festivals
Supersonic Festival 2019, Birmingham review - the weird and the curious get togetherWednesday, 24 July 2019
Friday 19 July2019 is a big deal in the Supersonic universe, as it marks the fifteenth time that the Festival has been held in Birmingham – the Home of Metal. So, what better way to celebrate than to kick things off with a double header at the City’... Read more... |
Florence + the Machine, BST Hyde Park review - mastering the matriarchyMonday, 15 July 2019
It’s a rare thing that musicians sound better live than they do on Spotify. But Florence Welch sings a note perfect set – even when jumping up and down like a pogo stick, whirling and spinning, or sprinting along the front of the stage to meet fans.... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Montreal International Jazz Festival - fabulous at 40Wednesday, 10 July 2019
The Montreal Jazz Festival is vast. It attracts an audience of between 1.5 and 2 million people over its 12 nights. It has been estimated to bring the city more revenue than the Canadian Grand Prix.And yet size, as we were often reminded in this... Read more... |
Glastonbury Festival 2019: hot as hell and a thousand times as funThursday, 04 July 2019
As ever theartsdesk’s Glastonbury report arrives after all other media coverage. Despite management pressure Caspar Gomez refuses earlier deadlines. He told Editorial, “The press tent is like an office, a place of work, full of laptops and coffee.... Read more... |
London Mozart Players, Davan Wetton, St Giles Cripplegate - rousing Shakespearean revelSaturday, 29 June 2019
The festival Summer Music in City Churches is in only its second year, filling a gap left by the demise of the long-running City of London Festival. This year’s festival had the theme of Words and Music and offered an enticing programme of recitals... Read more... |
Download Festival: downpours can't dampen spirits at metal bonanzaWednesday, 19 June 2019
Download is Britain’s premier metal festival, attended by all ages. Theartsdesk’s three person team offer up their reviews of one day each, as they navigated their way between Eighties hair metal, contemporary Viking metal and any other metal you... Read more... |
theartsdesk at Red Rooster Festival 2019 - bustling Suffolk stately home hoedownTuesday, 04 June 2019
Only those who’ve just popped in from an early 20th century Tennessee cotton field will have recently observed more pairs of dungarees in one place than at Red Rooster. It’s a festival that prides itself on a rich diet of Americana alongside a... Read more... |
Bon Iver, All Points East festival review – powerful, poignant and a little bit weirdMonday, 03 June 2019
With thousands of people trooping in to see headliners including The Strokes, Bring Me the Horizon, Mumford and Sons and, tonight, Bon Iver, this corner of London’s beautiful Victoria Park has become a bit of a dustbowl – and the dust certainly gets... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Gothenburg: concert-hall storytelling rivets at the Point Music FestivalThursday, 30 May 2019
There was a special celebratory aura to the start of Swedish city Gothenburg's first Point Festival. Earlier in the week its Symphony Orchestra's Chief Conductor, electrifying Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali, had not only announced a renewed contract... Read more... |
The Great Escape Festival 2019, Brighton review - a juicy smörgåsbord of new music from all overTuesday, 14 May 2019
Now going for over a dozen years, ever-busier since Live Nation took over its parent company in 2015, The Great Escape Festival is the annual multi-venue band showcase and music conference which sees Brighton swamped with music biz sorts. This year... Read more... |
Ben Okri, Brighton Festival 2019 review - adventures in writingWednesday, 08 May 2019
If there’s one thing to learn from Ben Okri in this evening of conversation at Brighton Festival between the Famished Road writer and author Colin Grant it’s how to “upwake”.The phrase, coined in his new (11th) novel The Freedom Artist – a post-... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Will GregorySaturday, 04 May 2019
Will Gregory (b.1959) is best known as one half of the alt-pop duo Goldfrapp but has a long career in music that dips into many areas. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he was a working musician who toured with multiple bands, notably, Tears for Fears... Read more... |
