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Festivals. Bands. Fields. Tents. Expensive Food. Being smelly. More details below...
Standon Calling:
Yes, it is impossible to see the name of this festival without changing the lyrics to a particular Clash song. Regardless, the line-up for Standon Calling - what could be termed a 'boutique' festival - is stratospheric. Well, for us totally indie types, anyway. Here's who will be playing in the Hertfordshire countryside between August 6-8.
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, These New Puritans, Efterklang, Gilles Peterson, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Fucked Up, Pantha Du Prince, Eddy Temple-Morris, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Esben And The Witch, Dave Haslam, Gold Panda, Joe Gideon And The Shark, The Phantom Band, Jagz Kooner, Delorean, The Ruby Suns, Anna Calvi, Erland And The Carnival, Summer Camp, Jesca Hoop, The Megaphonic Thrift, Tom Ravenscroft, Egyptian Hip-Hop, Plants And Animals, North Atlantic Oscillation, Clock Opera, Radioproof, Factory Floor, Delirium Tremens, Gabby Young And Other Animals, Bo Ningen, Revere, The Sound Of Rum, The Fabulous Penetrators, Tim Fanucci, Pica Pica, Yearner Babies, Cantmixwontmixshouldntmixdontmix, Anthony Joseph And The Spasm Band, Mr Fogg, The Violet May and Fran And Josh.
I can't help but have the feeling that they've put in some of those artists lower down on the bill just to make sure we're paying attention and not blindly copying and pasting the line-up. Surely they can't exist?
As said up there, Standon Calling takes place from August 6-8 and Early Bird tickets are on sale for the price of £75 or 95 with camping. More information here.
Kendal Calling:
If Standon is calling you, then so is Kendal. Home, of course, to Wild Beasts (or do they actually live in Leeds now? Idunno) who will, unsurprisingly, play this event, which runs from July 30 - August 1 in Lowther Deer Park, Hackthorpe, The Lake District. Not, somewhat unexpectedly, in or anywhere near Kendal.
Lining up alongside Wild Beasts are: Calvin Harris, The Futureheads, OK GO, Dub Pistols, Erol Alkan, DJ Yoda, Plump DJs, High Contrast, Scratch Perverts, Elite Force, Justin Robertson, Danny Byrd, Doorly, Eskimo Twins, Emalkay, People Get Real, Rich Reason, Ken Evil, Ash Howell, Craig Charles' Funk and Soul Show, Lancashire Hotpots.
General details to be found here. Weekend camping tickets £85.
Land of Kings:
Dalston's a pretty cool place to live, right? That is, in any case, what it seems like to me, an outsider. Land of Kings returns for 2010 across a plethora of E8 venues and will see Gyratory System, Das Lion, Yuck, A Love Supreme, The Detachments, Dignan Porch, Greco Roman Soundsystem, Rory Phillips, Taktal, Living In A Disco, Loki Star, Graffiti Island and a plate-full more perform, including DJ sets from some of the brightest and best.
It takes place on Friday April 23, and features ART as well as music. Food, too, which is arguably more important than the above two disciplines. Tickets can be bought for TWELVE of your finest Pounds Sterling by clicking here.
Dot To Dot:
A relatively small group - but of a high quality - of acts confirmed for the tri-city festival, which runs in Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol.
They are: Wild Beasts, Fionn Regan, Field Music (Briz and Manc), 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Lights, Rox, Johnny Foreigner, Dead Confederate and Dan Sartain. They join other notable acts including Mystery Jets, Los Campesinos! and Beach House.
Dot to Dot takes place in Bristol on May 29, Nottingham on May 30 and Manchester on May 31. More deets here.
Latitude:
Seeing as they let me drink some of their launch party beer I think Latitude is worthy of a mention. Joining the stellar cast of headliners (by and large...) for some Suffolk-based frolics will be:
Obelisk Arena: Laura Marling, Hockey, Corinne Bailey Rae, Here We Go Magic, Mumford & Sons, Sweet Billy Pilgrim and Cassidy. Sunrise Arena: Girls, Nadine Shah, Kurran and The Wolfnotes and Matthew P.
Lat' 2010 takes place from 15-18 July in Henham Park, Suffolk. Weekend tickets are £155 including VAT and can be bought here. General information can be found here.
Truck America:
Truck's expansion of empire continues, as Truck America will run for the first time, in 2010. Added to the full and final line-up this time are: Mercury Rev, The Joy Formidable, Hopewell, White Rabbits, Forgetters, Ida, Lewis and Clarke, The Silent League, Roadside Graves, Neil Halstead.
The inaugural stateside Truck takes place at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY from Friday April 30 to Sunday May 2. Weekend passes and all that are on sale now, from here. Along with the music, there are workships (like a workshop, but for illiterate typ(o)es, kids' activities, jam sessions and much, much more.
Oxegen:
"More amazing artists revealed!" claims the promotional e-mail. I'll let you be the judge of that, but it's not half bad.
Dizzee Rascal, Julian Casablancas, Laura Marling, Jamie T, Earth, Wind and Fire, Groove Armada, The Black Keys, The Cribs, Chase and Status, The Stranglers, Fox Avenue.
Oxegen takes place in Ireland, specifically at Punchestown Racecourse from July 9-11. As the coinage in Eire is the Euro, the prices are quoted as such. It's somewhere around €224.50, I believe, though certain discounts and concessions are available.
Until next time...
