Festivals

Looking for the latest lineup, date, ticket information or latest news about your favourite festivals, look no further.  Summer Festival Guide’s Festival News section covers all your needs!

Leefest present The Neverland for 2016

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Celebrating 10 years since the original LeeFest kicked off in the back garden of founder Lee Denny; 2016 sees the emergence of the next chapter for the UK’s favourite independent festival with an exciting new creation; The Neverland.
 
The story of LeeFest is now legendary, growing from a back garden gathering with friends into a celebration of the true spirit of festivals. At the age of 16, Lee’s decision to rebel against his parents’ wishes led to the formation of a true community of kindred spirits and a celebration of new music, arts and creatives. Naturally expanding from the ground upwards year after year, it’s morphed into an unmissable fixture of the summer and along the way has introduced global success stories such as Bastille, London Grammar, Years & Years, Young Fathers and Jack Garratt amongst others. LeeFest is for the people and by the people, and that unfaltering desire for independent creativity and fantastic live moments has pushed it to the forefront of festival culture.
 
Now looking to evolve and innovate to the next level, this year LeeFest is taking flight into the kaleidoscopic world of The Neverland; a magical panoptic Kingdom full of unabashed creativity, diverse personalities and serious partying! The Neverland is the culmination of the dreams of thousands in the snowballing LeeFest community.
 
Defined by three distinct realms, The Neverland provides a fantastical immersive adventure for attendees…
 
Submerged in neon coating and sun-kissed horizons, Mermaids Lagoon will be the go-to destination for all those seeking the Club Tropicana high-life of cocktails, sunshine and pristine clarity. Dive into the bright lights of 80s glam in all its prime, with the beautiful people and luminous vibes of sunshine by the beach and margaritas on tap, as a vivid soundtrack of pop music serenades the pool bathers. For those seeking opulence and extravagance, a dip into Mermaids Lagoon is the height of decadence and thrilling glamour.
 
A futuristic dystopia, Skull Ridge lies in The Neverland shadows – a living embodiment of shadowy fantasies and mind-blowing attractions. Corruption and lawlessness are rife and the pounding, relentless soundtrack of bass, grunge and punk reigns supreme. Mob rule and darkness are ever present in this sprawling part of The Neverland that is unforgiving and unrepentant.  
 
The Neverwoods boasts some of the finest scenery in the whole of The Neverland, with panoramic natural vistas and a place of tranquillity, nourishment and well-being. Stroll through the picturesque frames of the ambient forests whilst becoming one with the wonderful nature flowing throughout and embrace new music, arts and crafts in a no nonsense paradise celebrating good times and joy.

More added to this years Gottwood Festival lineup

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Gottwood are proud to announce a new set of artists who will join the likes of Mr. G, Joy Orbison, Move D, DJ Deep, Craig Richards, Ben UFO, Roman Flügel, Sonja Moonear, Andrew Weatherall, Zip and many more in their magical Welsh forest this June.
 
Joining the Gottwood Family will be the Barcelona based Hivern Discs Label owner John Talabot,known for his slow moving and ebullient house. Alongside John Talabot, Gottwood welcomes the return of Rush Hour records Hunee, a Gottwood favourite following an epic set in the Gottwood Forest during the 2015 event.  
 
Gottwood are also excited to announce rising star John Dimas, who will bring his stripped back avante-garde house and techno sound to a Gottwood stage, whilst hotly tipped Manchester grime collective LEVELZ take over an intimate corner of the welsh woodland. 
 
Ensuring all musical bases are covered jazz, funk and fusion band The Expansions, who are best known as Andrew Ashongs session band, will play Live on the Lawn Stage as will the enthused raw groove, funk and hip-hop sounds of The Max Graef Band and the afro edit sounds of Sheffield's Al Zander aka Lodger. 
 
