Relive the experience in 30 vibrant photos

The Houghton Festival is widely regarded as one of the UK’s best-planned and best-organised festivals, even though it was only launched in 2017. This reputation, acquired after only two successful weekends, testifies to the care and attention paid to every detail by the organizers of the festival.

For Craig Richards and his team, the 2022 edition was an event that literally took four years to prepare for. With a series of cancellations due to adverse weather conditions, national closures and health restrictions, no one can imagine the stress that reigned backstage as the team made its fourth attempt for the festival. Could they break their plague of bad luck and finally succeed in the third edition of Houghton? Or was another unforeseen disaster going to happen and condemn the festival to another year of cancellation?

As the doors of the festival opened on August 11, 2022, people could hardly believe that they were pitching their tents on the beautiful grounds of Houghton Hall and that they could finally live this long-awaited weekend after four years of interruption.

Houghton 2022 offered an exceptional range of music, images, scenography, programming and art installations. Each artist showed himself up to the event and delivered a sensational and very well designed set, tastefully completed by the stage that he was in charge of controlling for at least two hours. The longevity of each set allowed the artists to give free rein to their creativity, to immerse themselves in their selection of records and to immerse the audience in the world of Houghton. Our favourite moments of the weekend were Hunee at the Pavillion, DJ Stingray 313 at Tantrum, Calibre and Peverelist at Earthling, Optimo and Joy Orbison at the Darren Smart Stage, and finally Pearson Sound at Quarry – a stage that The Identification of Music Group voted one of the best in the UK.