The next wave of exciting acts has today been announced for Lounge on the Farm Festival, taking place on 26th-28th July at Merton Farm in Kent.
Leading the way is pop-songstress Jessie Ware, who will join main stage headlinersSeasick Steve and Soul II Soul at the top of the bill. Expect ethereal, sultry vocals and her own brand of down-tempo elecronica, as South London’s finest export treats festival-goers to a headline performance to remember.
London indie-ska boys, Man Like Me, will also be ditching London for the fresh Canterbury air and will join Jessie on the burgeoning bill. Grit-glam boys Tribes, are also confirmedalong with rising hip-hop star, Willy Moon, Kent based Broken Hands and the hotly tipped Blaenavon.
Over on the ‘FarmFolk’ stage, things are just as exciting with the arrival of Ethan Johns, headlining Saturday night. Known for his work producing Kings of Leon, Tom Jones, Laura Marling, don’t miss the chance to see this musical troubadour in action. Singer-songwriterDuke Special and FarewellJR will also take to the ‘FarmFolk’ stage.
Elsewhere on the bill, Lounge on the Farm favourites Scratch Perverts – DJs Tony Vegas, Prime Cuts and Plus One have also been confirmed. Expect a roof-raising, fist-pumping set as the break-beat legends give it some serious welly.
Over on The Farmhouse Lounge on the Farm are really mixing it up with Hidden Orchestra. This quartet from Edinburgh make music that incorporates and redefines elements of jazz, classical, rock, hip hop and electronic to form a deeply original and cohesive whole. Prepare to be amazed!
SEASICK STEVE // SOUL II SOUL // DAVID RODIGAN // MARSHALL JEFFERSON // SIMONE FELICE // DJ FORMAT // DJ ALFREDO // INLAND KNIGHTS // LUCY ROSE // DUB PISTOLS // ASWAD // BOBBY LANGLEY // JON DASILVA // NO ARTIFICIAL COLOURS // EASTEND DUBS // RAE MORRIS // MARIKA HACKMAN // TREETOP FLYERS // STEPHEN K AMOS // TOM LAW // BEN SPALDING // CHARLIE LAKIN // MK
The 8th instalment of Lounge on the Farm promises to be even more deliciously scrumptious than ever before. Heading it up will be a truly diverse and jaw-dropping line up of legends including Seasick Steve, supported by Lucy Rose, Soul II Soul with full band, and Caron Wheeler flying in from the States especially for us.
Lounge on the Farm’s very own ‘house band’, The Dub Pistols, are back and so is one of the UK’s top reggae bands Aswad, giving Soul II Soul a warm up guaranteed to have feet stomping.
We’ve let you in on the secrets of two of our days on the Main Stage, with more exciting main stage announcements to follow!
The FarmFolk is playing host to the harmonious sounds of Simone Felice, Treetop Flyers and Marika Hackman. The London House super-brand Connected make the trip down south to the Farm for 2013. Their Saturday night do features American super-producer MK and young upstarts No Artificial Colours. Meanwhile, South London party-starters Get Low make their third appearance, bringing everyone’s favourite rave pensioner David Rodigan, The Heatwave and much more!
On The Farmhouse stage we’ll have the best of bands and DJs – first announcements include DJ Format, DJ Alfredo (Cafe del Mar) and band Police Dog Hogan, made famous by member and columnist Tim Dowling of the Guardian.
Lounge has always been about more than just the music, and you don’t have to spend all your time dancing in a field. It’s everything else that makes Lounge so special – places you can escape to and blow your mind on the magical mayhem that is all around.
LOTF’s most comfy and kooky hang out, The Playhouse, will once again welcome the weird, the wonderful, the surreal and the downright absurd. From sunrise until the early hours, revellers will find themselves immersed in a unique brand of high octane, leftfield entertainment. Expect to see side splitting stand-up, variety performances, circus, contemporary burlesque, captivating spoken word, and wild, dark and heartfelt music from the best-loved musicians of the cabaret scene.
All this will be hosted by The Boom Bang Club, with comedy from TV favourites Stephen K Amos and Tony Law, and late night soirees from Patty Plinko and Tankus the Henge. We’re also proud to announce that Roots Manuva and Rob da Bank favourite Kate Tempest will head up Spoken Word curated by Tongue Fu, one of London’s liveliest spoken word nights. It’s poetry, but not as you know it.
Kids won’t be disappointed either, with The Science Museum, Shlomo Beatbox Adventure, Chatback Kids Comedy Club, NCT Sensory Room, Bushcraft and headliner to be announced later!
Lounge on the Farm was the first festival in the world to put food in the limelight alongside the music. This is grass-roots and personal cooking of an exceptional standard, proudly championing seasonal, local produce and low food miles. Expect lovingly crafted and carefully refined recipes demonstrated by a host of critically acclaimed chefs in our Kitchen Theatre.
With the site revamped and redressed, expect to get a little lost in its newly discovered nooks and crannies, all the better for escaping into. We’ve got a Victorian funfair in association with The Dreamland Trust; a Spa and Create area in amongst The Orchards where you can have a Swedish massage or learn a new skill depending on your mood; and secret restaurants far from the madding crowd. Last year’s big hitter, the Roller Disco, is back along with Lounge favourite The Groovy Movie Solar Cinema, Auntie Nora’s Jumble Sale, Vintage Market, and much, much more besides!
