Well it’s still the depths of winter and things have been relatively quiet at Funkdub HQ, but Spring & Summer are on the way and that means plenty festivals. A few recent favourites have been releasing their line ups over the last few weeks, both City events and events in a field, we’ll point you in the direction of a few, the main criteria being that they’re really great.
London International Ska Festival is on in that there London over Easter from the 13th to the 16th of April, and is absolutely Jam packed with Ska Goodness, amongst a huge line up are The Pioneers, Dave & Ansell Collins, The Dead 60s; we’re particularly pleased to see the return of friends of Funkdub, Pama International as well as other past Funkdub guests The New Town Kings and Smoke Like A Fish. Can’t recommend it enough.
Moving ahead to the 9th and 10th of June in that there Liverpool; fresh from winning at the UK Festival Awards Positive Vibration returns and it’s going to be even bigger and better this time out, spread out across multiple venues in the Baltic Triangle the line up is really quite enormous, including, just to pick out a few: The Selecter, Scientist, Don Letts, Vibronics, DJ Andy Smith, Prince Fatty, and past Funkdub guest Don Letts. It really was a memorable event last year, and the tickets for this are, quite simply, a steal.
Moving on to the more traditional events in a field, 3 events that are certainly worthy of your attention; on 7th to the 9th of the of July Bluedot festival, (named after Carl Sagan’s description of this planet), is on at Jodrell Bank; it’s a festival which encompasses both Science and music, spending the weekend in the shadow of The Lovell Telescope simply never gets old. The event has all kinds of Science based activities and is particularly great for families, the line up is looking terrific already – Orbital returning after a 5 year hiatus, Soulwax, Andrew Weatherall and the, quite incomparable, Henge all jump out.
The following weekend 14th – 16th of July is the mighty Beat-Herder near Clitheroe, here at Funkdub HQ we have fond memories of this event from a decade ago when it was basically one stage a couple of tents, cheap beer, a lot of banging music and good will to all men. These days it still retains the spirit of those early days, but has scaled up the line up, the stages and the design of the whole project, there are bespoke especially designed arena’s and thoughtful touches all around the site and an atmosphere that’s pretty hard to match. The bill this year is bigger than ever; Toots & The Maytals, Sleaford Mods, David Rodigan, High Contrast, Adrian Sherwood and friends of Funkdub and Beatherder stalwarts the Dub Pistols, as they say Herd ‘Em Up!
Finally is an event that quite simply has to be seen to be believed, Boomtown Fair on the 10th to the 13th of August, down south. The festival site is simply the most meticulously designed area we’ve ever seen, the Festival bills itself as a City and has a range of beautifully designed and themed districts in the City with music and events to match, the line up announced so far is quite something, too many to mention including; The Specials, Cypress Hill, Arrested Development, and past Funkdub guests Gentleman’s Dub Club & Eva Lazarus
We’d recommend all of these, and plenty more too. It’s getting lighter in the evenings, honest…
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