Cornwall’s immersive and theatrical festival The Masked Ball celebrates its 10th birthday party in customary style this May with a line-up of world class DJs and acts including Jungle, Basement Jaxx, Julio Bashmore, Mike Skinnerand more. Crafting a name far-and-wide for their creative carnage, guests ofThe Manor can expect reputations met in regal surroundings… a venue carved into the cliff-top of Mounts Bay. Announcing a list of seminal DJs to soundtrack their most deranged, strangest soiree yet, The Masked Ball is set to keep changing up into another decade dominating their local scene. All of this lavished on guests as they get lost in the increased dosage of the first, fully-fledged weekender.
Headliners will have the main hall chandeliers swinging through the cutting-edge Funktion One sound-system, for the crowd at the core of this sprawling event. Featuring a serious selection of party pioneers on its stage, The Masked Ball is demanding only the finest for its most decadent Birthday yet: Jungle,Basement Jaxx and Julio Bashmore set the tone of Cornwall’s signature session with their definitive sounds. Elsewhere rave royalty Mike Skinner and deep house stalwarts like Ben Pearce, Paul Woolford and Chicago's Robert Owens make for the same no compromise approach to three days of cleverly curated chaos, with the voice of beats that is Radio 1’s B. Traits keeping them thumping.
Despite the rain falling hard and fast onsite at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Norwich, the second day of the festival was one full of anticipation ahead of the arrival of Taylor Swift to Norwich. Perhaps perfectly timed by the universe, the clouds cleared and the sun emerged to beam down upon the incredibly large crowd just in time for Swift's performance that cemented her dominance as the biggest and best popstar in the world right now.
Having conquered the charts, Clean Bandit made sure everyone was dancing as if there were no tomorrow, playing tracks from their debut album 'New Eyes' as well as bringing out the incredibly talented Rae Morris to perform collaboration 'Up Again'. Violinist Neil Milan brought out his trademark dance moves as he bounded about the stage like he was headlining.
Rae Morris performing onstage with Clean Bandit at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. Image from the BBC
Gaining exposure at such an early stage of an artists' career brings with it an incredible weight of exepctation, and Irish singer-songwriter SOAK showed signs of nerves as the usually chatty performer kept talking to a minimum as they delivered heartbreakingly beautiful odes that would have you think she was much older than her young years. Channelling the raw emotion of legends such as Tom Waits. 'Be A Nobody' and 'Blud' brought the In New Music We Trust stage to a stunned silence, as the audience became visibly introspective about what these songs that many had perhaps never heard before made them feel.
SOAK bringing the In New Music We Trust Stage to a standstill
As a self confessed pop music sceptic, it was with trepidation that Rita Ora's set was approached. But such scpeticism was unfounded, as Ora delivered one of the highlights of the weekend. However you may want to criticise artists who perhaps don't have total creative input when making music, there is no denying that Rita Ora can sing. Really sing. Her set was heavy with hits from across her already impressive career and tracks such as 'Doing It' and 'RIP' went down an absolute storm with the age spanning crowd. Pop music at it's finest.
As the sun peered out from behind the clouds, Jungle took to the In New Music We Trust Stage to kickstart the carnival atmosphere ready for the night ahead. 'Busy Earnin' 'Time' and 'Julia' amongst many others had the tent bursting at the seems with people dancing and partying their way through a set that felt very much like a victory lap for a band that experienced runaway success across last year's festival circuit.
How does one describe James Bay? Well according to more than a few people poised to see him, he falls somewhere between "the most beautiful man in the world" and "his face was carved by angels" which when coupled with his amazing voice and melodies shows exactly why he was deserving of this year's BRIT Awards Critics Choice Award. 'Hold Back The River' and 'Let It Go' erupt massive crowd singalongs that are almost loud enough to drown out Bay's own voice.
One name has been synonomous with this year's Big Weekend. You might have heard of her before? She likes to shake it off with fellas with hella good hair and recently she unveiled an already iconic video seeing her army of powerful ladies do battle against the forces of evil. Still unsure who it is? It can only be Taylor Swift.