Futureboogie's Maxxi Soundsystem, twin duo The Menendez Brothers and One Records head honcho Subb-An will be bringing more up front party attitude to the forest, along with the well respected Leicester based club night and label collective City Fly. Manchester based crowd-loving crate-digger Neil Diablo will also be onboard, playing solo and also alongside Crazy P original member Jim Baron as their Ron & Neil collaboration. 

 

Alongside new media partners,  Stamp The Wax, and friends of the festival Ruf Dug, Gottwood are set to create a new space at the festival aptly named Ruffys Lab. Artistically curated by Ruf Dug himself, expect daytime interviews, product showcases, 80's video games and evening house parties with take overs from Ruf Kutz, Stamp The Wax and Dream Catalogue. 

DJ Jazzy Jeff, Black Coffee and more added to Croatia’s SuncéBeat

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Migrating from Southport to the primed-for-dance paradise of Croatia with their seventh edition,Southport Weekender presents SuncéBeat 7 this July 20th – 27th, 2016. The closing crescendo of it’s parent festival in 2015 has set the stage for this latest event on the Croatian shore, with all the credit of a proud legacy from past parties. The Garden Tisno will provide just the sun-washed, beautiful backdrop for the latest SuncéBeat installment – with confirmed names including DJ Jazzy Jeff, Black Coffee, Louie Vega and Derrick Carter. 
 
No stranger to boasting serious bills, the next chapter in the Southport Weekender story may come from the same page, but is a world away in the next centre of dance culture. The Garden Tisno truly is the premier Croatian property, the one and only place to get the lowdown on the locale with nightly access aside to the famous Barbarellas nightclub. The festival itself in it’s coolly uncommon way brings together heritage names bearing the very hallmark of House music. Reflecting the Southport Weekender precedent and striking out strong, SuncéBeat welcomes R&B royalty DJ Jazzy Jeff of Fresh Prince fame atop a top-tier year one.
 
Exploring all 360 degrees of electronic music from experience, the SuncéBeat team have also booked the highly Soulistic, South African cover star of Mixmag that is Black Coffee, in-house favourite and forever the House Master Louie Vega, Chicago kingpin Derrick Carter and more still. The calling for Chicago goes deeper still with the festival championing – or being championed by – two chiefs of the presidentially approved Chicago’s Chosen Few: Terry Hunter and Mike Dunn. A host of names that could be spoken of in the same breath and enough to leave house-heads breathless follow, with Detroit Swindle,Prosumer, Joey Negro, Henrik Schwarz and Osunlade only the leading line of a stacked and distinct schedule.

Truck Festival expands to a three-day event!

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Truck Festival expands to a three-day event for 2016
2016 full weekend tickets on sale Thursday 28th January 6:00pm

Oxford’s original music festival, Truck, confirms that for 2016 the event will expand to three days across the weekend of Friday 15th until Sunday 17th July at the Hill Farm site. A whole extra 24 hours will be on offer packed, once again, with the best indie, rock, pop and electronic acts. Truck Festival 2016 full weekend tickets priced at only £86.50 + booking fee go on sale via Truckfestival.com on Thursday 28thJanuary.

Last summer Truck heralded a great success with a sell-out crowd enjoying sets from Basement Jaxx, Charlatans, Clean Bandit, Slaves and many more. With the first 2016 line-up announcement due shortly the festival is thrilled to reveal to fans that this year’s festival is to add a whole extra day.

Truck Festival's Director, Ralph Broadbent comments:

“We're so excited to take Truck to three days for 2016. We're, as always, very conscious to remain one of the most accessible festivals in country, we believe festivals should be available for everyone. As a result, we will keep the ticket price as affordable as possible, £86.50 means that Truckers get an extra day of partying for £7, that's less than £29 a day!

2016 sees Truck in a stronger position than ever before, as a team we're totally tuned into how best to run the event and how to take it to the next step. The success of previous years has proved a real spring board from which to take Truck to the next level.”

