U.K. and Chicago

Hosted by

The Tower of London is it not just one tower – there are loads of them built in the two Massive walls, with names like the goulish Bloody Tower or  the basic  Bell Tower . Built in 1078 by William the Conqueror its famous for being a prison, a place of execution, a zoo, a mint , housing the Crown Jewels and being haunted by the beheaded Anne Boleyn. It also has a Ravenmaster to take care of the resident birds for fear of the ancient legend that states if the ravens  leave, the monarchy and the kingdom will be doomed! This year the line up for the Tower of London Festival includes Seal, Elvis Costello with the Allen Toussaint band, Paul Anka, Bryn Terfel, James Morrison and Dave Steward with Orchestra. VIP tickets include dining in the historic surroundings with exqusite food  prepared by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes.

From London to the county of Suffolk takes about 3 hours in the car. As a child I spent many a summer holiday in this area and can personally vouch for the local battered sausages (although the fish and chips are also divine). The town of Southwold has a huge land locked lighthouse, great pubs and lovely beaches and in July it will host the Latitude Music Festival. I got an email about this event when I failed to get tickets for Glastonbury as the two festivals have a lot in common – a chilled out vibe, great music , movies, literary talks , cabaret and  late night parties in the woods – the line up  includes Arcade Fire, the Rapture, Gotan Project and Wilco.

On the film side, the Halloween Music and Film club curates visuals with dancers and DJs, there’s a screening of Hitchcock’s The Lodger with music composed Joby Talbot of The Divine Comedy and a preview of Hallam Foe, this film won Best Music in a film at the Berlin Film Festival and features music from the Domino Records catalogue.

The venue will be the  beautiful Henham Park and you can choose to stay in a local b&b or camp onsite– you can do this in the usual way – getting tangled in guy ropes and poking yourself in the eye with metal rods, or opt for a Boutique camping experience thanks to Tangerine Fields – they offer ready assembled podpads, tipis, beach huts or bohemian bivouacs – it actually looks very tempting to me and I hate camping!

And lastly to Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival. The organization behind this began life in 96 in Chicago and has grown to become one of the most authentic and well respected music and culture websites in the world. The festival aims to replicate their online presence by inviting artists from rock to hip hop, where you can discover new bands and enjoy established artists.

To celebrate Pitchfork taking place over three days this year,  they invited All Tomorrow’s Parties to curate Friday July 13th with  their ‘Don’t Look Back’ series where artists perform seminal records in their entirety. Sonic Youth’s classic Daydream Nation, GZA/Genius of the Wu-Tan Clang will do ‘Liquid Swords’ and Slint performs ‘Spiderland’. Other acts on the bill include De La Soul, Menomena, Voxtrot, Battles and Chicago’s own Califone and Sea and Cake. The event takes place at Union Park and with passes at $50 for all three days, tickets are bound to sell fast so hop to it!

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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Other festivals around the world include…

In Nyon Switzerland the 32nd Paleo Festival July 24-29 featuring Artic Monkeys, Natacha Atlas, Air, Pink , Robert Plant, Wax Tailor, Bjork. Arcade Fire, Midlake, Malouma…

13-15 July Wales Small Nations Festival


July 26 – 29th July Secret Garden Party Huntingdon, East Anglia U.K
Feat Alabama 3, Noisettes, Reverend and The Makers, Metronomy, Karen Ann, New Young Pony Club, Fugiya and Miyagi

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