Introduced by a BBC Radio 1 listener who won the opportunity to welcome Swiftie to Norwich, Taylor was greeted by screams of 'TAYLOR! TAYLOR!' as she emerged in a decadent sparkly outfit to reminds us all what a star she is. Opening with 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together', the next 40 minutes passed like some sort of euphoric chorus direct from the heavens. There were lifelong Swifites rubbing shoulders with recent converts following the release of '1989'. Strangers became friends over a shared love of shaking it off and that is exactly the kind of slap in the face that any present music snobs needed because in case you didn't get the memo; life's too short to be hating on someone as perfectly brilliant aas Taylor Swift. Ya hear?!
The beauty of BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, is that you don't get just one globe conquering act in a day. Oh no, you get TWO! Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters never thought he'd get to say Taylor Swift was his opening act which was greeted with thunderous cheers from a crowd who have grown up with his mighty powerhouse of a band.
Playing to a crowd of die hard Taylor Swift fans was never going to be an easy for a band who fall on the total opposite side of the music spectrum. But the appeal of the Foos is twofold – first you have the anthem after anthem back catologue of tracks such as 'Walk' and 'Congregation' and then secondly you have the heart warming personality of Dave Grohl that feels like you and he have been friends for decades.
The euphoria washing over Earlham Park throughout 'Times Like These' induces a swelling of happiness and warmth in the heart of everybody onsite. Closing with a spectacular firework display, Big Weekend closed it's doors for another year and as the crowds poured away from the site in Norwich, there really was a collective consensus that this was without a doubt the biggest Big Weekend there has ever been.
JUNGLE presents DJ sets from Jungle/ Beaty Heart/ Django Django/ Oceaán/ Shura/ Tei Shi/ XL Djs + special guests
TRADIIO in assoc. with The 405 Antix/ Cholombian/ Luka/ Matthew & Me/ Tropics/ Wild Echo/ Yossarian
New additions for Field Day Sunday 7th June: Beach Baby/ DJ Haai/ Gengahr/ Inheaven/ Jacco Gardner/ Leopold and his Fiction/ Matthew E. White/ Nimmo/ Yak
Scroll down for Field Day Sunday announcement
The ninth edition of Field Day will be held at Victoria Park, in the heart of East London on Saturday 6thand Sunday 7th June 2015.
We are delighted to reveal the new line up additions that will be joining the likes of Caribou, FKA Twigs,Django Django , Run The Jewels, Hudson Mohawke, SOPHIE, Chet Faker and Nina Kraviz on the FieldDaySaturday6th June bill.
2014 Mercury nominees Jungle will be hosting their very own DJ bandstand at Field Day this year. They've hand-picked some of their favourite artists in order to curate an eclectic line up of fantastic DJ sets, which so far includes Jungle, Beaty Heart, Django Django, Oceaán, Shura, Tei Shi, XL DJs and more special guests still to be announced.
We are very excited to have partnered with the new music-discovery platform Tradiio for the Tradiio in association with The 405 stage, which will play host to the most successful new artists on the platform. First up are tropical polyrhythmic multi instrumentalist Tropics, London based Hip Hop artist Antix, as well as Cholombian, who will bring his coalition of striking cinematic soundscapes and hip-hop inspired beats to Victoria Park. Also confirmed for this stage are hazy R&B and industrial pop producer Luka, post art-rock band Yossarian, as well as dreamy newcomers Wild Echo.
New additions for Field Day Sunday 7th June:
Beach Baby/ DJ Haai/ Gengahr/ Jacco Gardner/ Leopold and his Fiction/ Matthew E. White/ Nimmo/ Yak
We are thrilled to announce more exciting additions to the Field Day Sunday 7th June line up.
Virginian soul maverick Matthew E White, who recently released his brilliant second album 'Fresh Blood' via Domino, will be performing alongside the likes of newly reformed seminal shoe-gazers RIDE, as well as the iconic PattiSmith&herband(performing her 1975 groundbreaking album Horses), Savages, Mac DeMarco, Gaz Coombes, Hookworms, Allah-Las, Viet Cong, DIIV, Eagulls and many more.