 

Florence and The Machine to headline Croatia’s INmusic Festival

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US alt-rock band Wilco are to play at this year’s INmusic festival. They join the bill featuring headliners Florence + the Machine and PJ Harvey, alongside a wider line-up of The Kooks, Yeasayer, The Heavy, Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band, and Monoswezi, with many more to come!

Now in its eleventh year, INmusic is Croatia’s biggest open-air music festival, held over three islands on Zagreb’s Lake Jarun. The festival takes place between the 20th and 22nd of June, costing just £30 for a three-day ticket (plus £20 for a seven-day camping ticket).

Multi-Grammy award winners Wilco’s latest album, Star Wars, was a self-released surprise in July last year. Free to download for the first 30 days and followed by a CD and vinyl release, Star Wars made the top 10 of Billboard’s US Independent Albums and US Top Alternative Albums charts. Famously known for 2001's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2014, releasing two new collections: Alpha Mike Foxtrot (a 4 disc/digital box set of studio and live rarities) and What’s Your 20? (a 2 disc/digital compilation of studio tracks from the band’s first eight albums). Star Wars is among this year's Grammy nominees for Best Alternative Album.

INmusic marks Florence + the Machine’s first ever live show in Croatia.The UK indie-pop act headlined 2015’s Glastonbury in place of the Foo Fighters and released their third studio album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. Also appearing from the UK is Ivor Novello and Mercury Prize winning singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, and indie rock band The Kooks.

Brooklyn experimental psych rockers Yeasayer, UK funk rockers The Heavy and Ghana’s Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band will play the OTP World Stage. Completing the line-up so far is collective Monoswezi, which brings together musicians from Mozambique, Norway, Sweden and Zimbabwe with a passion for African music.
 

CARIBOU will headline this years Secret Garden Party 2016

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The Secret Garden Party is pleased to announce CARIBOU will be one of its headlining artists for this year’s event along with, as previously announced, PRIMAL SCREAM.

CARIBOU commented: 'We played Secret Garden Party once before in 2009 and didn't know what to expect. We were blown away and had one of our best shows for years there. We're super-excited to be coming back to play this year!'

According to the Guardian CARIBOU is able to ‘hit upon the magic formula for music that is at once both intimate and communal,’ a formula the Secret Garden Party heartily endorses. The latest album ‘Our Love’ is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Dance/Electronic album category. CARIBOU will be joining….

PRIMAL SCREAM

LISSIE | MARIBOU STATE | MOLOTOV JUKEBOX | RAE MORRISS | PETITE MELLER | C DUNCAN | RATIONALE| SG LEWIS | SUNDARA KARMA | STEALING SHEEP | FORMATION | ZIBRA | PURE BATHING CULTURE| OSCAR |WEAVES | KUDA BLUE | THE AGE OF L.U.N.A |

 

Everything Everything, Blossoms and more added to Isle of Wight 2016 lineup

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Representing the best of indie present and future are the Mercury Prize nominated Top Ten act Everything Everything, the BBC Sound Poll tipped Blossoms and BBC Introducing favourites Sunset Sons, who join guitar heroes Feeder, Cast, Reef and Turin Brakes, and a medley of country, blues and soul courtesy of Alabama 3, Joanne Shaw Taylor and The Second Sons, at what is shaping up to be yet another incredible weekend of music. 

These ten new acts join previously announced headliners Queen + Adam Lambert, Stereophonics and Faithless, plus Iggy Pop, Twin Atlantic, Busted, Jess Glynne, Sigma and The Corrs at what is the first festival of the summer – weekend tickets are available now from www.isleofwightfestival.com. 

2015 was a big year for Manchester indie art rockers Everything Everything. The first single from their third studio album ‘Distant Past’ was named as Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Record In the World’ whilst The album ‘Get To Heaven went Top Ten. Known for their incredible live shows and infectious choruses, Everything Everything are certain to bring a spark over the weekend. 

