THE GATES to Glastonbury opened this week and with them another summer of incredible music festivals. They come thick and fast from here on, with Camp Bestival next month at Lulworth Castle and bags more around the UK.

But there is one thing that can make or break a festival - your trusty tent. It doesn't matter which rock legend is headlining the festival, how much beer you’ve lugged there, if your tent lets you down, you’ll be a damp reveller all weekend. And nobody likes a soggy grump at the party. This is your accommodation and safe haven from the elements and 24-hour hedonism. The pitfalls to festival camping are many, so the right kit is vital.

On entering the site, you’ll soon find one field of tents looks much like another. Throw in darkness and alcohol and it’ll become apparent you can’t find your tent at all.

The key is to stand out from the crowd. A large flag is cheap, several grand on a traditional yurt less so.

More than your average dome-tent favoured by the festival hoi-polloi, the enormous yurt offers acres of space for friends, comfortable furniture and livestock. Although it’ll damage your wallet to the tune of £2,995, an authentic yurt from yurtsdirect.com will be a real eyecatcher.

Another danger to avoid when camping is keeping out the unwanted. This could be a river of muddy rainwater running through your tent or a drunken festival-goer tripping over your guy ropes.

The answer is to take to the trees like one of Robin Hood’s merry men. That’s right, for £50,000 you can make like an ewok with the Teardrop Tree Tent.

Find yourself a sturdy branch and you can have complete peace of mind, it’s also got a wooden floor inside with a storage compartment.

Mother Nature is not to be underestimated, so your canvas palace must be able to withstand the occasional tent-destroying flood. What better than the ridiculously robust, Stronghold tent from Mountain Hardwear.

This 10-berth bad boy weighs in at £1850 and is suitable for use as base-camp for polar expeditions or establishing a human colony on Mars. The only downside is you’ll look a bit of a gadget geek with all the bells and whistles adorning the tent.

Music festivals are really about having as much fun as possible, with that in mind you could plump for a kid’s tent. You’ll certainly be the alfresco joker in the pack with your paper-thin children’s plaything.

You can easily pick one up at the supermarket or an auction website for about 20 quid – though you may need to pack an extra pair of thermal underwear to stave off the crippling onset of hypothermia.

But just supposing you’ve bought your dream tent, picked your ideal spot and then discovered that someone has stolen your pride and canvas joy. It’s a worst case scenario but no means an end to your summer fun.

Simply remember to pack plenty of bin bags and duct tape to crudely fashion yourself a waterproof suit.