Primavera is the new normal

One of the big beasts of the European music scene, Primavera Sound, has unleashed its 2019 line up. Solange, Tame Impala, Future, Mac DeMarco, Janelle Monae, Interpol, Jarvis Cocker, Cardi B and Robyn all feature.

Primavera takes place in Barcelona on the weekend from May 30 to June 1. Established in 2001, since then Primavera has been attracting the biggest names in music.

Organisers have indicated that over half of the acts featuring at this years festival are women, In their announcement, the Primavera team have indicated that they want to create a new ‘normal’ for music festivals.

That in a line up there be equality between female and male artists should be normal
That gender barriers and pigeonholing be dismantled should be normal
That all stages, schedules and proposals be provocative should be normal
That the music of the new generations be embraced without forgetting how we got here should be normal

It may be marketing guff, but at least they are practicing what they preach with their line up. Hopefully more will follow suit.

Tickets are from 180 euro and are available here.

Exit upgrades its Fleet

Having already announced The Cure, Sofi Tukker and world No. 1 DJ duo -Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, EXIT Festival has announced another slew of acts.

Flavour of the month and year, Michigan’s Greta Van Fleet have been announced. Greta Van Fleet are having massive success with their debut album Anthem of The Peaceful Army, which has drawn favourable comparison to Led Zeppelin and other rock greats.

Phil Anselmo, frontman of Pantera, Tarja Turunen, Arcturus and Swedish metal act Entombed A.D. have also all been added. Ska act, The Selecter, Punks Peter and the Test Tube Babies and Californian veterans Total Chaos join them on the line up.

EXIT will take place from July 4th to 7th in Novi Sad Serbia. Tickets are on sale here.

Rock Werchter looks hard to beat

Ah, its just very good isn’t it. I mean, come on, you have to give credit. Rock Werchter keep on adding quality to what was an already strong line up. At the back end of last week, the Belgians added Weezer, The 1975, Jungle, Tom Misch, Kurt Vile & The Violaters, Macklemore, Clean Bandit and Two Door Cinema Club.

The organisers also gave an idea how the individual days were shaping up. Oh boy, how they are shaping up.

Thursday 27 June	Friday 28 June	Saturday 29 June	Sunday 30 June
P!NK	Tool	Mumford & Sons	Muse
Paul Kalkbrenner	The Cure	Florence + the Machine	Underworld
Vance Joy	Bring Me The Horizon	Macklemore	Yungblud
Bang Bang Romeo	Kylie	THE BLAZE
	The 1975	Clean Bandit
	Weezer	Miles Kane
	Years & Years	Two Door Cinema Club
	Jungle
	Tom Misch
	Nothing But Thieves
	Kurt Vile & The Violators

So, with this much unveiled surely now you are happy to part with your hard earned wedge and to commit to a short flight to Belgium.

Ticket options can be found here.

Rock Werchter filling out nicely

Rock Werchter have announced a bucket loat of new acts, joining an already orgasmic list. The new acts are: Bring Me The Horizon, Kylie, Paul Kalkenbrenner, Years & Years, THE BLAZE, Miles Kane, Nothing But Thieves, Vance Joy, Yungblud and Bang Bang Romeo.

These new acts join, P!NK, Tool, The Cure, Mumford & Sons, Florence & The Machine and Muse. In terms of announcements, Rock Werchter is well ahead of most other European festivals. More acts are promised soon.

Rock Werchter takes place from 27th to 30th June in Werchter, Belgium. Tickets are on sale from here.

I see your true Colours….. of Ostrava

Colours of Ostrava is one of the biggest music festivals in Central Europe. On the go since 2002, it is also one of the longest established of Europes festivals. Ostrava, is the third biggest city in the Czech Republic. With twenty stages, Colours features music from all over the world.

Florence and the Machine has joined The Cure as the first two headliners for the festival. Both acts look set to have a busy festival summer. Colours will take place from the 17th to 20th of July. Tickets are available from here.

Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike to close Exit

Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike have been confirmed as the act to close the Main Stage on the final night of Exit Festival, on July 7th 2019. Hailed as the number one DJ pairing in the world, this should be a cracking way to finish the festival.

The multi-award winning festival, once described by The Guardian as ‘the best festival in the world’, was attended by almost 200,000 people in 2018. The Cure and Sofi Tukker are already confirmed for the event.

Exit, held in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia, was born out of the movement for freedom and democracy in the Balkans. It has grown steadily over the years and annually boasts a strong line up. Last years menu included; David Guetta, Grace Jones, Fever Ray, Jax Jones, LP, Ofenbach, Nina Kraviz, Richie Hawtin, Asian Dub Foundation and Daniel Avery.

