The Arctic Monkeys have been a major sensation, yet they still are often booked into relatively small venues that quickly sell out leaving some fans out in the proverbial (or depending on the season, literal) cold. Growing tired of that result, the lads are taking matters into their own hands and will put on their own 50,000+ ticketed festival next summer.

Matt Helders tells NME: "People always say they can't get tickets to our gigs, so hopefully there won't be any problems this time. We've got control of it, we can do what we want really." "We've always fancied the idea of having our own event. Just something where we can pick the bands and just have a day where we can do a bigger gig - so we can get away without doing arenas."

Tickets for the July gig will go on general sale on Friday December 15 at 12.30pm. You can register on their official website to gain access to a pre-sale the day before. In addition to announcing the festival, to be held in Manchester, the Monkeys say their new record will be out by next spring.

Labels: Arctic Monkeys