We are delighted to announce a brand new stage for Field Day Sunday. Confirmed for theVerity stage are the multi-instrumentalist Jacco Gardner with his sixties' baroque pop and toy town psych, hazy indie four-piece Genghar, vintage rockers Leopold and His Fiction, London psych rock trioYak, as well as the buzzy club-pop act Nimmo and apathetic alternative-pop four-piece Beach Baby.
Plus expect an epic DJ set from DJ Haai, who will showcase her diverse influences by playing an eclectic mix of Calypso, 60's oriental beats, afro disco favourite classics and obscure gems.
With a brand new album about to drop, we are ecstatic to announce that the Chemical Brothers will be headlining Saturday night at Bestival’s Summer of Love. Longstanding favourites at Bestival HQ, we’re giddy with anticipation for an all-new live show featuring Tom Rowlands dropping the knowledge and those fat, fat beats. A colossus in dance music and leaders in club culture’s move into the mainstream, The Chemical Brothers are simply historic, and we love ‘em!
Another firm Besti-crew favourite is Underworld, who, we’re extremely pleased to say, will headline the Big Top on Thursday night as part of a UK festival exclusive for us! Currently touring their seminal Dubnobasswithmyheadman album to packed venues across the land, we’ve bagged them to kick off our epic four-day love-fest, when they’ll be proving it’s not just skyscrapers that they love.
Commenting on their opening night appearance, Underworld said: “Can't wait to be back on the Isle of Wight with the Bestival crew. Be sure to get there early to catch us on Thursday night and start the weekend as you mean to go on”.
Joining our line-up for the first time for a UK festival exclusive appearance are iconic trailblazers Duran Duran. Unstoppable as ever, the band are currently in the studio with Mr. Hudson, Mark Ronson and Nile Rodgers, putting the finishing touches on a brand new album, set for release later this year. Frontman Simon Le Bon says: “This year sees the beginning of a new Duran Duran live show. I couldn't imagine starting it with more of a bang than an appearance at Bestival.”
We’ll also have a UK festival exclusive appearance from the world’s most famous musical family, The Jacksons, and live sets from psychedelic riff merchants Tame Impala, soul-powered collective Jungle, bloc party hip-hop kings Jurassic 5, a UK exclusive from unique beat sculptor Flying Lotus, garage duo Gorgon City, who, as you’ll know, are ‘ready for your love’, genre-swerving four-piece Little Dragon; the golden voiced Roisin Murphy, and deep house don and UK singles chart-topper Duke Dumont.
And there’s plenty more live music from the likes of Kate Tempest, Jamie xx (Live),Boy Better Know, Todd Terje (live), Action Bronson, Future Islands, Level 42 , Young Fathers, Flight Facilities, Rae Morris, Jungle Brothers, The Cuban Brothers, Pond, Sleaford Mods, Fat White Family, Lapsley, Cymande, Slaves, Shura, George The Poet, Dean Blunt, Snap!, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, The Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, Reggaerobics and Circus Raj.
Sharing bounteous love on the ones & twos late into the night, we’ll have the undisputed queen of Radio 1’s dance shows Annie Mac, rabble rousing as Lily Allen presents FUNLORD, plus Kalamazoo’s coolest man Seth Troxler, musical yarn-spinners Tale of Us, first lady of bass Hannah Wants, and the unutterably brilliant Four Tet, who will not only be blowing minds when he opens The Port on Friday but will also be taking everybody that bit higher, bringing our beloved Bollywood to a close the very same night!
We’ll also have mayhem from Black Butter Presents…, sick beats from Madlib, floor-smashing goodness from Jackmaster, Joy Orbison going toe to toe with Ben UFO, cosmic techno from Guy Gerber, full signal when David Rodigan MBE presents Ram Jam, sonic adventuring from Erol Alkan, beautiful blends as erstwhile Streets man Mike Skinner presents Tonga and unknown pleasures from Andrew Weatherall.
