Despite what the swivel-eyed political power-seekers and terminally online keyboard warriors might try have us believe, the country can still feel united in a glorious sense of shared multi-layered identity - and I’m not just talking about the football, either.

For this is the season when actual millions of us will go outside and enjoy some version of ‘the festival experience’ - looning it up over a long weekend, probably bedecked in preposterous spangly clothing and definitely getting all kinds of over-excited sharing brilliant, loud music together with strangers-turned-brand-new-friends.

Not all festivals are created equal, of course, and their popularity (over 600 music-focused festis are due to happen in the UK this summer) means the corporates have muscled in on large chunks of the industry, causing much consternation with their extractive practices, which drain a fair bit of the magic out of proceedings in the pursuit of ever-greater profits, a bit like FIFA.

Luckily, unlike the World Cup, such monopolistic operators are far from the only game in town. We still have the option to swerve those fields dominated by vape brand activations, with their lineups skewed in the image of major label priorities.

I have a long, fond 30-something-year history of collaborating with the Sancho Panza party crew, stretching back across the many glorious years they ran one of Notting Hill Carnival’s most lively, lovely soundsystems.

Their annual Campo Sancho festival takes place across the weekend of 23rd-26th Jul, and is still 100% independently-owned, built and run by people you’ll also find out on the dancefloor. It’s only for 1,500 of the very best intergenerational party people, and takes place at a fantastic location surrounded by woodlands, that’s close enough to London to make getting a cab there and back a viable and sensible option.

This week I spoke with founders, DJs, and those aforementioned guys you’re also just as likely to see rigging up the tent as getting in amongst the ravers, Matt Brown and Jimmy K-Tel, about their dedication to creating life-affirming moments of peak summertime joy for their lovely crowd.

Despite the obvious financial and operational challenges, they relish their independent status, for the total creative control it gives them to ensure the event truly delivers - with love.

“Doing carnival for 20 years, we were always trying to get sponsorship and work with various brands to help cover our costs, with mixed success,” says Matt. “For me, the experience tainted working with any kind of outside intervention, because ultimately they want a lot from you and they don't want to give you much. They cheapen your event, suck the soul out of it, which is always part and parcel of getting involved with a corporate company.”

So instead, they opted to retain full responsibility for launching their own festival back in 2016. It’s a notoriously risky proposition, with all your eggs in one annual weekend basket and where some bad weather, (let alone a cost of living crisis, pandemic or multiple other stress factors), can leave organisers nursing huge losses.

And yet, over the turbulent years since, Campo has gradually grown and thrived. Retaining creative control is undoubtably where the most joy comes from for the guys - and in turn, their loyal crowd. The site is full of people who’ve been raving together for going-on generations, plus plenty of wide-eyed newbies drawn by the incredibly tasty, DJ-heavy lineups.

“I see some of the bigger festivals today as being like shopping centres in the park,” laughs Jim. “They’re brutal in monetising it all, whereas by us being genuinely independent, we’re just focusing on all the things we love. And it’s basically what humans have essentially always done, right? Gathering in the fields to drink gallons of mead and dance in the middle of summer is something that goes back hundreds of years.”

Matt is also happy to point out that keeping things small and manageable works on many levels. “It’s really important for us that we enjoy the event as much as anyone else,” he smiles. “I’ve been to enough big festivals to know that if you have too many stages, the grass is always greener and you end up traipsing about a lot, which doesn’t interest us. More stages also means you have to sell more tickets, the infrastructure costs go up and you’re into a whole different ballgame.”

That said, they introduced a popular third stage to their site last year, Upwoods, a woodland clearing where the mighty party, A Love From Outer Space, lands for a 9-hour immersive session as one major highlight for 2026. It has also allowed them to dabble in including some live shows, when previously the event was all about the DJs.

The DJ duo and their trusted team build up and break down the entire site themselves each year, too, “it's one of the best bits!” reveals Matt of the camaraderie. “It’s very much part of the festival and is an amazing experience for everyone involved setting the whole thing up. The pack downs are not quite as much fun, but we know all that from the years at carnival. This is just a bigger version of doing our stage there.”

Alongside booking the artists themselves too, its where the creativity at the heart of the operation can shine through, in the little touches of art and fun that pepper proceedings across the weekend.

