The Y Not Festival is an annual music festival held in Pikehall, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. It began in 2005 at a house party for around 120 people organized by Ralph Broadbent.^[1] For the first year, it went under the name of the Big Gin Festival (a play on its location near Biggin in the Peak District). The main stage at the festival has retained this name as The Big Gin Stage. The following year, it was renamed Y Not Festival and was opened to the public. In 2007 the festival relocated to its current site at Pikehall in Derbyshire.

The event has won many awards and accolades for small events, such as best small festival in 2012 and the prize for best grass roots event and best toilets at the 2011 UK Festival Awards.

In 2016, the festival was sold to Global Radio's festival division, Broadwick Live.

In 2019, Y Not Festival was bought back by its original owners.

The festival was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the covid pandemic, then returned in 2022 as an independent festival.

In November 2022, it was announced the UK-company, Superstruct Entertainment, had acquired a majority stake in Y Not Festival.^[2]

2022

Y Not Festival 2022 was held on 28–31 July 2022. The Kooks, Stereophonics, Courteeners and Blossoms played headline sets across the weekend. Other notable performances included a special guest slot from Levellers on Saturday afternoon, and The Vaccines' packed out Sunday evening set, when the crowd found out that England had won the UEFA Women's European Championship, beating Germany 2–1 in the final.

2019

Y Not Festival 2019 was held on 25–28 July 2019. Two Door cinema Club played a headline set on the Saturday Night, two years after their set was cancelled in 2017. Other notable performances included a special guest slot from IDLES on Saturday afternoon, Gerry Cinnamon's packed out Friday teatime session and after-headliner DJ slots from Mike Skinner from The Streets and Jax Jones. Despite it being announced that the festival arena would be opened at 4 pm, the gates were not opened until approximately 6:20 pm. Because of this The Wired and Airways did not perform due to time.

2018

As a result of the 2017 cancellation, in 2018 Y Not relocated to Aston Hill Farm, close to the old site of Mouldridge Lane. 2018 hosted such bands as The Libertines, Manic Street Preachers, Seasick Steve and Jamiroquai.

2017

In 2017, the festival was affected by adverse weather conditions from and was eventually cancelled on the final day.

2016

The 2016 festival was held between 28 and 31 July. It was headlined by Editors, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Madness, The Hives, Catfish and the Bottlemen and The Cribs.

2015

The 2015 festival was held between 31 July and 2 August. The festival was headlined by Snoop Dogg, Basement Jaxx and Primal Scream. Ash, Beans on Toast, Asylums and Bloxed Beats played the festival on Thursday 30 July as the early entry acts.^[3]

2014

The 2014 festival was held between 1–3 August. The festival was headlined by White Lies, Dizzee Rascal and Frank Turner.^[4]

2012

The 2012 festival was held between 3–5 August. The festival was headlined by The View, The Wombats and We Are Scientists. The festival returned to its usual site in Pikehall.

The festival saw the return of its three music stages, the Big Gin Stage, The Quarry and The Allotment, plus the introduction of a new stage The Giant Squid.

2011

The 2011 festival was held between 5–7 August. The festival was headlined by The Go! Team, Feeder and Maxïmo Park. The festival was once again located in Pikehall.

The festival had three music stages:

• The main stage called "Big Gin Stage" named after the first festival
• A smaller stage called "The Quarry" named after the location of the 2006 festival
• "The Allotment" was a new addition to 2011 which hosted a variety of local bands. "The Allotment" stage was named after a competition was held on Facebook and Twitter.

The festival won two categories at the UK Festival Awards, the grass roots festival award and the prize for the best toilets.^[5]

2010

The Y Not Festival in 2010 was headlined by The Futureheads, The Subways and The Mystery Jets. Other acts included Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos, Darwin Deez, King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, OK Go, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Twisted Wheel, Turin Brakes, Rox, Little Comets, Kid British, Daisy Dares You, Slow Club, Goldheart Assembly, Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun, Tubelord, Foy Vance, Max Raptor, Fenech Soler, Sparrow and the Workshop, THePETEBO, Doll & The Kicks, Sketches, Matthew P, Morning Parade, 51/50s, Kill It Kid, and North Atlantic Oscillation.

2009

The Y Not Festival sold out in 2009. The line up on the main stage included The Sunshine Underground, The King Blues, Noah and the Whale, Young Knives, Nine Black Alps, Shotshotstacy, and Esser. Beardyman and Frank Turner were on the acoustic stage. The festival featured many other artists and DJs over the three days of live music.

2008

The third Y Not Festival was again held at Pikehall, Derbyshire. The festival expanded agfurtherain and around 2000 people attended over three days. Bigger and more well known acts such as the Mystery Jets, Cage the Elephant, and Frank Turner were on the bill, though neither the Mystery Jets or Cage the Elephant turned up.

2007

The Second Y Not Festival was at held at a new venue, Pikehall, Derbyshire. This allowed the festival to sprawl over a larger area. Around 1000 people attended over the three days.

2006

The first Y Not Festival was held in a quarry in Derbyshire. Around 500 people attended over three days. Many of the bands that played were unsigned or local. A DVD documentary was made about this festival.

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