And there’s plenty more arms in the air behaviour courtesy of SHY FX’s Party on the Moon, Mistajam presents Speakerbox, Benji B presents Deviation, Redlight, Jonas Rathsman, The Heatwave, Norman Jay MBE presents Good Times, Wookie, The Shellac Collective, Late Nite Tuff Guy, SG Lewis, Joe Hertz, World Of Rave & Music Mondays presents: Billy Daniel Bunter, Slipmatt, Rat Pack, Mark Archer (Altern-8), Kaotic Chemistry, Baby D, Liquid & Uncle Dugs, Work It DJs, Juicebox DJs and Venum Sound.
Tickets for Bestival’s Summer of Love go on sale at 10am on Thursday 12th February, and will be available through our ground breaking weekly payment plan, which lets you spread the cost of a Bestival ticket across 25 weeks for around £7 per week after your initial deposit. So there are no excuses! Join our legion of lovers now!
Live:
The Chemical Brothers / Underworld / Duran Duran / The Jacksons / Tame Impala / Jungle / Jurassic 5 / Flying Lotus / Gorgon City / Little Dragon / Roisin Murphy / Duke Dumont / Kate Tempest / Jamie xx (Live) / Boy Better Know / Todd Terje (Live) / Action Bronson / Future Islands / Level 42 / Young Fathers / Flight Facilities / Rae Morris / Jungle Brothers / The Cuban Brothers / Pond / Sleaford Mods / Fat White Family / Lapsley / Cymande / Slaves / Shura / George the Poet / Dean Blunt / Snap! / The Crazy World of Arthur Brown / Mr Wilson’s Second Liners /The Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band / Reggaerobics / Circus Raj
DJs:
Annie Mac / Lily Allen presents FUNLORD / Seth Troxler / Tale of Us / Hannah Wants / Four Tet / Black Butter Presents… / Madlib / Jackmaster / Joy Orbison / Ben UFO / Guy Gerber / David Rodigan MBE presents Ram Jam / Erol Alkan / Mike Skinner presents Tonga / Andrew Weatherall / SHY FX’s Party on the Moon / Mistajam presents Speakerbox / Benji B presents Deviation / Redlight / Jonas Rathsman / The Heatwave / Norman Jay MBE presents Good Times / Wookie / The Shellac Collective / Late Nite Tuff Guy / SG Lewis / Joe Hertz / World Of Rave & Music Mondays presents: Billy Daniel Bunter, Slipmatt, Rat Pack, Mark Archer (Altern-8), Kaotic Chemistry, Baby D, Liquid & Uncle Dugs / Work It DJs / Juicebox DJs / Venum Sound
The pioneering Ibiza Rocks brand will travel to Zrce Beach to once again revolutionise the music holiday format with Croatia Rocks on 19th – 23rd July 2015. The festival marks a decade at the forefront of the Ibizan music scene for the group. Working with the team behind the monumental Hideout Festival and with Ibiza Rocks’ Musical Director Zane Lowe at the helm, Croatia Rocks will welcome a handpicked selection of live and DJ heavy hitters and newcomers from the world-famous Rocks & W.A.R! stages.
By day, Croatia Rocks teams up with the biggest clubbing brands on the planet as revelers are treated to a myriad of DJ talent against the backdrop on the stunning Adriatic coastline. By night, The Rocks and W.A.R! stages deliver the best of live and electronic music into the early hours as the crowds party with the biggest names and hottest upcoming talent.
Live highlights at the inaugural Croatia Rocks include the standout live act of 2014 Clean Bandit, the funk-inspired Jungle who bring their extensive live show to the beautiful surroundings of Zrce Beach. Kwabsbrings his exceptional vocals and anthemic songwriting to sun-kissed revelers, while lyricist Kate Tempest, the hotly tipped Shura, Brighton-based surf-rockers Black Honey and high-energy London lads The Bulletproof Bomb, all fly the flag for innovative new UK music.
