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■ News from Scotland’s biggest music festival first as Kasabian (pictured) and Snow Patrol are added as the other main headliners at this year’s T in the Park (Fri 6–Sun 8 Jul), with glam US rapper Nicki Minaj also set to make an appearance. Festival director and DF
Concerts head Geoff Ellis told The List he was excited to welcome the Brit bands to the T Main Stage, alongside his own ultimate headliners The Stone Roses.
‘People always ask what band you would get if you could have anyone in the world, and I’ve never been able to answer that question by saying The Stone Roses because I was scared to jinx it but now, here we are. ‘They are a seminal band and
it’s been so long since they did a show together.’ Other acts announced include Jessie J, The Vaccines, New Order, Emeli Sande, Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Mastodon, The Maccabees and Tinie Tempah. Florence and the Machine and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds were added to the line-up last month.
Elsewhere, Kelburn Garden Party will showcase The Phantom Band, Miaoux Miaoux and Washington Irving. While Knockengorroch Festival will feature 60s ska legends The Skatalites and Peatbog Faeries.
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DIR: MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM SELECTED RELEASE FROM FRI 9 MAR
10 THE LIST 1–29 Mar 2012
O P I N I O N Fight for your right to arty
Arts writer and events head Kirstin Innes speaks out against entertainment licence fees
F or the last two years I’ve run Words Per Minute, a mixed night of spoken word, live music, performance and short film. Every month, we present an ever-increasing audience with around seven ten-minute performances, by selected artists at the top of their game.
We charge £5 on the door: after the venue has taken their cut that’s usually just enough to cover our performers’ travel expenses and buy them all a drink. We don’t make a profit, but we never intended to. The point of WPM is to bring brilliant work to a wider audience. Our performers do it for the exposure and because it’s always a really good night. At present we’re lucky to be based in the Arches, a venue with its own performance licence, but were we anywhere else, the new Criminal Justice and Licencing Act could have required Words Per Minute to pay a licence of around £300 per event, which would quickly put us out of business. Glasgow’s creative community woke up first (and made the most noise) about the new legislation due to hit in April, which states that almost all public events, on a spectrum from large-scale club nights to free poetry readings and exhibitions of paintings in flats or cafés, should pay a licence fee, to be set by the local
area council.
At the end of February, Glasgow City Council moved to clarify their position, stating they would not now require a licence for events which ‘are for a temporary period and are of a non-commericial nature’. The committee also concluded that a six month review and consultation on how all forms of public entertainment are licenced in the city should be undertaken. This is a wider, national issue, though. City of Edinburgh Council is already engaging with artists and campaigners about the issue; but there are fears that areas with less outspoken artistic communities may suffer. North Ayrshire Council has already announced that all free events in their jurisdiction will be subject to licencing fees.
Get involved: attend a meeting, sign the online petition, join the Facebook groups, follow the website.
This is worth fighting for.
Join in at facebook.com/scrapartstax and on Twitter: @ScrapArtsTax. There’s a public meeting in Edinburgh on Thu 1 Mar at Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 7pm, to discuss the Edinburgh issue with council representatives.
WHAT WE SAID: ‘Some of Hardy’s themes have a real resonance in this Indian setting, notably the clash between tradition and modernity, and the sexual double- standards by which Tess herself so painfully suffers, yet the film ultimately lacks the requisite emotional force.’ THE LIST
‘Winterbottom’s script was apparently improvised in part. This allows for a spontaneous feel; but it fails to nail some of the plot’s complexity.’ TELEGRAPH ‘Winterbottom’s quick-cut style is neither Hollywood nor Bollywood, but distinctly his own.’ VARIETY
WHAT THEY SAID: ‘The film is a seductive, allegorical study of male-female relationships that says more about what its characters are than who they are.’ THE GUARDIAN
‘Visually and aurally, the film benefits from a strong sense of place, without overworking the ethnic exotica. This is a distinctive new take on a classic story.’ HOLLYWOOD REPORTER