WEE CHILL
Where and when: Queen’s Park Glasshouse, Glasgow, Sat 29 May. Unique selling point It’s in a massive greenhouse. www.weechill.com
Cheekily taking its name from Herefordshire’s well-established Big Chill festival, Glasgow’s twice-yearly Wee Chill emulates its namesake’s fondness for electronic music. Founded by Brian Traynor eight years ago, and now run in conjunction with the team at the Sub Club – Paul Crawford, Mike Grieve and Barry Price – the one-day event pairs a whole bunch of Glasgow’s very finest DJ talent with a few big-name headliners. This year the Innervisions label’s Âme (pictured, right) and Dixon will be playing house, Mark E will provide the disco and Hamburg’s Tensnake will bring a beautifully old-school acid house sound.
‘I think a combination of things sell the Wee Chill,’ says Crawford. ‘The venue
[Queen’s Park’s Victorian-era glasshouse] is definitely one of them, but a certain level of trust in what the festival does has also been built up over the years. We try to avoid putting on obvious guests, and to present a variety of styles over our different rooms.’ This year’s bill will feature one room each curated by the Sub Club’s Subculture and Optimo DJs, concentrating on house and disco respectively, and two smaller bar areas hosted by local favourites David Barbarossa, Wrong Island and Boom Monk Ben. Outside, meanwhile, a new live stage will make its debut, showcasing indie to electronica and featuring bands such as local outfit The Ray Summers. (David Pollock) To win tickets visit list.co.uk/readeroffers.
Line-up: Âme, Dixon, Tensnake, Mark E, Twitch & Wilkes (Optimo), The Ray Summers, Jackmaster, Domenic & Junior (Subculture), Sensu, Wrong Island.
BIG TENT
Where and when: Falkland village, near Glenrothes, Fri 23–Sun 25 Jul. Unique selling point: Scotland’s environmental festival. www.bigtentfestival.co.uk
Run by the Falkland Centre for Stewardship, Big Tent is highly focused on sustainable living practices. There’s a marketplace dedicated to free-range and organic produce, as well as various workshops and discussions in the Craft and Wood Zone and a solar-powered cinema. This wholesome environmentalism is complemented by a feeling of global community – this year’s theme is ‘Moving with Africa’, and sees artists such as Grassroots Zimbabwe, the Zawose Family and Brazil! Brazil! sharing the stage with local Fifers from Fence. Lastly, The Poetry Place and Body & Soul Zone add that element of diversification essential to smaller festivals. (Niki Boyle) Line-up: Rosanne Cash, King Creosote, Second Hand Marching Band, FOUND, Aberfeldy.
COLOURSFEST
Where and when: Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Sat 5 Jun. Unique selling point: Scotland’s only dedicated dance festival. www.colours.co.uk
Now in its ninth year, this year’s epic techno fest from clubbing brand Colours promises nearly 50 artists across six arenas in one ten-hour stretch, spread between the main indoor hall at Braehead and various outdoor stages under canvas – ‘on the Clyde Riviera’, as Colours’ director Ricky Macgowan has it. Other arenas include one from Back to the Future, where old school styles will be provided by Italy’s Technoboy, Noisecontrollers and many more, while Italy’s Colours analogue, Meganite, will be bringing Mauro Picotto and Umek to the party and Fantasia Club Classics host their first Coloursfest arena, headlined by Radio One’s Kissy Sell Out performing an exclusive 90s rave set alongside big names of the era like Danny Rampling and Jeremy Healy. (David Pollock)
Line-up: Above & Beyond, Sander Van Doorn, Lisa Lashes, Dave Pearce.
Stonehaven Folk Festival
Lounge On The Farm Festival
Oxegen Festival 9-11 Jul,
8-11 Jul, Stovehaven, 9-11 Jul, Canterbury,
Punchestown
T in the Park 9-11 Jul, Balado, Kinross-shire,
Dance Nation Live 13 Jul, 02 Academy, Glasgow,
Hebridean Celtic Festival
14-17 Jul, Lews
Latitude Festival 15-18 Jul, Southwold, Suffolk, www.latitude
Aberdeenshire, www.stonehavenfolkf
Kent, www.lounge onthefarm.co.uk
estival.co.uk
Headliners Show of Hands will be joined by
Kimbers Men, Lori
Watson, Shooglenifty and Tyskie over three days of folk in the heart
of Aberdeenshire.
This gem of a festival will
feature awesome up- and-coming bands Slow Club, Gold Panda, Hot
Club de Paris and Elephants as well as a guaranteed visually- stunning set from DJ
Yoda.
Racecourse, Ireland, www.oxegen.ie
Ireland’s Oxegen festival is a must for any hip hop fan, with not only one, but two rapping legends
Jay-Z and Eminem headlining the festival.
Other acts include Muse, Arcade Fire, The Prodigy, Florence & The Machine and The Black Eyed
Peas.
www.tinthepark.com Every year the world’s musical giants head to Scotland’s biggest musical festival. This
year is no exception with Muse, Kasabian, Jay-Z,
Eminem, Black Eyed Peas and The Prodigy headlining various
stages over the three nights. See The List’s definitive guide to TiTP, out 23 Jun, for further
details.
24 THE LIST 27 May–10 Jun 2010
www.mydancenation. Castle, Stornoway,
com www.hebceltfest.com
festival.co.uk Festival favourites
The Dance Nation Live festival tour comes to
Glasgow, bringing Basshunter, Sash! and
Fragma with it.
Runrig, Imelda May, Florence & The Machine,
Breabach and
Treacherous Orchestra will head up to the
Highlands for a weekend
of Celtic delights.
Belle & Sebastian, Empire of the Sun, The Maccabees and Vampire
Weekend head to
Suffolk for a weekend of chilled out fun at this, the most middle class of
fests.