Croatia Rocks will also host DJ sets on the sandy beaches of Pag from double BRIT winner Fatboy Slim, who returns for the first time in three years to Croatia. After the roaring success of their number one debut album 'Home' Rudimental will fire up the Croatia Rocks crowds with a very special DJ set as well as a plethora of electronic music’s finest including Wilkinson, Hannah Wants, Blonde, B.Traits, Soul Clap,Monki, Shy FX, Friend Within, Karma Kid, Waze & Odyssey, DJ Luck & MC Neat, Doorly, Mak & Pasteman, Eton Messy DJs, Jaymo & Andy George, Tom Shorterz and Lxury.
Jungle, the celebrated London funk collective, and probably the hottest band in the UK right now, are set to join the Secret Garden Party 2015 line-up. Described by Time Out as a band who ‘make electronic music with a human heart, marry underground cool with main-stage appeal, and do it with vision and conviction,’ they released their self-titled debut album through XL Recordings in the summer to widespread acclaim.
Kate Tempest, who really needs no introduction, is officially added to the line-up this time round having busked at the Secret Garden Party a few years ago. Winner of the Ted Hughes Poetry Award for her narrative poem, ‘Brand New Ancients,’ she was also nominated for the Mercury Prize for her album ‘ Everybody Down.’ She will be performing her new poetry collection ‘Hold Your Own’ along with the current album.
French ensemble extraordinaire and long-time Garden Party favourites also join this first wave of bands. Renowned for their outstanding live shows Caravan Palace bring together elements of jazz, gypsy and dance music in a vibrant, upbeat and exhilarating fashion.
Rising stars Jack Garratt and Marika Hackman are also confirmed along with Flyte,Iyes, Jagaara, Elder Island and Menace Beach. New artists, who all possess excitingly unorthodox and distinctive styles.
Unknown Croatia unleash the first phase lineup for the 2014 installment which includes live performances from Scottish electro pop band Chvrches, the critically acclaimed Wild Beasts, Jungle, Mount Kimbie, James Holden, Ten Walls and many more. DJ showcases come from Resident Advisor’s No 1 DJ of 2013 Dixon, who is returning back from a memorable performance at Unknown’s debut event alongside the likes of TEED, Tale Of Us, Daniel Avery and Ame.
Further musical recruits include John Talabot, Seth Troxler, Bicep, Joy Orbison, Simian Mobile Disco, Michael Mayer, plus many more. Artists play across a diverse range of musical activities including daytime and evening events on boats, by the pool, deep in the forest and new for 2014, on nearby islands.
Art and performance were a highlight of Unknown’s first event and will be returning on an even grander scale in 2014 courtesy of Mad Ferret productions, Unit 44 and more. Also new to 2014, the main stage will be open a whole extra day giving more scope for live performances. With 25-30 flights a day leaving the UK for nearby airports, its easier than ever before to attend.
Returning to the beautiful town of Rovinj, crowned the jewel of the North Adriatic, Unknown is set within an inclusive site with accommodation options ranging from camping to five star luxury apartments, all of which are available from unknowncroatia.com from 11th February. Put together by the Leeds promotersSound Channel, Unknown 2014 still has more surprises in store with further artists yet to be announced.
PROGRAMME
LIVE: Chvrches / Wild Beasts / Jungle / Mount Kimbie / Forest Swords / Henrik Schwarz / James Holden / Kink / Lapalux / Ten Walls
DJ: Ame / Bicep / Daniel Avery / Dixon / DJ Harvey / Dusky / Erol Alkan / George Fitzgerald / Gerd Janson / Horse Meat Disco / Jackmaster / John Talabot / Joy Orbison / Kim Ann Foxman / Mano Le Tough / Michael Mayer / Optimo / Rub & Tug / Ryan Elliot / Seth Troxler / Simian Mobile Disco / Tale Of Us / TEED / The 2 Bears / Waze & Odyssey
Aunti Flo / Bad Passion / Capacabana / Cutloose / Eskimo Twins / Force Of Nature / Gatto Fritto / Geddes / Genius Of Time / Harri & Domonic Capello / Hunee / Jennifer Cardini / Last Waltz / Lord Of The Isles / Mike Jones / Mister Saturday Night / Paramida / People Get Real / Red Axes / Scott Fraser / Simon Baker / The Sonic Emporium / Tim Fairplay / Tom Grainger
The Summer Festival Guide has the lineup details of the first 100 artists added to Brighton's The Great Escape which kicks off in May.