Stockport five-piece Blossoms had a hugely successful year last year. Stand out track ‘Charlemagne’ was on the A-List at 6 Music and on the Radio 1’s BBC Introducing playlist and the band were in the Top 5 of the BBC Sound Poll; 2016 will definitely be a big year for them.

Anglo-Aussie quartet Sunset Sons enjoyed a massive 2015 with several festival appearances and an opening slot for Imagine Dragons. They will release their debut album ‘Very Rarely Say Die’ in April ahead of a big UK & European tour, before hitting the summer festival circuit. 

With eight studio albums, three compilations, two EPs and 34 singles under their belt, Welsh rockers Feeder formed in 1992 and have had plenty of experience of bringing their heavy guitars and sugarsweet melodies to festivals. With hit singles including ‘Buck Rogers’, ‘Just The Way I’m Feeling’ and ‘Comfort in Sound’ the crowds will certainly be out for their set in June.

Cast are back with a brand new album, having formed out of the ashes of The La’s and Shack in the early 90s. Reunited with original producer John Leckie, the album is the band’s sixth studio release and will follow a run of UK shows celebrating 20 years of the band and their debut album ‘All Change’.

With a March tour coming up, West Country indie rockers Reef are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their Top Ten anthem ‘Place Your Hands’, taken from their second album ‘Glow’ which topped the charts in 1997. The band, now featuring Jesse Wood on guitar, are no stranger to festivals and will no doubt be a huge crowd pleaser at Seaclose Park.

Turin Brakes will release their seventh studio album ‘Lost Property’ next week, ahead of a UK tour. Since starting out in 1999, the band have sold around 1 million records worldwide, have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and reached No. 5 in the singles charts in 2003 with the track ‘Painkiller’.

They don’t come from Alabama, and there are not 3 of them, but Alabama 3have a sure-fire way to mix it up. Their track ‘Woke Up This Morning’ was used in the opening credits for US hit TV show The Sopranos,  and their live performances consist of mixing a heavy combination of techno, country & blues and rock n roll, which is certain to turn a few heads at this year’s festival. 

First discovered by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, Joanne Shaw Taylor is a blues rock guitarist and singer, who played lead guitar in Annie Lennox’s band at the Diamond Jubilee Concert in London in 2012. With numerous live shows around the US, plus a UK tour in April as special guest to Wilko Johnson, she will be bringing her acclaimed blues notes to Seaclose Park this summer.

With music taken from yesterday and today, The Second Sons are the ultimate party band designed to get crowds on their feet and dancing. Drawing on the classic sounds of the 60s and 70s, the band’s influences range from the Stones to Otis Redding and everything in between.

Basement Jaxx and Jungle lead Masked Ball lineup

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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.

Live at Leeds announce fifty more artists for 2016

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Leading the new announcement are undisputed cult icons Mystery Jets, who over the space of 13 years have released wave after wave of groundbreaking indie music, transcending genres and eras with classics such as “Young Love” and “Two Doors Down”. Their recent fifth album “Curve Of The Earth” pushes new boundaries into a more panoramic classic rock sound, all the while captivating and engrossing. Bringing old and new to Live At Leeds this April, it’s sure to be another stunning performance from the pioneering romantics.
 
Also joining the bill is Ghostpoet, the undeterred maverick professor of UK soul whose acclaimed studio albums have seen the London born crooner scoop two Mercury Prize nominations and a raft of plaudits across the country. Plaudits have also been flying for the psychedelic pop craftsman Blossoms whose penchant for huge hooks has seen many tip the Stockport natives as ones to watch in 2016, coming 4th in BBC’s Sound Of 2016 list. Their appearance at Live At Leeds is destined to shut down the city centre for future rock royalty.
 
Ghostpoet says:
“It's nice to be returning to Live At Leeds after playing it for the first time a few years back. Should be fun!”
 
Commenting on their addition to the Live At Leeds 10th Anniversary, Blossoms said:
“Live At Leeds was one of our highlights of last years festival season, we can't wait to be back this year!”
 
