Coachella: Day 3

Sunday – April 14th

Headliners: Red Hot Chili Peppers

With Day 3  just hours away, here are my ”Top Acts’ to close an amazing first weekend at Coachella.

Wild Belle: 12:00pm – 12:30pm | Outdoor

Chicago based siblings Elliot and Natalie Bergman released their debut album ‘Isles’ in March, after what has been a successful year promoting their unique and ultra-cool indie rock vibes. Having set the bar high with releases such as ‘Keep You’, ‘It’s Too Late’ and ‘Backslider’, the duo return to Coachella with a set brimming with retro vibes, reggae beats and psychedelic grooves; perfect for Sunny Palm Springs.

Robert DeLong: 12:40pm – 1:10pm | Mojave

Having started off the year being MTV’s artists to watch for 2013, Robert DeLong released his debut genre-mashing album in February and lead single ‘Global Concepts‘. ‘Just Movement‘ explores electro, house, moombahton, dubstep and indie pop; a truly unique masterpiece. Delong’s one-man band style performance infuses synths, acoustic drums, drum pads, infectious beats, MIDI effects and even game controllers into his live set – definitely one to check out. Wait for the drop and join in Delong’s collective dance party at Coachella as he asks; “Did I make you fuckin’ dance?“

Jessie Ware:  3:45pm – 4:30pm | Mojave

South London singer Jessie Ware released her debut Mercy Prize nominated album ‘Devotion’ in August which was produced by Dave Okumu (The Invisible), Bristol electronic producer Julio Bashmore (Au Seve), and Kid Harpoon (co-writer of Florence + The Machine: Ceremonials). Featuring the singles ‘If You’re Never Gonna Move’, ‘Running’, ‘Wildest Moments’ and ‘Night Light‘, Devotion takes us on a musical journey of R&B, pop, soul and electronic music. Previous collaborations have included Katy B, Benzel and remixes from Disclosure, while her latest single ‘Imagine It Was Us‘, is once again produced by the brilliant Julio Bashmore. Having kicked off the year with 2 Brit Award Nominations and a UK tour, 2013 looks bright with a US version of Devotion set for release April 16th and remix of the single ‘Wildest Moments‘ ft A$ap Rocky.

James Blake:  6:00pm – 6:50pm | Mojave

London based electronic producer & singer James Blake released his second album ‘Overgrown‘ in April, which serves as the follow up to his Mercury Prize Nominated self titled debut album. The lead single ‘Retrograde‘ is sure to be incredibly atmospheric at Coachella with it’s beautiful haunting melody, minimal accompaniment, soulful falsetto vocals and sustained electronic pulses. Coachella is in for one hypnotic, dub-step tinged set before setting off on his US tour.

Disclosure: 11:10pm – 11:55pm | Gobi

Brotherly duo Disclosure, aka Guy and Howard Lawrence, are bringing their UK Garage vibes to sunny Caliornia for their Coachella debut. Disclosure’s track record is one hit after another with infectious singles such as ‘Latch’ ft Sam Smith, ‘White Noise’ ft Aluna and brilliant remixes such as Jessie Ware’s ‘Running‘. Their live set incorporates live bass guitars, drums machines, keys and even live vocals, further adding to the duo’s never ending talents. Having kicked of 2013 being nominated for MTV Brand New for 2013, it’s no surprise the duo are in such demand and are set to play all the major Summer festivals, including Heineken Open’er Festival, Field Day, Love Box, Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Bestival and Parklife.

Yet another jam-packed day ahead for lucky festival goers at Coachella. Other amazing acts throughout the day include Vampire Weekend, Eric Prydz, DIIV, Grimes, Tame Impala, La Roux and Irish band Little Green Cars! Don’t forget you can watch all the acts LIVE on the dedicated Coachella YouTube Channel.

Festival Season (Part 1)

With Festival season in full swing, we’ve been spoiled for choice this weekend with music festivals such as T In The Park, Somerset House Summer Series,  Heineken Open’er Festival, Rosklide, Wakestock,  Bloc Festival (well a bit of it), Wireless Festival … yes the list goes on! Lets have a look at some of the action over the weekend.

T in the Park – Line up

T in the Park

Location:
Balado, Scotland. 6th-8th

Headliners: (Main Stage)
Snow Patrol, The Stone Roses, Kasabian

This is the 8th year Snow Patrol have graced the T In The Park stage. Always a firm favourite at the festival, Snow Patrol entertained the crowds with a great set, including: ‘This isn’t everything you are’, ‘Run’, the beautiful ‘Chasing Cars‘, ‘You’re All I Have’ and also a surprise performance from Ed Sheeran, who joined the band on stage to perform a new track, ‘New York’. 

The Stone Roses

Stone Roses headlined the Saturday night, with their first ever Scottish performance in 17 years. The band consisted of the original and most successful line-up: Ian Brown (vocalist), John Squire (guitarist), Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield (bassist) and Alan ‘Reni’ Wren (drummer). The band delighted the crowds with much loved classics such as ‘I Wanna Be Adored‘, fan favourite ‘Fool’s Gold‘ and ‘Love Spreads‘. They ended their set with ‘I Am The Resurrection‘, where the crowds pretty much took over from here with the vocals.

