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This year’s lineup was announced at the start of February, revealing a small but heavy-hitting lineup. The headline acts had two Mercury Prize winners among them in Ezra Collective and English Teacher. Discussing their appearance, Ezra Collective called it a “deep honour” to be headlining, recalling the importance of first being aired on Radio 6 in 2013.   

Another act that caused a stir online is Kae Tempest. They took to their Instagram page last week to announce some warmup shows before their set at the festival. Fans attending their show will be hopeful to hear some new material, with Tempest saying ​​“What you doing end of March? I’m putting a new live set together, and we’re playing a couple of small venues to kick things off… can’t wait to get back to it – get your tickets while you can – will be very special”.

 

 

 

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The full schedule includes BBC Introducing at YES on Wednesday, featuring Adult DVD, Renee Stormz, and jasmine.4.t. Thursday sees Ezra Collective, Fat Dog, and Jamz Supernova at Victoria Warehouse, plus a New Music Fix Live at YES later that evening.

Mogwai and English Teacher will headline Friday night at Victoria Warehouse, with a DJ set from Tom Ravenscroft going late into the night. Amber’s Club will see a playful twist as a ‘phone-free’ night will be enforced for sets from Ayy Den, nora, Anish Kumar, and SBTRKT. Elsewhere, Band on the Wall will host the Radio 6 programme Indie Live Forever.

Saturday concludes the festival, starting with a ‘Morning After Mix’ at YES, hosted by Jamz Supernova and Emma-Jean Thackray. Kae Tempest, Perfume Genius, and DJ SHERELLE will close the event out at Victoria Warehouse.

BBC Radio 6 has shown their commitment to aiding grassroots venues, with their choices bringing more awareness to the glaring issues facing many spaces up and down the country. Indie Forever host, Nathan Shepard, said: “Venues like YES and Band on the Wall are integral to Manchester’s music scene for emerging and established artists and using them for the 6 Music Festival ensures they can continue to support the scene in the future by bringing in new artists and audiences.”

Reaction to the announced lineup was mixed. On the Radio 6 subreddit, one user compared it to feeling more like a “6 Music nights out”, criticising the scale of the event in light of apparent budget cuts. At its peak, the festival hosted 72 different events at the 2016 iteration. This year has just 27 acts. 

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The festival still has tickets available for anybody wanting to go, available through both the BBC’s website, and Ticketmaster, though Ticketmaster does indicate that ticket availability is limited. The events will also be available to everybody through iPlayer and BBC Sounds, as well as traditional broadcast mediums.

 Despite the disappointment around the size of the lineup, BBC Radio 6 Music Festival continues to celebrate and provide a platform to music from beyond the ordinary, and the variety on offer means there is an act for everybody.

The British spoken-word artist will take to the small-venue stage at Bristol’s Thekla March 26, followed by performances March 27 and 31 at Leeds’ Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, and London’s Village Underground respectively. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (March 13) at 10am – You can find the complete list of dates in this article’s featured image, and visit here for ticket purchase. 

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Tempest announced the run of shows via Instagram, posting a monochrome videoclip that revealed the featured tour poster at the end. The post in question read: “What your doing end of March? I’m putting a new live set together, and we’re playing a couple of small venues to kick things off… can’t wait to get back to it – get your tickets while you can – will be very special. Kae x”.  These show dates serve as a lead-up to Kae Tempest’s headline performance at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, set to happen March 26 – 29 at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse. Co-headliners include Ezra Collective and Mogwai, joined on the bill by indie rock band English Teacher, American pop singer Perfume Genius, as well as alt rockers Fat Dog. BBC 6’s home DJs Jamz Supernova, Tom Ravenscroft and Sherelle will also join the extensive line-up, providing an entertaining three-night eclectic montage of live performances, indie show-stoppers and dance music specials. 

 

 

 

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Having last released a full-length album in 2022 with ‘The Line Is a Curve’, Tempest is set to launch their fifth studio album later this year via Island Records. The poet and spoken-word musician first rose to prominence in 2013 with the theatrical piece ‘Brand New Ancients’, earning Tempest the esteemed Ted Hughes Prize. Their follow-up album ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ (2016) earned them a Mercury Prize nomination, as well as an (at the time) Best British Female Solo Performer at the 2018 Brit Awards. Kae Tempest has proven themselves an artist of many variations over the past decade, releasing numerous books, including debut The Bricks That Built the Houses, a Sunday Times best-seller and winner of the 2017 Books Are My Bag Readers Award. Notable singles from Tempest include ‘More Pressure’ (featuring Kevin Abstract of BROCKHAMPTON), ‘Salt Coast’, ‘No Prizes’ (featuring Lianne La Havas) and ‘Move’ (featuring Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C.). 

For more information on Kae Tempest, visit their official website.  

Speaking with NME regarding their new more dance-driven, synth-heavy new single; Tempest tells us, “More Pressure’ is the penultimate song on the album, It’s the song that the whole album is building towards in some ways because what it’s saying is that we can reframe some of the stresses that we find ourselves under as possibilities for new growth, new resilience, new acceptance – a new level of energy can come from huge amounts of pressure.” They add, “For me, it’s a song of upliftment, and it’s a switching of focus from some of the more-heavy themes that come up in the record. So, I thought it was a great song to lead with. Also, it’s just got good vibes.”

You can pre-order the new album here. But other than this, no other announcements have been made regarding 2022 for Tempest. There are, however, rumours spreading of a tour announcement to be made on Friday (December 14^th). After the resounding success that took Tempest to All Points East, Edinburgh International Festival and Glastonbury in 2019 during the tour for The Book of Traps and Lessons, one can safely assume the announcement will probably end up coming soon.

As well as Abstract’s feature on the lead single, The Line is a Curve also has a number of other guest appearances confirmed; Fontaines D.C. singer Grian Chatten, singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas, ½ of Italian production duo Ássia, South-London rapper Confucius MC, and long-term collaborator Dan Carey who is once again taking on the mantle of producer. These collaborations cement Tempest’s idea for the album, “I feel like I learned what this album was about as I started to make it. For me, the album is about increasing resilience and raising your threshold for tolerance and acceptance. And it’s a very beautiful album, because so many people involved in making it are people that I’ve known and loved for a very long time.”