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SIDE QUEST FESTIVAL 2026 - PREVIEW
SIDE QUEST FESTIVAL 2026 - PREVIEW
After 8 years of organising events, the north east’s Big Fat Rave are finally hosting their first festival, a collaborative project built for creatives, by creatives.
On a hot night at the beginning of July, during my nightly doomscroll, I stumbled upon a modest, unobtrusive Instagram post - a call-out to UK-based creatives and festival lovers, asking for help with planning and executing an unnamed event - no experience necessary, only enthusiasm and creativity.
Assuming I would never hear a reply, I sent a DM to these ambitious rave-heads, offering my services - unknowingly, I had just got myself involved in one of the most exciting, independent festivals in the UK - organised by none other than the north east's Big Fat Rave.
Big Fat Rave have become big players in the UK’s legal rave scene, partying since 2018. Specializing in DnB and Jungle sounds, Big Fat Rave have been hosting parties all over the UK, collaborating with soundsystems such as Bris-Tek, Singularity, and Raze, filling lineups with some stellar acts, including 4AM KRU, Sexy Lady Massive, SKALAH, and Mums Against Donk.
Big Fat Rave is the passion project of Jack Cooper and Kurtis Parkin, two lads who came together to organize raves in Newcastle in their early 20s. Kurtis and Cooper wanted to create (as the name suggests) big, fat raves, while preserving and promoting the rave values of the 90’s. That is, peace, love, unity, respect, and inclusion.
After 8 years of organizing events together, their dream of hosting a festival has finally come to fruition in the form of Side Quest Festival - an open air day festival, built from the ground up by hundreds of local collectives, crews and creatives.
“You go to a festival and everyone's your best mate! That's such a beautiful world to be a part of. For us, it’s always been the dream.”
Mid July, I found myself in Newcastle at Hillside Quays; a shipping container park, tucked away beside the Tyne bridge. The space is huge; a container plaza three stories high, complete with toilets, a bar, running water and electricity. The whole plaza is a blank canvas of empty containers and blank steel walls, waiting to be filled and decorated with wacky delights.
Folks from all different strokes of life walked around the space - ice cold pints in hand, dancing to music playing from a mini speaker, cleaning the space up and picking up odd jobs. With less than two months to go until the festival, all hands are on deck.
The creatives here have travelled from all over the UK; most are Newcastle locals and residents, familiar with Big Fat Rave’s events, that sprung at the opportunity to be involved in one of their projects. Others (like myself) have travelled from further afield - all of us called by the same social media post made at the beginning of July from Big Fat Rave’s Instagram account.
That single social media post had over 4000 responses, a number which climbs by the day - it was only because of the amount of support the post received that the pair finally felt confident enough to commit to the venture.
“I’ve worked in the music industry for a long time, and I've seen how it works on a corporate level. Throwing as much money as you can at something that’s popular and hoping for the best… that’s not how you create a long lasting community.”
Cooper and Kurtis want to prove that you don't need a big budget to host a visually stunning event. They also want to prove that community is what makes a festival popular and lasting - not big money backing.
“What you end up with is a strong, solid community that can be expanded upon."
They hope that once the festival gets off the ground, they can turn Side Quest Fest into an annual, all weekend event.
Big Fat Rave's aim is to encourage self confidence in every individual who attends one of their events - through self discovery, new found community, or freedom of expression. They believe that the best space to do this is at a rave, where you are both anonymous and part of a collective. A huge part of this festival is making space for creatives who are just starting out, to foster early potential, provide experience, and give young creatives the connections and community they need to access the festival industry.
What Side Quest Festival gives, it receives in the form of a creative, highly skilled community that is invested in their events, who are willing to go above and beyond to support their community - a pure, symbiotic relationship that has elevated this simple day festival to an interactive, immersive event.
Cooper and Kurtis have fallen on their feet; at a time where independent festivals are disappearing due to financial pressures, it’s a blessing that Side Quest Festival can take place. They have a fantastic opportunity to host a fully independent, artist-led festival in a climate where it’s never been harder to do so.
Hillside Quays is the perfect venue for Side Quest Fest. The site had been established since 2018, and is in a fantastic location; right in the centre of town, only a ten minute walk away from the train station.
“The barrier between organising free parties and club raves to festivals is the cost.”
One of the biggest costs for independent festivals is site hire and build, something which can make or break festivals. Hosting at Hillside Quays has removed a huge amount of financial pressure - with no need for site transportation, diesel purchases for generators, or facilities hire, Big Fat Rave can keep their tickets affordable, while on a tight budget.
So, what can we expect from Side Quest Festival?
With a 2000 person capacity, Big Fat Rave are planning the most chaotic, colourful, creative event they’ve ever organised.
The site will have six stages, with DJ’s and sound systems from all over the UK playing a variety of genres, from 1PM till late. One of these stages will be dedicated to live music, while they'll also have an open deck’s stage for any DJs looking to get involved.
You can also expect spoken word and poetry performances, food trucks and merch vendors.
But the main event? The side quests -
“My favourite part of any festival are those weird little side missions that you get lost on with your mates… those are the memories that you talk about for years to come.”
The festival will be FULL of interactive spaces, performances and installations for punters to discover throughout the event. There are 24 empty containers waiting to be explored, each containing its own unique interactive experience, thought up and brought to life by the team of local creatives involved in the festival.
Ideas for these containers are constantly changing and developing as the stream of ideas comes in from collaborators. A few ideas on the table are: a glitter tattoo parlour, a catholic-style confession box, a rave museum, a barber shop, fortune telling, karaoke, life drawing, clothes swaps and a wedding chapel - just to name a few. The ideas that make the final cut will be kept under wraps - it’ll be impossible to know what’s waiting for you around every corner.
Big Fat Rave is polishing off the summer season with a wacky, weird, wonderful event that’s full of surprises. The perfect festival for your mate who likes to wander off when he’s drunk - Side Quest Festival is shaping up to be a truly special event, putting creativity and community over profit.
Join us for Side Quest Festival on the 26th of September. Tickets are on sale now!
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