London clubbers are treated to a wealth of their favourite acts when South West Four hits Clapham Common every August Bank Holiday. It remains a firm fixture on the city’s festival calendar despite the increasing competition from urban dance events and acts from the trance, EDM, house and techno scenes played on the Saturday when Mike Barnard and Ann McManus were. Here are their views from either side of the gender divide.

South West Four returned to Clapham Common over the August bank holiday weekend with another two days of dance music in the south of London. We were there on Saturday to report on the beats.

The self-proclaimed ‘Island of Freedom’ Sziget Festival turned 21 this year, and we were fortunate to pop over to Budapest (via a 26-hour coach ride) to find out for ourselves what kept the fans of this European City-fest coming back year after year.

Balearic Ibiza vibes were re-created in Hackney Wick when veteran spinner and White Isle original DJ Alfredo made his first London appearance in two years on Saturday, August 16th at Feelings. We got down to the daytime party at Shapes warehouse to hear what Ibiza used to sound like.

Daily boat parties on the clear Adriatic Sea help make festivals in Croatia unique experiences, and Dimensions Festival has 21 to choose from. In the second part of our preview of the respected four-day underground electronic music event in Pula, we take a look at the boat parties organised for 2014 day-by-day. Each is hosted by club nights and labels featuring some of the biggest names at the festival on the most intimate setting of a constantly sailing ship in the middle of the sea.

It’s been three years since zap! bang! Magazine attended a GlobalGathering at Long Marston Airfield in Stratford-Upon-Avon, so we were long overdue a return visit. Mixing in with the 50,000 revellers for the two day rave featuring some of the biggest dance acts on the planet, we were delighted to find that Global had found a way to create more intimate spaces among the huge main tents while generating a fun atmosphere with energy that lasted right through to the early hours of Sunday morning.

50,000 dance music fans headed to GlobalGathering for two days of raving on Long Marston Airfield last weekend; here we present the differing viewpoints from two of them in our first ever He said/She said feature. Mike Barnard and Ann McManus give their (serious, kinda) opinions on the 14th edition of the long-running festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon, this year headlined by Chase & Status, David Guetta, The Prodigy and Alesso.

In just one month the abandoned fort in Pula will be alive to the sounds of underground dance music as the respected Croatian festival Dimensions kicks off. In the first of two previews looking ahead to the festival running from Wednesday, August 27th to Sunday, August 31st we look ahead to the opening concert, daytime beach parties and night time fort activities.

Boutique dance festival Farr braved an electrical storm and the threat of heavy showers to blossom into a sun-seekers dream in its fifth year of fun in Bygrave Woods with an expanded three nights of music. From Thursday, July 17th to Saturday, July 19th house music took centre stage with drum & bass, reggae and bands providing the soundtrack to a growing Hertfordshire festival in a unique setting we hope it never leaves.

Trying to make sense of the Glastonbury line-up this year? Good luck!

Glastonbury is a vast festival of more than 100 stages with 1,000s of performances. Just walking across the site will take hours, especially given all the distractions along the way, so making sense of what to see and do will often result in last minute panic as you realise your favourite band is playing in a tiny tent miles away or some kind of drunken stupor has lead you to sleep through the Saturday night headliner of choice.

To your rescue is a few zap! bang! Magazine picks for each day, based on the full line-up handily posted on the official Glastonbury website. It’s a bit dance-orientated, admittedly, so excuse my taste if you delve in.

While Sónar will hit eight cities next year, the 21st edition of the original, Sónar Barcelona, in June attracted 109,000 electronic music fans from 99 countries along with another 3,500 professionals at Sónar+D, the festival’s congress area. With record attendance figures of 52,000 attending Sónar by Day, it was an impressive turnout for what would be one of the most impressive editions of the festival ever held. Mike Barnard was there to live it all.

Love Saves the Day returned to Bristol’s Castle Park over the late May Bank Holiday weekend with nearly 100 acts from the electronic and bass music scene. Put together by half of team behind the city’s In:Motion club series plus the brains of Glastonbury’s WOW stage and See No Evil, this year’s two-day festival was headlined by SBTRKT, Annie Mac, Eats Everything and Jamie XX. It proved to be another fine showcase of the city’s exuberant music culture.

The first Metropolitan Arts & Dance Event in Birmingham, aka M*A*D*E, kicked off over the May Bank Holiday Weekend with Chase & Status, Annie Mac and and Steve Lawler getting behind the decks. Spread across indoor and outdoor areas in Digbeth including the Rainbow Venues, with the backing of the GlobalGathering Group, it also included the regional heat of the British Street Food Awards. We were there on Saturday, May 3rd for UKF Live in the daytime open air arena and Spectrum in The Textiles Factory by night to see what M*A*D*E 2014 had to offer.

Muscular electro was promised at Bloc at Easter, and the Autumn Street Studios system was fully flexed as Boddika and DJ Stingray took centre stage. They were joined by Hodge, Rubin and World Unknown’s Joe Hart on Saturday, April 20th for a dramatic blast of sound from the underground.