Exit is crazy cheap. You can get a festival ticket for just 99 EUR +b/f. Daily tickets for the first day of the festival when The Cure are performing (4 July) are available at 29 EUR +b/f for general entrance, 39 EUR +b/f for the fan pit and 100 EUR +b/f for GOLD VIP.

Tickets from here

Vampire Weekend, The Cure and The 1975 to take a bite out of Madrid

Vampire Weekend, The Cure and The 1975 are the latest bands to be announced for Mad Cool Festival. Following hot on the heels of The National, Mad Cool are building a strong line up. The Madrid festival runs from 11 – 13 July.

New York band, Vampire Weekend have been around for twelve years. That is very depressing. In that time they have released just three albums, the most succesful of which was arguably their eponymous debut album. There are now conflicting reports as to whether their fourth album will be released early in 2019.

After an extended hiatus, and the departure of one of the band, Vampire Weekend began touring in 2018, playing a number of high profile festivals, including Fuji Rocks, End of the Road and Lollapalooza.

The Cure have a busy summer ahead, with appearances at major festivals throughout Europe. Already announced are Exit, Rock Werchter, Nova Rocks, Hurricane & Southside Fesitvals, NOS Alive, Roskilde and more.

The 1975 were announced earlier in the week for Benicassim. The Chocolate rockers look set to have a major year in 2019, cementing their status as a headline act.

Well over 100,000 people will attend the festival in Madrid. Mad is a relative baby in terms of Europe’s festivals, but it continues to attract a great line up.

Lana del Rey to party in Benicassim like it’s 1975

Lana Del Rey is the first headliner announced for Benacassim 2019. She will be joined in Spain by The 1975, La M.O.D.A ., Blossoms, Cupido and Carina. The festival, now in it’s 24th year, will run from 18 – 21 July.

Benicassim, is the festival for people who like to be very very hot. Festival Internacional de Benicassim is an endurance sport, where organisers challenge you to party for pretty much a week and still live to tell the tale. The party at Benicassim goes on all night.

The campsite opens on the Tuesday and music begins on the Thursday and runs for four days. The festival itself is split over three main stages as well as other installations.

The town of Benicassim is located near to Valencia and is easily accessible. Get a flight to Valencia and a bus or train will take you to Valencia.

An early bird 4 day pass is currently €110. Given the quality of line up that FIB normally has, that is some of the best value available from any of the major festivals. Just look at last years line up.

Fleetwood Mac to play PinkPop

Fleetwood Mac are going Dutch this Summer. The veteran rockers will play PINKPOP, at Landgraaf, in the Netherlands. This is a return to the festival for Fleetwood Mac, they played the 2nd Pinkpop festival in 1971!

Fleetwood Mac are firmly back on the live scene in recent years. They have played events such as Isle of Wight festival and are rumoured to be on this years Glastonbury list. They are also back to old habits in terms of in – band disharmony, having recently fired Lindsey Buckingham.

PINKPOP is the oldest of Europe’s festivals, dating back to 1970. It is somewhat unusual for a modern rock festival, as it is named after a Christian feast – Pentecost is celebrated 7 weeks after Easter Sunday and marks the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles of Christ. Pink is Dutch for Pentecost. This rather strange association means that PINKPOP has a somewhat moveable date and is one of the earlier festivals on the summer schedule.

Recent headliners have included Green Day, Paul McCartney, Pharell Williams, Muse, Rammstien. Last year saw Pearl Jam, Bruno Mars and Foo Fighers top the bill. The festival has a capacity of 60,000.

Tickets for the 1971 gig were about 7 guilder, about 4 euro in today’s money. Tickets for next years show will go on sale in March. Ticketmaster NL are the ticket agent.

The National go Mad for it!

The National are returning to Europe. The Ohio band will headline Madrid’s Mad Cool festival which runs from 11 – 13 July.

Mad Cool is one of Europe’s newer festivals, only coming on the scene in 2016. Since then, headliners have included Foo Fighters, Neil Young, The Who, Kings of Leon, The Prodigy Depeche Mode, Pearl Jam and Arctic Monkeys. Well over 100,000 people will attend the festival.

Tickets are not currently on sale, but last year they sold for about €160. Translating that into sterling depends on the current state of play on Brexit negotiations, but about £135.

Seven album’s into their career, The National have always drawn large crowds in Europe and they should help shift a lot of tickets. The band has been playing new material in recent months, so fans can expect them to mix it up.