Further additions to the lineup today include the indie-pop joy of Sundara Karma fresh from their recent support runs with Wolf Alice,  indietronic duo Formation, Izzy Bizu and her soulful take on modern pop, grunge revivalists Milk Teeth and the returning noise-pop heroes Los Campesinos! – themselves celebrating 10 years together in 2016.
When asked about their appearance at Live At Leeds 2016, the band commented:
“Leeds is always the most fun gig of any tour that we do, so we’re delighted to be back for Live At Leeds this year, slap bang in the middle of such a brilliant city with a peerless music scene!”
 
Sundara Karma are looking forward to the festival, adding they were:
"Psyched to announce that we will be joining all the lovely lot down in Leeds for the Live at Leeds fest!”
 
Formation said:
"We're really excited about heading up to Live at Leeds and playing a great show!"
 
New addition Samm Henshaw also commented, saying:
“i am extremely honoured to announce that myself and The Sound Experiment will be playing at Live at Leeds 10th year anniversary this year!”
 
This giant addition of new names join an already extensive lineup of chart heroes and upcoming stars including Jess Glynne, Circa Waves, We Are Scientists, RAT BOY, Band Of Skulls and Clean Cut Kid making Live At Leeds 2016 the go-to destination to catch the vital stars of tomorrow, today.
 
With more names to be announced, as well as details on the accompanying Digital Programme, Live At Leeds 10th Anniversary is set to be a true celebration of creativity and originality, and the only way to kick-start the 2016 festival season.

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW, PRICED FROM £32.50 AT THE LINK BELOW

http://lunatickets.co.uk/live-at-leeds-2016.html

Announced Today:
Mystery Jets // Ghostpoet // Blossoms // Benjamin Francis Leftwich // Los Campesinos // Izzy Bizu // Sundara Karma // Blood Red Shoes // Loyle Carner // Formation // Samm Henshaw // The Duke Spirit // Mabel // The Sherlocks // Milk Teeth // Beach Baby // Declan McKenna // WHITE // Vitamin // Cameron AG // Miamigo // Inheaven // Anteros // Viola Beach // Pumarosa // Blaenavon // Fews // Hidden Charms // Slutface // Kagoule //
The Jacques // Cattle And Cane // Meilyr Jones // Autobahn // Rhys Lewis // Holy Esque // Hannah Lou Clark // Beaty Heart // Zuzu // Kloe // William J Healey // George Taylor //
George Cosby // Isaac Gracie // Drones Club // Catholic Action // Asylums // Fronteers // Georgie // Carnabells //John Joseph Brill // Cape Cub // Strange Bones // Flawes // Babeheaven // Seramic // James TW // Joseph J Jones // Fletcher Jackson // Dear Friends // Caro //
Where Fires Are // The Indigo Project // Fighting Caravans // Trash // Tusk // Kleine Schweine //

Future themed Bestival announce headliners for 2016

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The omens are good, The Future is happening. WithBestival 2016’s Future theme unveiled, we can hurtle headlong into the good times, revealing three massive headliners and an incredible cast of musical pioneers, forward thinking funksters and precognitive pop stars, who will be journeying with us into Bestival’s glamourous machine age, where everlasting gobstoppers signal eternal bliss, this September 8-11, disembarking fromRobin Hill on the Isle of Wight.

Future swashbuckler Rob da Bank says: “So, here we go again, but this time we’re going far… far away… into the future. Prepare yourselves for a Bestival unlike any other with futuristic new stages, and as ever it’s a broad church of music from every decade and every genre. Saturday night headliners and one of my favourite bands ever, The Cure, played Bestival five years ago and almost had to be dragged off stage after a three-hour mammoth greatest hits set. Robert Smith popped down last year and we shook hands on it all happening again… bring it on!

“Friday honours go to Major Lazer who have killed it every time they’ve played, on a bigger stage each time – I remember going to see an exhausted, sweating Diplo after his last main stage show for us and he said ‘headline next time?’, so here we are!

