This week’s festival news round-up

The biggest announcement of the week involves a rather hairy band from Manchester and an increasingly popular Spanish festival.

That’s correct boys and girls – Oasis are headlining Benicassim 2009. They are joining Paul Weller, Franz Ferdinand and Kings of Leon to form what is probably the strongest line-up that this festival has ever seen. Benicassim seem to be really pulling it out of the bag for their 15th annual beach party which will happen from July 16th-19th on the east coast of Spain.

Now for something a bit closer to home – The Hop Farm Festival has nearly doubled its capacity, taking it up to 53,000. After last year’s glorious success, with a headline set from Neil Young, the rootsy and un-corporate Tonbridge event is set to be 2009’s festival dark horse. Keep your eyes peeled for announcements.

Reading up on festival rumours is great fun but, unfortunately, disappointment can occur when a hotly-tipped group dispels the stories. The Jean Genie himself, David Bowie, has confirmed that he will NOT be reviving Ziggy Stardust for Coachella, labelling such rumours as “poppycock” on his official site. Gutted.

One of London’s most popular summer festivals, Field Day, reveal that the moody Mogwai will be fronting their Victoria Park event, which hopefully won’t be as washed out as last year. Irish stalwart Oxegen is racking up the big boys for 2K9, announcing that Kings Of Leon, Snow Patrol and The Killers will be topping their bill. Epic. Maybe they’ll go the whole hog and stick U2 in there, just to make it even more anthemic.

Talking of hogs, a nice hog roast is probably what we’re looking forward to most in the summer. Mmm. Oh, and the bands too, yeah.

To buy tickets for any of 2009’s festivals, click here.