Their carnival sound, and now Campo, are also renowned for being where premium speaker manufacturer Funktion One debuts their latest kit, with legendary owner, Tony Andrews, often to be spotted getting equally as armpit-deep in fine-tuning the rig as Matt and Jim are in building the infrastructure. This is a place where people fully dedicated to their creative impulses come to shine.

I suppose that’s why I’ve always been so drawn to their unbelievable carnival stage, never-ending stream of Thames boat parties and now the growth of something very special in the fields. There’s something about all this that requires unusual locations, spaces that can be utterly transformed for collective euphoria, which always eventually leads us back into the fields, as ever it was.

“We’ve done warehouses, streets and boats, and had club residencies,” says Jim, “but we’ve never been that motivated by running club nights.” Instead, they can draw upon the likes of international DJ royalty like Laurent Garnier (returning this year to play a special disco set on the Saturday night), or the Balearic all-star gathering of Pete Herbert, Nancy Noise, Phil Mison and Andy Wilson at the Music for Swimming Pools curated stage, simply because everyone knows the festival is going to be honest to the pure spirit of raving.

In our secular times, such gatherings have a particularly vital significance, one that shouldn’t be corrupted by cash in the way the big herd events inevitably do. Here in the trees is where you’ll find that magic in plentiful supply.

“We’re offering day tickets, to make Campo as available to everyone as possible,” says Jim, about the ability to drop in on the day/night of your choice, too. “We don’t want to make any aspect of it feel prohibitive.”

And as Matt adds, “you come out of the weekend feeling good about humanity again, which is really important. It’s tough financially for everyone out there, as we well know, but that’s got to be worth a few quid.”

Having been to the first few Campos with my then young kids in the early years, a dastardly series of covid and clashes have resulted in a gap, but I’m beyond excited to be heading back this year (with the kids now helping as part of the team).

Back when we launched Camdenist as a one-off post-lockdown print edition (remember that?) we also ran a very popular ticket competition with the festival. So let’s do that again - and I look forward to dancing with the winners in a field just an hour’s drive away from Camden in a couple of weeks time 🙂

FESTIVAL: 🎶 This Sat 11th Jul the mighty free Somers Town Festival returns to Chalton St and surrounds with the legendary soulstress P P Arnold the musical headliner on a massive bill of local and international talent across 4 stages. There’s also a big South American dance parade, Irish and Bangladeshi dancing too, DJs and street food stalls at one of the borough’s best summer bashes.

MUSIC: 🔊 Grab one of the final tickets quick if you love earth-shattering dub and reggae, as the Electric Ballroom’s Camden Courtyard outdoor space is back with a special appearance by the Channel One Soundsystem this Sat 11th Jul all afternoon, with top Caribbean food traders doing the firey BBQ business.

FOOTBALL:⚽ Saturday’s big quarter final is showing everywhere, of course, but some venues have the power to augment the experience in more attractive ways than others. So if you fancy decent air con, a proper big screen and celebrating (🤞🏼) to the sound of classic indie anthems before and after the match (until 3am, in fact) then the joyfully reborn Barfly is hosting a free World Cup screening and indie disco takeover Sat 11th Jul.

DANCE: 💃🏼 After many lively years on Brick Lane, Cuban dance class supremos Rueda Libre now bring their Sambroso Sundays to Chalk Farm’s The Dark Horse every week. This Sun 12th Jul you can learn the steps from 4pm with their talented dance instructor Maikel Mota, and then it’s cocktails and DJ Javier La Máquina De Cuba all night long.

FESTIVAL: 🪷 It’s also the return of Camden Mela in the local free community festis calendar this Sun 12th Jul, showcasing the Borough’s proud far-reaching diversity once again, this time with masses of South East Asian foods, live entertainment, arts and crafts and kids activities at the lovely oasis of Coram’s Fields.

STAGE: 🎭 Book now to catch one of the four special theatre performances celebrating the local heritage of those who have lived or live in the area at the upcoming Kilburn High Road Festival. It starts on Fri 31st Jul and over 16 days there will be loads of art, live music and performance on Kilburn High Road as well as the new plays at the Kiln Theatre.

A few months back I did an Instagram live interview with Laurent Garnier, who plays at Campo Sancho’s Snare & Hi Hat tent on Sat 25th Jul right after the equally fabulous selector Luke Una. So the two of them having a similar digital exchange this week makes for a great watch in the spirit of this week’s focus on the festival. See you there….