Summer is now in the distant past, but Margate's By The Sea Festival managed to eke out one last weekend of beers and bands as Everything Everything, Metronomy and The Libertines made the trek down to rock the seaside town.
The three-day festival spilled out into multiple venues for the first time, which saw beautiful intimate sets in Margate's Museum from the likes of Denai Moore and Sweet Baboo. Meanwhile Olby's Soul Cafe staged the sublime Barbarossa and even squeezed in a secret set from Courtney Barnett with Jen Cloher.
The main headliners were reserved for the legendary Hall By The Sea stage in Dreamland, with more acts in the incredibly Instagrammable Roller Disco. Setting the festival in the retro theme park crams loads more value for money thanks to discounted rides and booze for under a fiver (!). The only drawback was multiple venues hampering the atmosphere somewhat, as so many revellers were split across the various venues.
As the sun set, the festival's quaint vibe goes with it and the gig atmosphere kicks into full swing. By The Sea's main crowd initially seems like an eclectic mix of older local rockers. But Margate's recent rebrand as 'Shoreditch on Sea' soon begins to make total sense, when you notice the swathes of achingly hip music lovers – some from London and some now locals themselves – pouring in to catch the headliners.
Everything Everything dominated the Friday night stage with a pitch perfect performance. 'Spring Summer Winter Dread' and a powerful encore of 'Distant Past' were particular highlights. While British Sea Power enlisted two pals costumed as giant bears to invade the crowd in one of the best (and most bemusing bits) of the weekend.
Metronomy's gentle electro classics and equally gentle banter with the crowd from frontman Joseph Mount made for a perfectly chill Saturday headliner. Meanwhile their encore of 'The Look' united the crowd in singing every beautiful blip.
What to Read Next
Upcoming arty, party, electro-punk group HMLTD made for the most mad (but brilliant) act of the weekend on Saturday as they soon had the entire crowd bouncing to the every distorted beat. Regardless of whether they knew them or not.
Meanwhile earlier in the day Gentle Stranger simply slotted into the mad by dousing the room with talcum powder and running into the crowd – which mainly consisted of babies and one dog – to play half-naked fizzing sax solos.
The Libertines closed the weekend in typical LAD-tacular style and were undoubtedly the biggest booking of the weekend. But if Dreamland's hip, retro feel are By The Sea's best support act, then Margate itself is the festival's encore.
The beta-Brighton boasts a sea of trendy bars – which even served their very own festival ale – plus it's so close to the sea, even the harsh October weather couldn't stop revellers joining the organised Sunday dip at Walpole Bay Sea bathing pool. Throw in a secret festival cocktail menu on Ziggy's rooftop bar, a dedicated gin bar and free after parties DJ'd by the likes of snooker legend Steve Davis, you'd be hard pushed to find a better value festival in the UK.
Let's just hope the magic of Margate's kiss-me-quick renaissance can keep casting the same spell over this loveable little festival. Roll on 2018.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
Laurence Mozafari (he/him) is a multi-award winning journalist, editor, and presenter. A former Editor-in-Chief of Digital Spy, Laurence previously held roles as the site's Editor, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editor focusing on news, social, and video. Laurence hosted the BBC Sounds podcast Obsessed with Peaky Blinders in 2019. He also hosts his own podcast production, Time of My Life, where he interviews fascinating elders about their life lessons, including Only Fools and Horses' Sir David Jason, Star Trek’s George Takei and Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh.
Laurence was named Editorial Director – Youth Audience at Reach in early 2025. Prior to joining Digital Spy, he was previously at Bauer Media working as Digital Editor of Heat magazine's website Heatworld.com, and has also worked at and written for Sky, NME, Q magazine, Grazia, Closer, FHM and dedicated careers website GoThinkBig. He secured a first-class BA journalism degree at Staffordshire University, along with several NCTJ qualifications, and now has 14 years' experience in digital publishing covering TV, movies, music, gaming, tech, showbiz, and travel.
Laurence has been a broadcasting contributor on television and radio, including KISS, Heat Radio, BBC Radio London, Radio 5 Live, and BBC Breakfast.
He is also a visiting lecturer at various universities teaching journalism, including City, University of London, Nottingham Trent, Staffordshire University and London Metropolitan. Laurence has won numerous awards in his journalism career, including the BSME Talent Award’s Best Deputy Editor, the PPA's 30 Under 30, and the New Editor and Editor of the Year at the AOP and BSMEs. He led Digital Spy to win PPA's Digital Content Team of the Year twice, along with the British Media Awards’ Brand of the Year in 2021.
Laurence joined the committee for the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2022 and was named vice-chair in 2025. He has since hosted panels with CEOs of Immediate Media and the Media Trust at the PPA Festival, as well as presenting his own radio show on Green Man Radio at Green Man Festival in 2022. Laurence is also a Brits voting academy member.
Laurence has been lucky enough to interview numerous celebrities, actors, and musicians throughout his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger loved his hair, Jimmy Carr loved his coat and Antonio Banderas gave a shout-out to his mum. Laurence has covered set visits for The Witcher on Netflix and Marvel’s Inhumans, he got Daisy Ridley to do a Chewbacca impression and loves Marvel, PlayStation, Glastonbury and craft beer. Linkedin
