Hi, this is Gemma Dempsey and welcome to another edition of The Global Gig Guide. This week we head to Chicago for Lollapalooza, V Festival in Baltimore, The Big Chill in the UK and Sziget in Hungary.
Well if you hadn’t already noticed, festival season is in full swing around the world. This week we’ve got two US based festivals – Lollapalooza an established favourite Lollapalooza and V Festival which celebrates its second birthday this year in Baltimore. KCRW is proud to be a media sponsor for Lollapalooza and for those of you near Chicago at the beginning of August, this promises to be a great year. Taking place in Grant Park in the famous Loop of Chicago surrounded by the stunning Chicago skyline, Lollapalooza has a great line up featuring Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Muse and Amy Winehouse to name just a few. If you want a truly interactive experience you can sign up on the Mindfield page of the Lollapalooza website and get up to the minute text alerts and be able to ask your favourite band questions back stage via your cell phone!
This year the festival benefits The Parkways Foundation which seeks to Enhance Chicago’s public places – for more info about this and the festival go to The Global Gig Guide page for links to their respective websites.
Originally an import from the UK, V Festival was such a success last year they are back again at the Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore. This venue is famous being home of The Preakness Stakes race, and is just an hour from Washington D.C or three hours from New York City. Artists on the bill for this year’s V Festival include The Police, Paulo Nutini, the Smashing Pumkins, Peter Bjorn & John and Regina Spektor. In keeping with the racing theme, you can vote on your favourite band to open for the festival – Aiden is currently ahead by a nose while Cold War Kids are coming up on the inside! Book the Band via the website or text from your cell phone. In addition to the music there will be fire sculptures, The Motormorons - a band that plays car parts, Incredibly Strange Wrestling, Charm City Roller Girls, kinetic robots and a black light installation that has to be seen to be believed!
Now we head to the UK for The Big Chill which takes place in the Eastnor Castle Deer Park in the Malvern Hills. It’s a camping type of festival so you can choose to erect your own or leave it to the professionals of Tangerine Fields. Artists on the bill include Chungking, Bonobo, Crazy P, Cinematic Orchestra, Kruder & Dorfmeister and Issac Hayes. There are a variety of tents and stages - The Open Air stage is the heart of The Big Chill, or the lakeside SoCo Fat Tuesday, features movies, food and a mash of music inspired by New Orleans; there is also circus and burlesque acts, or as the name Big Chill would indicate, you can just lie back and relax and catch whatever tune happens to travel in your direction!
And lastly to Budapest in Hungary for Sziget Festival . Originally organized by a group of music fans in the early nineties, it has now grown to be a huge annual event attracting over 400,000 people. It takes place on Obudai-sziget – is an island in the river Danube . About 50 % of Sziget’s festival goers come from outside Hungary, with the largest European contingent coming from Germany. Taking place August 8-15th Artists on the bill include Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers, Salif Keita, The Rakes and Manu Chao. Warning – however tempting it might be, do not try to get into the festival by swimming across to the island as you stand to loose a lot more than your shorts!
That’s it for this weeks Global Gig Guide – as always we’d love to hear about festivals in your part of the world, so why not send us an email ? Global@kcrw.com.
Otherwise check back with us next week for more information on Global Gigging.
The Global Gig Guide is produced for KCRW.com by JC Swiatek and the theme music is composed by The Plush Interiors.
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KCRW Presents World Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl
July 15 Groove Armada & Café Tacuba
August 12 Reggae Night VI ft. Burning Spear; Sly & Robbie
September 9 Underworld, Paul Oakenfold with special guest Carmen Rizzo.
More festivals…
KCRW is a media sponsor for Lollapalooza, Grant Park Chicago Aug 3 – 5
Daft Punk, Iggy and The Stooges, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Snow Patrol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs…Spoon Pearl Jam Cold War Kids
Show benefits parkways foundation (Causapalooza)
Seattle Sept 1- 3
The Shins, BRMC, Devotchka, Andrew bird – has been going for almost 4 decades!
SZIGET FESTIVAL
Budapest Hungary 8/8 – 8/15
Headliners:
Main stage
The Killers, Nine Inch Nails, The Chemical Brothers
World Stage
Salif Keita, Rachid Taha, Manu Dibango
THE GREEN MAN FESTIVAL
Where: Glanusk Park at Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, UK
When: 11am Fri 8/17/07- 12 midnight Sun 8/19/07
Headliners:
Main Stage
8/17- Joanna Newsom
8/18- Robert Plant & The New Sensation
8/19- Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks
The Folkey Dokey Stage
8/17- Tunng
8/18- Battles
8/19- The Aliens
FAIRPORTS CROPREDY CONVENTION
Where: Cropredy, UK
When: Thur 8/9/07- Sat 8/11/07
Headliners:
Main Stage
8/9- Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra
8/10- Richard Thompson
GLASTONBURRY ABBEY EXTRAVANGANZA
Where: Glatsonburry Abbey, Somerset
When: Fri 8/10/07- Sun 8/12/07
Headliners:
Main Stage
8/10- Van Morrison, Corinne Bailey Rae
8/11- The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
8/12- Ray Davies, Paolo Nutini
SOLFEST
Where: Tarnside Farm, UK
When: Fri 8/24/07- Sun 8/26/07
Headliners:
Main Stage
Badly Drwn Boy, The Levellers, Easy Star All Stars, The Undertones
Drystone Stage
3 Draft Monkeys, Bex Marshall, Katus, Silverwheel
CREAMFIELDS
Where: Daresbury, Cheshire, UK
When: Sat 8/25/07
Headliners:
Main Stage
The Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada, Kelis, Mark Ronson, LCD Soundsystem
CARDIFF CALLING
Where: Coopers Field, Cardiff, UK
When: Sat 8/25/07- Sun 8/26/07
Headliners:
Main Stage
8/25- The Streets, Super Furry Animals, The Automatic
8/26- Paul Van Dyk, Sasha, Roger Sanchez
CONNECT
Where: Inveraray Castle, Western Scotland
When: Fri 8/31/07- Sun 9/2/07
Headliners:
Oyster Stage
8/31- The Beastie Boys, The Jesus and Mary Chain
9/1- Primal Scream, Mogwai
9/2- Bjork, LCD Soundsystem, Scott Matthews, Regina Spektor, M.I.A.
Guitars & Other Machines Tent
8/31- Super Furry Animals
9/1- Modest Mouse, Echo and The Bunnymen, Rilo Kiley, Vashti Bunyan
9/2- Idlewild, The Polyphonic Spree