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Parker announced this via his Instagram: “GLASTONBURY come see me tonight at the Firmly Rooted sound system in Silver Hayes at 1am. DJ set. Should be pretty funnnnn.” This 1AM to 2AM slot is still listed as TBA on the line-up for Firmly Rooted sound system however, according to the festival’s official programme this slot reads as “Kevin Parker (Tame Impala)” and if there was somehow any doubt on who this is it continues “The Antipodean psychedelic rock icon takes to the deck.”

Kevin Parker’s involvement in the festival has caused speculation that the Tame Impala frontman might feature as a guest during Dua Lipa’s headline set tonight as the pair have worked on her latest album, ‘Radical Optimism’. Parker’s DJ set is going to take place just a few hours after Dua Lipa’s headline performance so we will have to wait and see what unfolds with that one.

Parker has played the English festival multiple times throughout the years with Tame Impala, including headlining The Other Stage in 2019 as well as previously performing at Worthy farm in 2016 and 2013. Fans may well be hoping that the Australian psychedelic outfit may headline the festival one day but for now they will just have to settle for a rare 1-hour DJ set from Parker.

Glastonbury 2024: Looks like Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame is playing a surprise DJ set this year 

We’ll see you down at Firmly Rooted Soundsystem #Glastonbury #Glastonbury2024 pic.twitter.com/ko0RMWzCGb

— Far Out Magazine #Glastonbury2024 (@FarOutMag) June 26, 2024

The festival began today and will see headliners Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA take to the Pyramid stage later on this weekend. the festival will run through to the 30th of June (this Sunday), and we will see a huge variety of acts across the huge number of stages including Fatboy Slim, Squeeze, Hedex, Little Simz, Nia Archives, King Krule, Fonatines D.C. plus many many more.

This year we will also see a tribute to the cult classic film ‘Human Traffic’ for the film’s 25-year anniversary. The film will be honoured on two separate occasions at eh festival, first at the Cornish Arms at The Park, which will take place in the early hours of Saturday morning and will see Loop Dee Loop play a DJ set. Then, on Saturday evening Arcadia’s The Bug stage will host Save Our Scene’s collaboration with the iconic film. This will see DJ Boring as well as Loop Dee Loop again and will be aiming to raise awareness for the campaign aiming to help the UK’s nightlife and live music scene with Grassroots music venues closing down at an alarming rate up and down the country.

DJs, podcasts, cover bands, live comedy, karaoke, drag shows and more are coming to District X at Download Festival!

District X, which is open to weekend ticket-holders, from Wednesday the 12th of June is a cornucopia of rock’n’roll and entertainment including guest DJ sets, karaoke, acoustic sessions, podcasts, comedy and more.

At the top of the bill is former Busted/Fightstar man Charlie Simpson who’ll be performing a special DJ set, Bowling For Soup will be playing a one-off acoustic show and the heavy metal / EDM crossover partystarter Sullivan King will be bringing the bangers with his own DJ set.

Elsewhere at District X there will be DJ sets from some of the country’s top alternative club nights including Girl Power Rock Club, Face Down and Uprawr, while HE. SHE. THEY. and Mønster Queen will be bringing a one-of-a-kind goth/rave/drag experience to Donington.

There will also be live podcasts from Sappenin’ Podcast and Those Damn Crows’ own Crowcast, alongside live comedy from Oh My God! It’s The Church and Kerrang! favourite Andrew O’Neill who be performing their renowned History Of Heavy Metal show.

Plus a whole lot more! Like brass covers of Download hits from Old Dirty Brasstards, heavy metal sea shanties from Old Time Sailors, and Slay Duggee will bring the pit to the mini-moshers of Download.

Check out the full District X line-up below and get your Download Festival tickets now.

Download Festival takes place at Donnington Park from the 14th to the 16th of June. Created by Terrance Gough, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne (since 2018) and at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, Germany (since 2022).

Download at Donington is the most popular and has hosted some of the biggest names, including Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Slipknot, Metallica, Linkin Park, Korn, Soundgarden, Motörhead, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Kiss, Judas Priest, Rammstein, Status Quo, Mötley Crüe, Journey, ZZ Top, Whitesnake, Faith No More and Guns N’ Roses.

Get tickets for download here.

