Hi, this is Gemma Dempsey and welcome to another edition of The Global Gig Guide. We head to Camden Town, London for the Camden Crawl and to Indio Palm Springs for the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, as well as a quick round up of who's currently on tour around the world.
The Camden Crawl has been dubbed the unofficial start to the festival year by the UK’s NME magazine . It takes place in Camden Town, a north London district known for being a great place to hear all types of music from goth rock to to acoustic folk. It also has loads of brilliant markets selling everything from vintage threads to arty thingameebobs, and gets really crowded on the weekends – if the streets are too chaotic you could take a barge (narrow river boat?) from nearby Regents Park Zoo and float through the melee. For the first time since its began in the late nineties The Camden Crawl will take place over two days beginning at noon each day. This year there will be 90 acts on the bill – 40 of those bands will perform both days to help with the constant festival problem of scheduling clashes. The venues include some Camden classics such as the Dublin Castle, the Barfly, the Electric Ballroom and Koko – this venue was formerly the Camden Theatre; built in 1900 and designed in the baroque style by the famous theatre architect W.G.R Sprague. I knew it in the 1980’s as the Camden palace or Camden pally as me and my chums would call it – when it was curated by Steve Stange and I was in my New Romantic phase. And yes , I’m afraid there are photos to prove it! Returning to 2007, the Camden Crawl has an excellent line up of up and coming bands, some home grown such as Nottingham’s Late of the Pier and Brazil’s Bonde Do Role, some KCRW faves such as Tunng, Shout out Louds, New Young Pony Club, I am Kloot – and just announced Travis, BRMC and The Charlatans will also take their place on the Camden Crawl. If all the music and mayhem proves too much for you and the weather is fair, why not take a stroll up to Hampstead Heath and enjoy the view of London stretching out below you. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THECAMDENCRAWL
Coachella Valley, Palm Springs
From the inner city chaos of Camden to the tranquility of Indio’s Empire polo fields in the Coachella valley near Palm Springs, California. Like the Camden Crawl, Coachella is also expanding its number of days,in this case from two to three for 2007. Last year the festival attracted over 50,000 people and no doubt this year will see even more heading to the dessert to hear Artic Monkeys, Bjork, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine.. This is a great music marathon and if you are lucky enough to have a ticket, you will have a fab time –but remember that daytime temperatures can hit over 100 degrees (37 C) – so bring plenty of sunscreen and a hat. The best time of the day at Coachella is sunset when the surrounding mountains turn pink and a light breeze sweeps across the green polo fields, rejeuvenating you for the rest of the evenings entertainment – just be sure you remember where you parked your car or you will still be there at sunrise!
There are also a number of art pieces on display and mechanical sculptures breathing tongues of fire and electrical sparks onto the crowd– many of these pieces will be heading to Burning Man later in the year so check them out first
At Coachella!
And don’t forget these artists are currently on tour around the world…
The Killers
Muse
Kaiser Chiefs
Bob Dylan
Ozomatli – they were recently guests on Morning Becomes Eclectic so if you prefer to enjoy live music from the comfort of your sofa, check it out on our website in our archive section.
That’s it for this week’s Global Gig Guide.
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.
(End of recorded script…..)
Other events you may like to know about…
Dogwood Festival in Atlanta
In existence for over 70 years Atlanta’s annual dogwood festival features music, - Paris Bennett, Eryn Eubanks and the family Fold, National Grain, great food, crafts and the US Disc dog Southern Nationals Canine Competition!
La Linea Festival in London
La Linea Latin Festival in London continues with concerts by Bebel Gilberto, Israel Lopez ‘Cachao’ and The Mambo Masters, Eliades Ochoa, the Pinker Tones and Rob Da Bank – venues all over London! Until April 30th.
AMR festival in Geneva,Switzerland
April 19, 20, 21, 22
This year the AMR line up includes William Parker, Pavel Pesta Re Bop Quintet and Andy Emler Megaoctet.
Disclaimer: Although I have tried to make the Global Gig Guide as accurate as possible, KCRW accepts no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information contained in the Global Gig Guide . We would recommend that you to verify any critical information with the relevant authorities before you travel. Other than that we hope you have a blast-
Virtually or in reality – send us a postcard, photo or email of your festival fun
Global@kcrw.com.