Compass Point Festival

Compass Point Festival

Compass Point Festival is a yearly music festival founded in 2000 by Simon Dancey, former Director of Community Music Wales. It takes place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle in Cardiff, Wales. It was initially staged as a free event responding to the demand from up and coming Welsh artists, mainly from the rock, indie and hip-hop genres.

It is divided into two days, and the last day is traditionally the day for rock bands. Musicians, grafittii artists and breakdancers have appeared from around the world, from Cuba to Finland. In the past the festival has played host to the likes Biffy Clyro and Funeral for a Friend. Recently, there has been talk of the Compass Point curse - e.g., a lot of bands that have played main stage at Compass Point have split up shortly afterwards (the "curse" has notably hit McLusky, Jarcrew and Million Dead - all main stage performers - in the past years, alongside several lesser-known local acts).

The festival has grown from an original small scale event with only 100 people to Wales' largest non-commercial urban music and culture festival. It is also one of the main UK festivals for grafittii artists and breakdancers and sticks strongly to a not-for profit community ethos.

After resting for a short period the festival returns in Summer 2012

Coordinates: 51°28′56″N 3°10′52″W / 51.4823°N 3.1812°W / 51.4823; -3.1812