Heading up the lineup is Kelis in the Brighton Dome along with Brit Award nominee Ella Eyre who returns for a second year running.
Known as the UK’s answer to SXSW and labelled “The Cannes of the Music World” by Steve Lamacq, the first batch of artists confirmed for 2014 is evidence of the festival’s ability to navigate every genre featuring; hypnotic beat making collective JUNGLE, self-titled “Steak and Kidney Pop” star CHLÖE HOWL, Brighton’s own home-grown rock’n’roll duo ROYAL BLOOD and new benchmark for Pop music CHARLI XCX.
Also joining the line-up is atmospheric 3-piece BLAENAVON, gifted story spinning slacker COURTNEY BARNETT, Liverpudlian quartet CIRCA WAVES, new surf grunge kids on the block DUNE RATS as well as disillusioned outsiders FAT WHITE FAMILY who will bring total intoxicating aberrance to the seaside.
The full TGE 2014 line-up so far:
AMBER RUN / ANDY SHAUF / ARC IRIS / ARTHUR BEATRICE / AS ANIMALS / AUTOBAHN / BABY IN VAIN / BABY STRANGE / BEARD OF WOLVES / BEAUTIFUL BOY / BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE / BLACK CITY LIGHTS / BLAENAVON / BROKEN TWIN / CHARLI XCX / CHERUB / CHLÖE HOWL / CIRCA WAVES / CLEO T / COURTNEY BARNETT / D/C / DARK FOR DARK / DARLIA / DENAI MOORE / DIVE IN / DOLOMITE MINOR / DOOM SQUAD / DOUGLAS DARE / DUNE RATS / ELLA EYRE*/ EROTIC MARKET / FABIENNE / FAT WHITE FAMILY / FEMALE SMELL / FEMME / FLUX PAVILION / FLYTE / FTSE / FUTURE ISLANDS / FYFE / GIANNA LAUREN / GINGER AND THE GHOST / GLORY GLORY / HANNAH GEORGAS / HERMITUDE / HOLY STRAYS / HSY / HUMAN PYRAMIDS / JAAKKO EINO KALEVI / JAY ARNER / JEREMIAH JAE / JEREMY NEALE / JUNGLE / KELIS*/ LABYRINTH EAR / LEON T PEARL / LONELY THE BRAVE / LOVEPARK / MAJOR LEAGUES / MARIKA HACKMAN / MATTHEW AND THE ATLAS / MAX MARSHALL / MICKEY LIGHTFOOT / MONEY FOR ROPE / NEW DESERT BLUES / OLIVER WILDE / ORVAL CARLOS SIBELIUS / OY / PAWWS / PHOX / POWDER BLUE / REJJIE SNOW / ROSIE LOWE / ROYAL BLOOD / RUSSIAN RED / SAINT RAYMOND / SAMARIS / SATELLITE STORIES / SEPTEMBER GIRLS / SHOPPING / SHY NATURE / SIN COS TAN / SLAVES / STUBBORN HEART / SUNDARA KARMA / THE BONY KING OF NOWHERE / THE CREASES / THE CROOKED BROTHERS / THE DARLINGTONS / THE OSCILLATION / THE SCENES / THEO VERNEY / TOVE LO / TRAAMS / TRAUMAHELIKOPTER / TRAVIS BRETZER / WET / WHITE LUNG / WILSEN / WOMANS HOUR / YOUNG SUMMER / YOUTH MAN / YUMI AND THE WEATHER