“It’s not all about the headliners, as we know, so I’m super-pleased to have acts as diverse as Hot Chip, Years and Years, Animal Collective and Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley, through to the hottest DJs Kurupt FM and the Black Madonna. This is just the start of the trip – see you in The Future!”

The Cure’s Robert Smith said: “We are very very happy to be back at our favourite festival; we can’t wait to play a special set to show the future IS what it used to be…”

Major Lazer commented: "We started at Bestival five years ago, and it was one of our favourite shows to date. Feels like home for us… Rugged and real music fans… Since then we finally impacted in England, and we can’t wait to do our new show and play all the records for the fans at one of the best festivals in the world!!”

 

 

 

One of Bestival HQs favourites and, frankly, one of the greatest bands of all time, The Cure will headline Saturday night when Bestival heads to The Future. From Three Imaginary Boys in 1979 to their most recent album 4:13 Dream, they’ve forged their own path, dragging everyone else in their wake. Covering the gamut of emotions that take in the heady pop of Boys Don’t Cry and Inbetween Days, the heartbreak of Pictures of You and Bloodflowers, the ferociousness of Give Me It and Fascination Street and the dreaminess of Underneath the Stars and Lovesong, their live shows are legendary, taking the crowd on a beautiful rollercoaster ride. So, we really can’t wait to welcome them back to the main stage at Robin Hill this September.

Ensuring that Friday night’s main stage behaviour goes off with the requisite bang that will fire us forward into the unknown, we’re ecstatic that Major Lazer are making their return in 2016. Their last appearance driving willing Bestivalites to the edge of abandon has passed into Bestival lore, making them one of the most incredible live spectacles we’ve ever witnessed. Powered by the inimitable ingenuity of Diplo and Jillionaire, Major Lazer’s Peace Is The Mission album ruled sound systems throughout 2015, producing one of the year’s anthems in Lean On, and launching the band into truly big leagues. Guaranteed to be a mindblower, you don’t want to miss our Friday night headliners.

They’re practically Bestival’s house band, having appeared with us at Robin Hill more times than almost anyone else, so we really couldn’t be happier that the incredible Hot Chip are very much a part of Bestival’s Future headlining Thursday night in the Big Top. From some truly impressive fancy dress action to trailblazing virtual reality band members they always pull out all the stops. Last year’s stripped back Why Make Sense? album was their sixth piece de resistance earning them universal acclaim, add to that their arsenal of kinetic electro-pop bangers and you have a nailed-on guarantee of good times, to help kick of our future adventures in stupendous style.

 With one more headliner still to announce, we have a litany of musical treats, all presented in alphabetical order for your delectation, that will keep you reaching for the stars all weekend long, including Animal Collective, Aurora, Bastille, Beaty Heart, Benjamin Damage, Bicep, The Black Madonna, Bodhi presents ROOTS, Caravan Palace, Craig David’s TS5, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley,and David Rodigan MBE presents Ram Jam.

 Plus, we’ll have Eats Everything, Eskimo Dancefeaturing Wiley, Section Boyz, Chip, Big Narstie, Newham Generals, Frisco, P Money, Elf Kid, AJ Tracey, Jammz, Fekky, Logan Sama & Maximum, Ghostpoet, and Hospitality Presents: Camo & Krooked, London Elektricity, S.P.Y B2B Nu:Tone, Danny Byrd B2B Brookes Brothers, Maduk, Dynamite MC and Wrec. 

There will also be performances from The Human League, Jagwar Ma, Katy B, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Krept & Konan, Kurupt FM’s Champagne Steam Rooms, Loyle Carner, MØ, Petite Meller and techno genius, Richie Hawtin.

 Shoegaze pioneers Ride will be travelling with us into the unknown, and there will be high octane action fromShy FX’s Party On The Moon, Skepta, Skream, Slamboree, Tourist, Wolf Alice and Years & Years.