It is the UK’s largest festival that celebrates African and Caribbean music and culture. In the spirit of celebrating Oye’s philosophy, which is considered to be: ‘free and open to all’, the event will be free of charge. Their funding partners are officially listed and they include the Arts Council England and Liverpool City Council.

The festival originally began in 1992 in the form of small performances in the heart of Liverpool’s city centre, and over the decades it has risen in popularity. To account for the growing audience, the festival moved to Sefton Park in 2002.

Headlining Acts

It was announced 3 days ago (27th February) that the two headlining acts will be Les Amazones d’Afrique and Julian Marley. Les Amazones d’Afrique are an all female, contemporary world-music group who embrace international voices to blur cultural boundaries, and will close the show on the 22nd. Julian Marley, the ninth son of the beloved and late Bob Marley (1945-1981) who helped introduce Reggae music to the world, will perform the following day. He will be glistening in his post-Grammy glow for Best Reggae Album which was awarded to him on February 5th, 2024. More of the main stage artists are yet to revealed, but will be very soon. 

According to BBC, the art director of the festival, Paul Duhaney, said: 

“Les Amazones d’Afrique are the definition of a supergroup – so much talent coming together to create something really special … And with Julian Marley you’ve got a reggae superstar who has truly emerged from his father’s shadow … You don’t win Grammys without being an incredible talent in your own right and it’ll be a Sunday night for the history books when he closes the festival this year”.

Transcending Cultural Boundaries

This festival is more than a tribute to African culture. It will challenge misrepresentations of African culture, which in the narrow Eurocentric view is attached to images of war, poverty, famine and diseases. (It can also be understood as a way to challenge Bob Geldof’s representation of famine in Band Aid’s 1984 Christmas classic ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’) Therefore, the festival aims to challenge these images and assumptions of reality through their beautiful and eclectic abundance of foods, intricate cultures, artists and music. There will be a total of 90 stalls which will sell the most popular African food and drinks, as well as fashion and arts and crafts.

According to The Sunday Times: “This isn’t just the largest festival of African and Caribbean music in Britain, it’s the best.” 

Overall, Liverpool is the place to be this summer season. This festival is more than a performance of international voices, but sets an intention to transcend assumptions and celebrate multi-culturalism without geographical boundaries.

Victorious Festival 2024 will run from August 23-25 with Fatboy Slim and Snow Patrol co-headlining the event’s opening night. Jamie T and Biffy Clyro will then take the headlining spot for Saturday and Sunday night respectively. The 2023 instalment of Victorious Festival featured another star-studded line up as the likes of Mumford and Sons, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Jamiroquai and Ellie Goulding were amongst the big names of performers.

The festival also houses a comedy stage, and at next year’s event, leaders of the industry Russell Howard and Frankie Boyle will be headlining on Friday and Saturday night at Southsea seafront.

One of the most successful dance artists of all time, the Grammy and Brit award-winning DJ and producer Fatboy Slim will bring a memorable Friday night opening party packed full of hits. His attendance of the festival had previously been teased as a sign saying “Praise You”, in reference to his hit song of the same name, appeared at the event’s location.

Victorious Festival hints at 2024 headliner: https://t.co/85AAcyqY7K #FatboySlim #VictoriousFestival

— Neil Durham (@NeilDurham) November 27, 2023

In addition to these huge headliners, many other world class acts will be making their way down to Portsmouth for Victorious Festival. Other artists on the bill include Wet Leg, Becky Hill, Pixies, Courteeners, IDLES, Jess Glynne, Arlo Parks, Louis Tomlinson and Natasha Bedingfield. You can find the full line up below.

Big News!

We’re SO excited to announce @FatboySlim@snowpatrol , @jamietmusic , and @BiffyClyro are headlining VF24! Plus the incredible @wetlegband@BeckyHill@PIXIES@Louis_Tomlinson@jessglynne@arloparks@thecourteeners@idlesband & loads more!… pic.twitter.com/O6GEwuXxBP — Victorious Festival (@VictoriousFest) December 5, 2023

Victorious’ lead booker Andy Marsh said in a press release: ‘‘This is the first year we’ve released all our headliners at once and we’re thrilled to be able to announce the acts after months of planning. Victorious 2024 is going to be bigger than ever and it’s not just the headliners people need to look out for, we have booked hundreds of acts across the weekend spanning multiple genres. We can’t wait for August, it really will be a year to remember!” Early bird weekend camping tickets are now on sale from £180, while day tickets are priced at £65 each. For tickets and more information, you can visit the official website for Victorious Festival here.