Rune Reilly Kölsch has been producing dance music since 1995, but while some may be fans of his productions as Rune, his 2013 album 1977 released under his Kölsch moniker has brought him to new levels of admiration. The 13-track LP on Kompact won Kölsch praise for his melodic electronic anthems which sparked a European tour at the end of last year. The Dane followed this up by kicking off BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix Future Stars 2014, and was back in the UK on Thursday, April 10th for a live set at Vauxhall’s Fire.

The ambient techno of Donato Dozzy and Neel in their Voices from the Lake incarnation took on an even more engrossing style at London’s Find me in the Dark as their live show proved the main attraction. For two and a half hours their deep 4/4 throbbed through room two, a warm but increasingly intense experience that was a complexly-layered treat for the ears. Meanwhile in room one, there was techno for a good stomp with Skudge, L.I.E.S. breakout artist Terekke and Papers blasting out the tunes.

Almost year after opening the doors to their Hackney Wick club Autumn Street Studios, Bloc celebrated with an all-night set from Detroit techno original Carl Craig on Saturday, March 3rd. For the last 12 months the Bloc crew have been restoring faith in their abilities to curate underground dance parties with respected artists who always seek to develop their music further. Omar S, Clark, Juan Atkins, Green Velvet, Dopplereffekt and Marshall Jefferson have graced the warehouse space, but this was the first time a sole figure had taken over selection duties for an entire Bloc night, and it was a real treat for the Bloc faithful.

The London club scene got a taste of Berlin flavours when Junk Department presented a Watergate showcase. On Saturday, March 8th Visionquest’s Lee Curtiss, Tiefschwarz and Metro were joined by residents Marco Resmann and Ruede Hagelstein for Watergate Worldwide Affairs at Shoreditch’s Factory 7.

Brazilian flair came to East London when Kubile hosted One Night in Rio soundtracked by Miguel Campbell’s label Outcross Records. On Friday, February 28th iCan Studios in Hackney Wick became a underground house warehouse party with a flamboyant side thanks to the production gloss from the Kubicle ladies.

For the second Find Me In The Dark at London’s Corsica Studios, the power and pace of the techno was upped considerably as Shed’s alter ego Head High was joined by Pariah in the main room for two headline sets which underline the new clubnight’s commitment to the underground dance scene. The darkly-lit main room was again densely packed while Marquis Hawkes and DJ Richard took control of room two.

Ahead of the last parties in 2013 for Manchester’s clubbing series Warehouse Project, the organisers have been rewarded with a Best Club Series gong from the DJ Mag Best of British awards. They’ve welcomed 150,000 revellers through the doors of the Victoria warehouse over the last three months, but their New Year’s Day party will be the curtain call for the current space as they look to move to a new venue in 2014. There were difficulties to overcome from the opening weeks, but WHP has bounced back with an impressive series that notched up another hit when Bugged Out! took over with a three-hour headline set from The Chemical Brothers.

Underground house and techno clubnight Find Me in the Dark took over London’s Corsica Studios on Saturday, November 30th with Omar S, Kassem Mosse, Tin Man, Palms Trax, Free-Care and Asquith playing the tunes. The packed-out venue had a lively vibe that embraced a wide-range of styles reverberating through the intimate space for an impressive debut.

Radio 1’s Annie Mac may have had a baby back in May, but she’s back on the road with her Annie Mac Presents clubnights mashing up garage, house and electro with special guests. For the Bristol leg of her 2013 tour she brought along chart-topper Duke Dumont, singer/producer MNEK and Cyril Hahn for the main room at In:Motion while local promoters Dutty Girl took over the Tunnel. There was a lively party spirit in the skate park for the sold out night, though a chill on the dancefloor before peak time and an oddly off-par Annie Mac left the stage set for Duke Dumont to impress.

A new party took over Vauxhall’s Fire and Lightbox venues to celebrate Halloween with a headline set from Omar S and a host of jacking music in what was dubbed a mini label festival with a spooky twist. The Random Magic Halloween on Saturday, October 26th was packed with fancy-dressed revellers, including some ghoulish prosthetic efforts, a Michael Jackson Thriller-style and, oddly, a Julia Roberts Pretty Woman, while every effort was made to turn the dancefloors into a creepy environment. But it was the music that impressed the most with Futureboogie Recordings, the Classic Music Company and Horse Meat Disco haunting Fire and the Mirror Arch while JG Wilkes and JD Twitch – aka Optimo – played all night long in the third arch.

The first of three shows for Bloc’s second season at Autumn Street Studios was a vibrant affair with a packed out Hackney Wick venue enjoying a diverse range of electronic music. Regular Bloc spinners Joe Hart and Rubin were joined by live acts Dopperlereffkt, Legowelt and Dave Monolith plus Alex Lover Fever on Saturday, September 28th for an all night session which never let up.