Lounge on the Farm is pleased to confirm Sean Hughes and Phil Kay for their 2011 Comedy Tent. Irish born Hughes, a veteran on the stand up circuit and known for his appearances on panel shows (Never Mind The Buzzcocks) will bring his dark humour down to Canterbury in July. Phil Kay, a TV writer for the likes of Reeves & Mortimer, Harry Hill and Jonathan Ross will also be performing stand up at the festival.
Alongside these exciting new additions, Lounge on the Farm have confirmed a wealth of new acts for the Meadows Bar including DJ Format, British producer Justin Robertson, the founder of Dub Pistols Barry Ashworth and Adrian Sherwood & Congo Natty aka Rebel MC and ComfyPorn who will play the closing set on Sunday night. LA afropop collective Fools Gold have also been announced for the line up alongside the up and coming artist Gwilym Gold. British duo Smoke Fairies, with their blend of dark blues-folk will be headlining the Folk Stage on Friday evening.
Forward thinking London promoters Urban Nerds have also been recruited as an official partner for The Cow Shed, they will bring their bass heavy atmospherics on the Saturday night.
As previously announced – The Streets, Ellie Goulding and Echo & The Bunnymen are confirmed as main headliners for the July festival. Example, Katy B, Graham Coxon, Annie Mac, Everything Everything, Jamie Woon, The Joy Formidable, The Vaccines, Johnny Flynn and Cornershop will all be joining them.
The festival is also pouring energy into its newest stage addition the Meadows Stage. Joined by the Furthur team, whose visual stylings are notoriously unique and fresh, this collaboration sees a true union of creative forces and is bound to sum up contemporary Canterbury in a whirlwind of fun and frolics amongst the maize.
One of the most successful Canterbury bands, prog rock legends Caravan have also been confirmed for the festival, with the re-release of the seminal album In the Land of Grey and Pink due this summer, they will play the new Meadows stage.
Having carved itself out a niche as a festival known for its unique location on a real life, working farm (with real animals roaming about), plus a strong focus on delicious food, family friendly atmosphere and reputable line-up, Lounge on the Farm Festival will double its capacity in 2011 to 10,000 people and also cement itself as one of the key boutique UK festivals for the summer. At just 55 mins on a train from Kings Cross, this is an easy festival to get to for Londoners and is fast securing the hottest line up of the summer.
LOTF promoter Matt Gough said: ‘What an astounding weekend to celebrate our fifth birthday on the farm! We’re now well and truly making our mark as one of the south-east’s biggest and bestest summer events, and we’re ready to keep bringing the best music, best food and best farm animals to this corner of Kent for a good while yet’.
With more than 1000 revellers taking advantage of gates opening on Thursday evening, Lounge on the Farm got underway on Friday with a set from Medway locals Slap Alicewith the sun beating down on Merton Farm. Highlights throughout the day includedMale Bonding and These New Puritans in the Sheepdip, Quanticand his Combo Barbaoro on the Furthur stage, Beardy Man and DJ Yoda getting the Hoedown jumping and The Phenomenal Handclap Band and Example rocking the Cowshed.
With the mercury tipping 32 degrees Saturday’s 7000 strong crowd enjoyed sets fromWichita and Moshi Moshi’s impressive rosters in the Sheepdip. There were also stand out sets across the site from The Glimmers in the Howdown, The Agitator on the Farm Folk stage, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Jah Wobble on The Furthur stage, a capacity crowd for Howard Marks, Mr Nice himself in the Playhouse and a truly legendary hit-packed set from Martha Reeves & The Vandellas who celebrated 50 years of Motown with the Cowshed’s biggest ever crowd, making for a true ‘I was there…’ moment.
Lounge on the Farm’s final day saw Pineapple Dance Studios’ star Lekiddo Lord of the Lobsters Wake Up Call on the Band Stand getting festival goers in the mood for another sun-drenched and jam-packed day of fun that included Kent’s finest new bandOnlookers wowing an overflowing Sheepdip stage as they lived up to their ones to watch tag. Other high points from a wealth of Sunday entertainment included Phill Jupitus & His Improv Allstars’ off the cuff hilarity keeping a Playhouse crowd, which extended more than 15 rows back from the tent, in stitches, there were also myriad musical treats from the likes of Don Letts, Polar Bear, Cocos Lovers, Club Royale, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer and Gaggle plus a ska-fulled double header in the Cowshed that began with a high-octane performance from 2-Tone front runners Bad Manners and was wrapped up by a sublime lesson in riddim from one of the all-time greatest purveyors of Reggae, Toots & the Maytals, that brought the main stage program to a stunning close.
Aside from the amazing music and comedy there was plenty of extracurricular activity on offer all weekend including roaming theatre performances, pottery lessons, beatbox, breakdancing and DJ Scratching workshops, baby yoga, crazy science, arts and crafts and even fish pedicures that were the talk of the entire festival. And Lounge on the Farm proved once again that it is streets ahead of the competition when it comes to festival fare with the likes of Merton burgers, made from cows reared on the farm itself and Al’s Hog Roast drawing high praise from all.
Now that the dust has settled on Lounge on the Farm 2010, it’s time to start looking forward to 2011, so you’ll be pleased to hear that LOTF have already put Early Bird Tickets for next year’s festival on sale at super attractive inflation and VAT rise busting prices, numbers are limited, so get in there while you can:
Lounge On The Farm: 8th to 10th July, 2011
Family Weekend – £190.00
Adult Weekend – £85.00
Youth Weekend – £65.00
Child Weekend – £40.00
Campervan – £40.00
Tot – £1.00
With plans already well underway for 2011 make sure you keep checking www.loungeonthefarm.co.uk for more information
