, Location, Location

Forget the swampy fields of Glastonbury or the hustle and bustle of London’s Hyde Park – Brighton’s Stanmer Park is set up beautifully to host a major music festival year in, year out. The park is located just a matter of minutes away from Brighton, Falmer Station and the University of Sussex. This means that good transport links give you no reason not to go and there’ll likely be plenty of other like-minded students at Shakedown too.

Doubled Up

For the first ever Shakedown Festival last year, headlined by Example and Ed Sheeran, a respectable 9,000 festivalgoers made plenty of noise in Stanmer Park – but we all knew that there was room for much more than that. This year, festival organisers have doubled admissions, and we’re expecting there to be close to 20,000 revellers going for it at Shakedown this time around. You won’t want to miss out.

Unsigned Artists

This year, Shakedown has offered the opportunity to play in front of a potential 20,000 people to some of the most exciting emerging acts in the region. Five bands; Kloq, Offbeat South, Mok, The Little Shocks and Half Crown compete in a live Battle of the Bands style show in Coalition for the chance to play alongside Dizzee Rascal and Katy B on the main stage. You may just discover a new favourite band.

Easy Does It

Unlike some of the summer’s other major festivals, Shakedown doesn’t unnecessarily stretch across five days and kill most of the momentum from the event. There aren’t any filler acts, no need to put yourself through an uncomfortable sleeping routine and definitely no chance of being covered in mud and rain for an entire weekend. With Shakedown, you get the best acts, in the best conditions, for one insane day of action.

After-parties

As we all know, Brighton has an esteemed reputation as one of the party capitals of the UK, so Shakedown is a great excuse for some of the city’s fantastic venues to open for business and let loose! The official Shakedown after-party comes from Concorde2 and is a dubstep marathon led by Skream, which goes all the way through to 4am. It promises to be an incredible way to end an adrenaline-charged day of music.

Purchase tickets from the official Shakedown website here.