A Festival As Seen By A Very Large Frog |
Apart from established artists like Massive Attack, Groove Armada and the Chems there’s a healthy crop of immerging & middleweight talent such as MGMT, CSS and Santogold.
Already this month we've had the Zagreb festival in Croatia featuring The Prodigy and The Go! Team. This weekend just gone the Rockness Festival in Scotland featured Fatboy Slim, Underworld, Editors, Calvin Harris, Mylo, CSS, Felix Da Housecat, Pendulum, Does It Offend You, Yeah and Simian Mobile Disco.
But still to come later in June there's stand out festivals like Sonar in Barcelona which features an appearance by Alf and Vince as Yazoo take the stage during Saturday’s Sonar At Night.
Then there’s the Glade Electronic Festival with a backdrop of the Berkshire countryside featuring Autechre, The Orb, System 7 and The Grid.
Also included here are bands like Editors, Interpol, Radiohead & other acts that sprinkle their sound with a liberal dose of technology.
So here we go with a pretty comprehensive list that may help you catch some of the rich crop of talent thrashing it out in the fields and slurry pits at this year’s festivities.
JUNE 2008
Isle Of Wight – June 13 –15
Sex Pistols and The Police, but not many electronica acts here apart from the New Young Pony Club (in case you missed them last year!).
Sonar Festival of Electronic Music, Barcelona – June 19 – 21
Goldfrapp, Yazoo, Leila, Ben Watt, Basquiat Strings, Camille, Rob Da Bank, Diplo, Justice, Boys Noize, Erol Alkan, Suite On Clouds, Yelle, The Pinker Tone, DJ Soak, Darren Emerson, Ewan Pearson, Roisin Murphy, Hercules & Love Affair, Frankie Knuckles, Angel Molina, Soulwax, Radio Active man, Clark, X-102, Oscar Mulero, DJ Yoda, M.I.A. to name but a few!
Southside Festival, Tuttlingen, Germany - June 20-22
Radiohead, The Wombats and The Chemical Brothers.
Hove, Arendal, Norway - June 23-27
Jay-Z
Wakestock, Oxfordshire - June 27 – 29
The Streets, Groove Armada, Calvin Harris, Mark Ronson, Pendulum, Audio Bullys, Cut Copy, DJ Yoda, Jazzie B.
Glastonbury, Worthy Farm, Somerset - June 27 – 29
Jay-Z, Massive Attack, Hot Chip, Goldfrapp, Groove Armada, Mark Ronson, The Gossip, Panic at The Disco, Editors, Banco De Gaia, Fatboy Slim, MGMT, Spiritulized, Unkle, Santogold.
JULY 2008
Quart, Kristiansand, Norway - July 2-5
Digitalism, Radiohead.
O2 Wireless, London - July 3 - 6
Jay-Z, Mark Ronson, Hot Chip, Beck, Fatboy Slim, Beck, Underworld.
Roskilde, Denmark - July 3 – 6
Radiohead, MGMT, The Streets, Sigur Ros, The Chemical Brothers.
Main Square Festival, Arras, France - July 4-6
The Chemical Brothers, Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Underworld.
Open'er, Gnynia, Poland - July 4-6
Interpol, Massive Attack, The Chemical Brothers, Goldfrapp, M.I.A., Jay-Z.
Ruisrock Festival, Turku, Finland - July 4-6
Interpol.
Eurockeennes, France - July 4 – 6
Massive Attack, CSS, Calvin Harris, Moby.
Wild In The Country, Knebworth Park - July 5
Bjork, Soulwax, Sasha, Hercules and Love Affair, 2manydjs, Mylo (DJ set), Faithless (DJ set), Carl Craig, DJ Yoda.
The Mighty Boosh Festival, Kent - July 5
The Mighty Boosh (natch) and Gary Numan.
Exit, Novi Sad, Serbia - July 10-13
Sven Vath and Laurent Garnier.
T In The Park, Scotland – 11 – 13 July
Chemical Brothers, Jeff Mills, Dubfire, The Prodigy.
Latitude, Suffolk - July 17 – 20
Sigur Ros, Interpol, The Go! Team, The Mars Volta.
Fiberfib, Benicassim, Spain - July 17-20
Hot Chip and Gnarls Barkley.
Benicassim, Spain - July 17 – 20
Siouxie Sioux, Justice, Spiritulized.
Melt, Ferropolis, Germany - July 18-20
Bjork, Editors, Stereo MC’s, Hercules & Love Affair, Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Glade Electronic Dance Music Festival, Berkshire 18 – 20 July
Dubfire, Pendulum, Jeff Mills, Frequency 7, Autechre, The Orb, System 7, The Grid, plus a squillion DJ’s (nearly).
Lovebox, London July 19 – 20
Groove Armada, The Human League, Lethal Bizzle, The Flaming Lips, Goldfrapp, The Go! Team.
Secret Garden, Cambridgeshire July 24 – 27
Grace Jones, Morcheeba.
AUGUST 2008
The Big Chill, Castle Deer Park August 1 – 3
The Mighty Boosh, Hot Chip, Mum.
Way Out West, Gothenburg, Sweden - August 8-10
Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips and Franz Ferdinand.
Sziget, Budapest, Hungary - August 12-18
Not many Electronic acts but they do have Iron Maiden, R.E.M and the Kaiser Chiefs. Rock on!
V Festival, Staffordshire August 16 – 17
The Prodigy.
Loop Festival, Brighton August 16
New Young Pony Club, Midfield General, Primary One and a ‘special guest’ DJ (in Brighton? Hmmm…Now let’s see, who could it be..?).
Reading/Leeds 22 – 24 August
MGMT, Editors, Santogold, Pendulum, CSS, Simian Mobile Disco.
Creamfields, Cheshire August 23 – 24
Fatboy Slim, Paul Van Dyk, Pendulum, Sasha, 2manydjs, Pete Tong, Underworld, Soulwax, Nile Rodgers, Gorillaz Soundsystem, Cut Copy, Dave Clark, Peter Hook (Yes, Hooky).
Get Loaded In The Park, London August 24
Soulwax, Mylo (DJ set), Boyz Noize, Streetlife DJ’s.
Hydro Connect, Scotland August 29 – 31
Goldfrapp, Sigur Ros, Spiritualised.
Electric Picnic, Ireland August 29 – 31
Goldfrapp, Sigur Ros.
SEPTEMBER 2008
Bestival, Isle Of Wight September 5 – 7
Aphex Twin, The Human League, C.S.S., Gary Numan, Jamie Lidell, 808 State, Kid Carpet.
OK, that’s all the festivities for now. I’m off to stock up on bog roll and Red Bull...
See you there!
Simon Power
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