Quick Panda Productions, the brains behind The Great Estate Festival and Little Orchard have announced plans for their newest event, Paradhis Festival (pronounced para-dees), set to commence in the UK next summer.

Taking place at the historic Boconnoc Estate, famous for its Elizabethan foundations and home to various Prime Ministers, the centre will transform into a place of musical performances as well as meditation, yoga and wellness activities.

The festival is set to take place from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th July 2024, and will house a variety of activities that are suitable for all ages, backgrounds and beliefs. Globally revered Californian yoga teacher and wellness advocate Shiva Rea will take the lead on executing and overseeing the events throughout the weekend.

Sound bath experiences, Wim Hoff workshops, barefoot running, forest bathing and deer safaris in the local deer park are among some of the exciting activities due to take place at Cornwall’s newest festival. In addition to the various wellness events, Paradhis will also have UK electronic group Morcheeba headlining the festival. Other musical acts performing at next year’s festival include Scott Matthews, Afriquoi, Facesoul, Hang Massive and many more to be announced.

Paradhis organisers Ian Whittaker and Ben Hall said: “We always felt that Cornwall has been missing an event that is largely focused on well-being. There is such a diverse range of incredible facilitators, well-being practitioners, nature enthusiasts and an amazing community in Cornwall that deserves its own gathering to celebrate and share this wealth of diversity. Boconnoc Estate is quite simply the perfect venue to launch this event.”

Clare Fortescue of Boconnoc Estate has stated: “We’re thrilled that Quick Panda is launching Paradhis Festival at Boconnoc. Spending time at Boconnoc Estate allows guests and visitors to truly retreat in nature, and hit pause on daily life, so we couldn’t think of a better venue for a festival like Paradhis that combines wellness and music.”

A limited number of “Early Riser” tickets are available now for Paradhis festival 2024. This is a weekend camping ticket that will give you full access to the entire event. “Early Riser” tickets are £95 however as this festival is suitable for all the family, there are various ticket prices depending on age.

For tickets, full line up and more information, head to the official Paradhis website. Also, to learn more about other Quick Panda Productions events, you can head to their website.

Cuando lo vivas, lo entenderás.

Bizitzen duzunean, ulertuko duzu.

When you live it, you will understand.#BilbaoBBKLive pic.twitter.com/4Icf5nZhPd

— Bilbao BBK Live (@bilbaobbklive) November 28, 2023

The festival, set in the mountainous Basque city of Bilbao in Northern Spain, will run from 11 July to 13 July 2024. The annual event can trace its origins back to 2006 and is held on a special complex built specifically for the festival on the slopes of Mount Cobetas. Last year’s edition featured the likes of Artic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine, Idles, Róisín Murphy and Pavement, and cemented the festival as one of the best on the European music festival circuit.

Watch the music video for the classic track “Firestarter” by The Prodigy below:

Big beat pioneers The Prodigy will make Bilbao BBK Live their fourth summer festival appearance, after it was announced that they will be playing Reading and Leeds 2024 along with Hellfest and Isle of Wight festival. Meanwhile the festival is scheduled to be cult trip hop collective Massive Attack’s only summer outing, with the group last performing at Connect festival in Edinburgh in the summer of 2022.

Watch the music video for “Unfinished Sympathy” by Massive Attack below:

Canadian indie rock outfit Arcade Fire are also set for a busy summer after attaining headline slots at not only Bilbao BBK Live 2024 but also Shaky Knees in Atlanta and both South American editions of Lollapalooza in Brazil and Chile.

Watch the music video for “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire below:

See below for the full line-up of Bilbao BBK Live 2024:

Airu, Alvvays, Arcade Fire, Cymande, Death From Above 1979, Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba, El Columpio Asesino, Ezra Collective, Floating Points, Folamour (A/V), Jimena Amarilo, Jordan Rakei, JPEGMafia, Jungle, Khruangbin, Los Bitchos, Massive Attack, Mulatu Astatke, Nerve Agent, Noname, Overmono, Parcels, Queralt Lahoz, Ralphie Choo, Sen Senra, Shinova, The Prodigy, Underworld, Zea Mays.

Tickets for the event will be available for general sale this Friday 1 December from 9am and will be available to purchase here.

Photo credit: Sharon Alagna