Already 2011 has been a bumper year for music festivals and with more set to follow over the rest of the summer, music fans have a great deal of music to see and weekends away over the coming months. The festival culture in the UK has grown over the past decade from small events attracting only a few hundred spectators to massive events attracting over one hundred thousand.

Probably the biggest and best known of the festivals in the UK is the Glastonbury Festival, which takes place annually in June. It started in 1970 as a small scale music festival and over the years has grown into a massive event which attracts as many as 150,000 music fans over the three days of the festival. This year’s festival was especially important for many festival-goers as the organisers have announced that there will be no festival in 2012 to allow the ground time to recover. The weather for this year’s Glastonbury can best be described as mixed, but the rain and mud on the first couple of days did not deter the crowds from seeing the headline acts of Coldplay, U2 and Beyonce.

There is much more to Glastonbury than just the massive international headlining acts though, and the festival is also a chance for new and upcoming bands to showcase their acts to a large audience. It’s also a massive retail event, with all manner of stalls selling food, drink, clothing and many other products to the festival audience.

The major Scottish festival of the summer is T in the Park, which is held in early July on farmland north of Edinburgh. Although the festival is not as large as Glastonbury, it still manages to attract the big names and this year the headliners are Arctic Monkeys and Foo Fighters. Around half the number of music fans attend T in the Park compared to Glastonbury, but it is the major music event of the summer in Scotland and tickets sell out in minutes when they are released for sale, often before any of the acts appearing are confirmed.

Almost every weekend through July and August there is some sort of music festival happening in the UK, from the larger events such as Latitude Festival in Suffolk, Global Gathering, V Festival and Creamfields and the other major festivals to round off the summer at Reading and Leeds on the August bank holiday weekend. It’s not all about rock and pop music though, as there are festivals on the calendar for all niches of musical taste including jazz and folk. Many of the festivals are far smaller than the massive events like Glastonbury and are held on just one day or over a weekend. There’s not the rush for tickets as there can be for the larger events, and ticket prices are cheaper too. Many festival goers prefer the smaller events as they are not so crowded, have a more family focused atmosphere and offer the opportunity to experience something a little different from the norm.

For most hardened festival goers, going to places like Glastonbury and T in the Park is the highlight of their year. They save long and hard to be able to afford the tickets and spend hours planning their camping arrangements with friends. As festivals are such a large part of their life, many want to have something to remind them of the warm summer days listening to music with friends during the depths of winter. One of the best ways of doing this is by getting a selection of music posters, either featuring a band seen at the relevant festival, or promoting the festival itself. Music posters, especially those promoting festivals, are colourful and attractive, and will be a constant reminder of the good times at the event. Many fans try to collect a music poster from each music festival they attend, and having several posters displayed together on a wall makes for an eye catching feature in any room.

Amanda Lewis is the author of this article on Posters. Find more information on Posters here.