Is this the year that indie bands will dominate the festivals?

"Children wake up/hold your mistake up/before they turn the summer into dust," Arcade Fire wailed on their rousing, anthemic "Wake Up". Judicious lyrics. Don't allow your summer to "turn to dust" by missing the awesome Canadian indie band, who feature a vast array of instruments - including violins, xylophones, harps and accordians - at the award-winning Latitude Festival. This gorgeous Suffolk event is one of a raft of excellent summer festivals featuring a plethora of marvellous indie bands.

Now in its second year, the Latitude Festival (www.latitudefestival.com), set in Southwold's picturesque Henham Park estate, has a fabulous indie line-up that includes Tinariwen, who fuse Tourag folk songs with electric guitars, the Brazilian six-piece CSS, the wonderfully dark and intense The National and the masters of epic prog instrumentals Explosions in the Sky. Plus, there will be heavyweights such as the gangly misfit Jarvis Cocker, who rather thrillingly is the curator for this year's Meltdown Festival at London's South Bank Centre, the gloomy Irish balladeer Damien Rice and the Damon Albarn-fronted, super-cool The Good, The Bad and The Queen, with the Clash's Paul Simonon on bass. However, the quirky festival also boldly claims that it's much more than just a mere festival, boasting as it does "authors, poets, dancers, film-makers, actors, DJs, artists".

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Latitude, which runs from 12 to 15 July, is not the only delightfully eclectic and indie-laden festival occuring this year. The perenially interesting and ambitious All Tomorrow's Parties (www.atpfestival.com), which takes place at a Butlin's in Minehead from 18 to 20 May, includes chalets, crazy golf and those Scouse goliaths of the Eighties indie scene, Echo and the Bunnymen and singer Ian McCulloch, who infamously once claimed his band were the best in the world. ATP, which is a still a favourite of discerning indie fans, has a 6,000 capacity limit and there is more than a good chance of bumping into your favourite acts on the beach. This year's mouthwatering line-up includes, again, Explosions in the Sky, the angular and experimental band Battles and the deliriously energetic New York-based art-rock trio Yo La Tengo.

A larger and more epic indie festival experience can be found at this year's second O2 Wireless Festival (www.wirelessfestival.co.uk) in London's Hyde Park (14 to 17 June) and Leeds Harewood House (15 to 17 June). The outdoor event features a gamut of young British indie talent, including Birmingham-based indie group The Twang, the rakish Londoner Just Jack (of "Why Do You Want Go Put Stars in Their Eyes" fame), the boisterous Cribs, from Wakefield, and the ubiquitous CSS. The Wireless bill is completed by a raft of hefty indie prize fighters, including the Kaiser Chiefs, who successfully conquered second album-itis with their accomplished Yours Truly, Angry Mob, the Brummie quartet The Editors, whose dapper lead singer, Tom Smith, steps out with the radio presenter Edith Bowman and the Rakes with their observant North London vignettes and lyrics - "we caned our money like it was our last day/two fingers up at those who won't miss us when we pass away" on "We Danced Together" on their 1995 breakthrough Capture/Release. Plus, US mammoths The White Stripes and the hairy, hoary, bombastic Queens of the Stone Age.

And then, there's Glastonbury (www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk), the nearly annual mudfest at Worthy Farm Somerset, between 22 and 24 June. A lot of the indie bands mentioned above are appearing - including CSS, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the Rakes and The Twang - but there were also be slots for Conor Oberst's sublime Bright Eyes, a country-flecked crooner with a huge social conscience, the new-rave Klaxons, the poppy Kooks and last but not least the maverick South Londoner troubadour/rapper Jamie T. This 21-year-old from Wimbledon is a deliciously subversive and perverse contender for Mike Skinner and Lily's Allen's jocular rapper crown. Live Jamie T is a heady mix of Billy Bragg, Mike Skinner, Johnny Rotten, Paul Weller and Elvis Costello, and his album Panic Prevention is a strong contender for the best debut of the Noughties. His gigs are scrappy, unruly, fragmented, occasionally nonsensical, and positively giddy affair. He could be one the main sensations at this year's Glasto.

However, the main draws will be the Arctic Monkeys, who play the main stage on the Saturday night, rock bores Kasabian, the even more boorish Manic Street Preachers and the Killers, once fun, now, again, rather boorish. For fun, go see Jamie T and Chaz 'N' Dave.

In regards to the smaller-scale and more intimate festivals, there is the excellent Wychwood (www.wychwoodfestival.com) festival, which runs from 1 to 3 June and takes place on Cheltenham Racecourse, situated beneath the pretty Prestbury Hills. This award-winning, truly eclectic festival, where fans of folk, indie, world and dance music camp together, is blessed with such disparate talents such as Eliza Carthy, Camera Obscura, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Transglobal Underground. The main stage at the festival has been rebranded The Independent Stage to mark our involvement with this event.

Scotland's Wickerman Festival (www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk), from 20 to 21st July, is another smallish-scale event catering for about 20,000 punters, has drawn this year the likes of the Fun Lovin' Criminals, the Rezillos. Hayseed Dixie and The Orb. While the family-friendly Bestival (www.bestival.net), set on the Isle of Wight from 7 to 9 September, will feature Beth Ditto's joyous and rowdy The Gossip, the Kissaway Tree and the oldest white rappers in the business, The Beastie Boys. Lastly, along with some fresh seafood curries and 20,000 acres of parkland in the Sugarloaf Mountains to savour, there's a feast of indie fare at Wales's Green Man Festival (www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk), which runs from 17 to 19 August. Set in Glanusk Park, in the Brecon Beacons, the festival features the wonderfully eccentric and melodic Gruff Rhys (frontman for the Super Furry Animals), the highly-rated Welsh act Euro Childs and the truly unusual Joanne Newsome and her harp.

Don't let the summer turn to dust and don't worry if you weren't one of the lucky 177,000 people who snaffled a Glastonbury ticket, there's always Latitude, Bestival, Green Man to catch the very best in indie talent.