Notable mention to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, who performed before The Stone Roses. His fantastic set consisted of classic Oasis songs, and tracks from his debut album, such as ‘Talk Tonight, ‘Little By Little’, What a Life’, ‘If I Had A Gun‘, and the iconic song to close his set, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger‘.

The mighty Kasabian took to the Main stage to close the festival. Opening with ‘Days Are Forgotten‘, the band continued to entertain the crowd with  hits such as ‘Velociraptor’, ‘Re-Wired’, ‘L.S.F’, ‘Switchblade Smiles’ and ‘Fire‘; a perfect end to the weekend. The three day festival also saw other headliner performances from Tinie Tempah, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia on the Radio 1/NME Stage and Calvin Harris and Skirllex on the King Tut Stage. With a jam packed weekend, there was something for everyone including: Elbow,  Florence + The Machine, Two Door Cinema Club, The Maccabees Alabama Shakes, Miles Kane, Major Lazer, Miike Snow, Simian Mobile Disco and the wonderful Indi Rock band, Spector.

Tickets for ‘T In The Park 2013′  go on sale Friday, which will mark their 20th anniversary ‘T20‘

Wireless Festival

Location:
Hyde Park London, 6th-8th July.

Headliners:
deadmau5, Drake, Rihanna.

Wireless Festival kicked off on Friday with an impressive line up of acts including Afojack, Maverick Sabre, Knife Party, Santigold, Modestep, Childish Gambino, Jaguar Skills, Ms. Dynamite and Gemini. Friday Headliner was Canadian house and electro producer/DJ deadmau5 who played  a full 2 hour headline set.  With his trademark mouse helmet and  impressive light show on display, deadmau5 ensured the crowds were raving all night in Hyde Park.

Drake

Saturday, saw Drake headline the main stage for 90 minutes, opening the show with ‘Lord Knows‘, followed by ‘Crew Love‘, where ‘The Weekend‘ joined him on stage. Drizzy then introduced Nicki Minaj, fresh from her own main stage performance,  to perform their duet ‘Make Me Proud‘. ‘Take Care’ and ‘The Motto’ saw the crowd singing along in unison. Drake closed the show with the massively popular ‘Headlines‘, while a firework display went on overhead. Example, Rita Ora, Nero, Delilah and Dot Rotten were just some of the acts that made up the Saturday line-up.

Sunday included more mainstream pop acts, including Jessie J, Rizzle Kicks, Labrinth, Pitbull, Cher Lloyd and headliner Rihanna. Just a few weeks after her successful ‘Hackney Weekend‘ performance, Rihanna delivered all her classic hits, and kept the crowds entertained, despite the weather. Special guest and Scottish DJ-producer Calvin Harris, Madeon, A$AP Rocky and Flux Pavilion were among the other acts to close the festival. A very muddy weekend for most, but a successful one none the less.

Bloc Festival

Snoop Dog

Location: Pleasure Garden, London. 6-7th July.

Headliners: Snoop Dog, Orbital

Unfortunately, London’s Bloc festival, which had been taking place in London Pleasure Gardens, had to be closed down due to crowd safety fears. Headliner Snoop Dogg, was due to perform July 7th, but a statement released from the organisers read:

“By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns.

We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount.”

Other acts set to perform were Battles, Gary Numan and headliners Orbital. Here’s to next year …

Heineken Open’er Festival

Location:
Gdynia-Kosakowo Airfield, Poland. 4th-7th July.

Headliners:
Bjork, Justice, Friendly Fires, Mars Volta

The Heineken Open’er Festival Is the largest Polish open-air music festival. Taking place in an airfield, the festival contains 7 stages, and over 120 artists. And all set by the beach .. what could go wrong? The weather unfortunately! A storm hit on the closing night of the festival, as The xx took to the main stage. The trio played a 90 minute set, despite the weather, opening with ‘Angel’s‘ and continuing with tracks such ‘VCR’, and ‘Crystalised‘. Mumford and Sons were also delayed due to adverse weather conditions. However, it didn’t take away from their brilliant set of classic songs including ‘Lover’s Eyes’, Lion Lion Man, and finishing on a high with ‘Sigh No More’ and ‘The Cave’.  Franz Ferdinand headlined the Saturday night, with classic tracks including ‘Do You Want To‘ and ‘Take Me Out‘. Other artists that completed the 4 day festival included: Block Party, Bon Iver, Jessie Ware, M83, Major Lazer, New Order, Orbital and The Maccabees.

Wakestock Festival

Location: Cardigan Bay, North Wales.

Headliners: Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal, Ed Sheeran.

Wakestock is Europe’s biggest wakeboard music festival, that combines both music and the popular water-sport, in an action packed weekend. Again, weather was a big issue for the opening night, but managed to clear for the rest of the weekend. Other acts to attend the 3 day festival included: Radio 1’s Annie Mac & Zane Lowe, Azealia Banks, Flux Pavilion, Disclosure,  High Contrast, Redlight,  and many more.

Missed out on any of the above festivals? Well you’re in luck, as the best is yet to come over the next few weeks. Be sure to check out Latitude Festival, Global Gathering, Benicasim, Bestival, Secret Garden Party, Tomorrowland, V Festival, Reading & Leeds, South West Four and Elecric Picnic.