There comes a time in every gig-goer’s life when you set aside childish things – sticky floors, cider and black, mud – and start to appreciate the finer things. Mine came, with precocious maturity, at the age of 25, when, at Tribal Gathering, I found myself cold and tentless gazing at the 18th-century façade of Luton Hoo – not one of Robert Adam’s best, for sure, but I bet there were beds behind it.

There’s nothing like the sight of an 18th-century pilaster to calm a mosh-pit. Which perhaps accounts for the rise of 2007’s Hottest Rock Trend – heritage gigs. Heritage gigs tap into that precise moment when you start to understand the lure of gardening, but haven’t yet given up the Clash for Classic FM. At the same time there are all these cash-strapped stately homes going spare. It’s a marriage made in entrepreneurial heaven.

THE VODAFONE LIVE MUSIC SUMMER SERIES

Somerset House, London WC2 (www.somersethouse.org.uk/music 0870 1451120), July 12-21
Musical lineup: Mogwai (July 12), Kasabian (July 13), Bert Jansch with Beth Orton and Bernard Butler (July 14), Lily Allen (July 16), Mika (July 17), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (July 18), the Roots (July 19), Amy Winehouse (July 20), Hot Chip (July 21)
Architectural lineup: Britain’s first office block, built when Britain suddenly realised it had an Empire, but a capital city that looked like Scunthorpe. Cue London’s Big Georgian Makeover. William Chambers was the architect. Like any office block, you can’t pick and choose your tenants: it’s had the Inland Revenue. Now London’s top romantic backdrop for smoochy couples on ice skating dates.
Potential music/architecture it-all-comes-together moment: Could you have a camper backdrop for Mika mid Grace Kelly?
Architectural detail to study during the boring bits: Fabulous courtyard, of course, but it’s Chambers’s theatrical staircase inside that’s the stroke of genius.
Pretentious architectural comment to annoy your friends: “Chambers? Give me Adam any day.”

THE EDEN SESSIONS

The Eden Project, Cornwall (www.edenproject.com 01726 811972), June 20-July 22
Musical line up: Peter Gabriel (June 20), James Morrison (July 2), Rufus Wainwright, Hot Chip (July 10), Amy Winehouse (July 17), Lily Allen, Mark Ronson (July 18), Pet Shop Boys (July 22)
Architectural lineup: The finest moment of Nicholas Grimshaw – one of the kings of British high-tech (that’s architecture that looks like a Meccano set). Bug-eyed geodesic biomes made from ETFE (like architectural bubblewrap), wrapped over an old china clay pit.
Potential music/architecture it-all-comes-together moment: Rufus, hopefully in lederhosen, singing Tiergarten: “But to go where the wildflowers grow and the stone gardens bloom.”
Architectural detail to study during the boring bits: Grimshaw’s mastering of the high-tech detail.
Pretentious architectural comment to annoy your friends: “High-tech? It’s all about the perfect nut and bolt, isn’t it?”

TOWER MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Tower of London, London EC3 (www.towermusicfestival.co.uk 0870 169687), June 28-July 14
Musical lineup: Gipsy Kings (June 29), Bryan Ferry (July 2 and 3), Joe Cocker (July 4), Katherine Jenkins (July 5), Seal (July 6), Elvis Costello (July 7), Justin’s Summer Party featuring Pingu (July 8), Paul Anka (July 11), Bryn Terfel (July 12), James Morrison (July 13), Dave Stewart and his orchestra (July 14)
Architectural lineup: Britain’s 11th-century Guantanamo Bay, a terrifying edifice thrown up with forced labour by our new Norman masters, and wrapped in Caen stone, 15ft thick. Guarded by cute 70-year-old men, it all looks a bit toytown these days.
Potential music/architecture it-all-comes-together moment: Pingu dancing with the ravens.
Architectural detail to study during the boring bits: The White Tower, prettified for a London less threatened with pikes and arrows, but still impressive.
Pretentious architectural comment to annoy your friends: “Were the Normans Minimalists?”

ENGLISH HERITAGE PICNIC CONCERTS

Audley End, Suffolk, Marble Hill House, Twickenham, and Battle Abbey, East Sussex (www.picnic concerts.com 0870 3336206), various dates in July and August
Musical lineup: Includes Bryan Ferry (Audley End, July 14), Buena Vista Social Club (Audley End, July 21), Jools Holland (Audley End, Aug 7), Lemar (Marble Hill House, Aug 11), Midge Ure, T’Pau and Toyah (Battle Abbey, Aug 25)
Architectural lineup: What’ll it be? Jacobean at Audley End, refined Palladianism at Marble Hill House or mostly faux-Gothic at Battle Abbey? Personally I’d go with Palladianism, but some prefer a 17th-century twist with their lite soul-jazz – so go for Audley End.
Potential music/architecture it-all-comes-together moment: It’s a mystery why anyone would come to see Toyah. Now Midge Ure I can understand. Imagine “Ohhhhhhh Viennaaaaaa” with Midge wreathed in dry ice amid the battlements. Class.
Architectural detail to study during the boring bits: The marvellous austerity of Marble Hill’s Palladianism.
Pretentious architectural comment to annoy your friends: “Were Palladians really Minimalists?”

WOBURN LIVE

Woburn Abbey, Beds (www.woburnlive.com 0845 2256020), July 27-29
Musical lineup: Van Morrison (July 27), Classic FM Live! With Julian Lloyd Webber (July 28), Ronnie Scott’s Big Band, Curtis Stigers (July 29)
Architectural lineup: One of the first stately homes to go all theme park when the Earls of Bedford had cash-flow problems in the 1950s. They thought about taking in lodgers, but plumped for lions and tigers in a safari park instead. Well, you know where you are with big cats.
Potential music/ architecture it-all-comes-together moment: Counting the façade’s columns to stay awake. Architectural detail to study during the boring bits: As above.
Pretentious architectural comment to annoy your friends: “Why ANYONE would build with Totternhoe clunch is anyone’s guess.”

THE BIG CHILL

Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire (www.bigchill.net 020-7684 2020), Aug 3-5
Musical lineup: Includes Kruder and Dorfmeister, Mika, Isaac Hayes, Norman Jay, Mr Scruff, Kevin Rowland.
Architectural lineup: The Somers-Cocks, my dear. Bankers. Yes, that’s right, new money. Of course, the first thing they go and do is throw up a MONSTROSITY. Perfectly ruins the Malverns.
Potential music/ architecture it-all-comes-together moment: That old revolutionary Kevin Rowland storming this bastion of class oppression with a rendition of Burn it Down.
Architectural detail to study during the boring bits: If only you could break in and see Augustus Pugin’s drawing room. Not that I’m condoning trespass.
Pretentious architectural comment to annoy your friends: “PreVictorian Picturesque’s coming back, you know. It’s so post-po-mo.”

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