Stage times for the event have been revealed and what a line up it is. The evening is set to kick off with Wolf Alice, who are gearing up for the release of album three, ‘Blue Weekend’ Followed swiftly by Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka, who’s self titled album was a real highlight of 2019. Another singer-songwriter in the shape of George Ezra joins the fray just before 8pm. His melancholic, pop ballads are sure to fit the early evening vibe. Drink anyone?

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Post-punk Bristol boys IDLES are next, sure to jolt you out of your seat after two, soothing crooners. Fresh from album three, number one record, ‘Ultra Mono’, IDLES are sure to bring the noise. BRIT Award stars Coldplay and Haim follow, they’re sure to be (virtual) crowd pleasers as the sun goes down.

blur and Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn is the next performer – his unique genre-bending career is sure to bring about a quality performance. Jorja Smith and a “Special Guest” follow, this is the real big slot to fill, prime headliner time, so I’m sure we’ll get a big name to fill the gap.  Kano and DJ Honey Dijon takes over form midnight, as the drinks flow and the DJ-sets begin to take hold.

Irish singer-songwriter Róisín Murphy rounds off the night. Her fantastic sounds will get the lighters swaying before we head to bed. Just as we edge nearer to venues re-opening, a big night of music, dancing, cans and bands is exactly what we need to get in the party mood.

For this year’s #6MusicFestival we’re bringing you 9 brand new performances recorded at Alexandra Palace and BBC Radio Theatre alongside some of our favourite archive performances from previous years.

26th-28th March.

Watch on @BBCiPlayer and listen on @BBCSounds. pic.twitter.com/QunY9Ib55e

— BBC Radio 6 Music (@BBC6Music) March 12, 2021

The festival will take place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be available on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer, with select performances being aired on 6 Music. The new performances were filmed at Alexandra Palace and the BBC Radio Theatre in BBC Broadcasting House, adhering to social distancing guidelines. 

Kiwanuka said about the upcoming festival: “It feels great to be playing the 6 Music Festival this year, especially because I missed last year – I was so sad and gutted not to perform. This year is a special year because there are very few opportunities to get to play live, with the situation we’re in in the world. So it’s great to be able to express myself the way I know how and with the 6 Music family. It means a lot.” 

Head of BBC Radio 6 Music Samantha Moy added: “With venues closed across the UK, we are determined to celebrate live music, as we know 6 Music listeners are missing gigs as much as we are. So we’ve raided the 6 Music Festival archives and moved heaven and earth to record some new performances, to ensure that the festival will go on!” 

There will also be a special programme aired on BBC 4 on Friday 26th March at 11pm, airing clips from the headline performances of Kiwanuka, Marling and Bicep. The show will also feature an interview of Kiwanuka from Radio 6 presenter and singer Cerys Matthews. 

Check out all the info here! 

In a handwritten note posted to his followers on social media, Kiwanuka said: “I want you all to know that it truly is an understatement when I say how much I’ve missed seeing you out on the road at shows. I was so excited to give you Kiwanuka live. Myself and the band had been working hard to put together a live show that reflects how much your love and support means to me. However, even though we’ve been receiving some very good news through the vaccine, and we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, I will sadly still have to postpone the planned UK tour. I want to make sure that we are all 100% safe when these shows go ahead.”

The singer-songwriter added “I say this with a heavy heart and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how grateful I will be when we can finally experience the joy of live music again. I cannot wait to see you. Until then thank you so much for your patience and for your continued love and support.”

An update about the UK tour… sending love and thank you for your patience folks pic.twitter.com/PU1sCRQ9pW

— Michael Kiwanuka (@michaelkiwanuka) March 3, 2021

The rearranged tour will provide the Muswell Hill product with a belated first opportunity to take his acclaimed third studio album Kiwanuka on the road. The record received glowing reviews on top of bagging the coveted 2020 Mercury Prize, with the LP described as “an early-career opus” by Rolling Stone, and a “bold, expansive, heartfelt, sublime album” by the Guardian.

Kiwanuka proved to be the man with the Midas touch again with an appearance on Untitled (Black Is), the first of two politically-charged double-albums released last year by enigmatic rhythm and blues collective Sault. The record topped Rough Trade’s 2020 Albums of the Year List, and was described glowingly by the label as a “stirring“, “staggering” and “powerful” artistic statement, and an LP “that delivers equal parts grace and charge, manoeuvring through disparate sub-genres to create a magnificent medley of exaltation.”

Last month the soul-rock singer continued his drive to crack the lucrative American market with an appearance on James Corden’s The Late Late Show – the site of his first ever live performance in the US. His rendition of Solid Ground for Corden’s audience followed a stint on rival Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show in January, where he played 2019 single You Ain’t the Problem.

The full schedule of dates for Michael Kiwanuka’s 2022 UK Tour is as follows:

06/05/2022 – O2 Academy – Glasgow
08/05 – O2 Academy – Leeds
09/05 – De Montford Hall – Leicester
11/05 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
13/05 – Empress Ballroom – Blackpool
14/05 – Bonus Arena – Hull
17/05 – 02 Apollo – Manchester
18/05 – 02 City Hall – Newcastle
20/05 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
21/05 – Pavilions – Plymouth
23/05 – O2 Academy Brixton – London
25/05 – Alexandra Palace – London

Abloh, the artistic director for menswear at Louis Vuitton and founder of Milan fashion house Off-White, had previously used the song to promote collections at Paris Fashion Week. Abloh’s remix of Solid Ground – a soft and soulful number which featured on Kiwanuka’s eponymous third album – clocks in at just over the six minute mark, and fuses in brassy jazz and drum ‘n’ bass elements. Kiwanuka’s rich, velvety vocal (which falls somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Gregory Porter) thankfully remains intact.

Solid Ground featured on the set-list for Kiwanuka’s recent gig at the iconic Victoria and Albert Museum. The North London singer-songwriter’s intimate, string quartet-backed showcase was captured in a series of videos by Raja Virdi, who has also directed promos for Freya Ridings, Passenger, and New South Wales folk songwriter Matt Cordy. Virdi told Promo News that he was delighted to get behind the camera again for a performance that NME  have since described as ‘breathtaking‘: “I’ve worked with Michael before on an album teaser so it was lovely to be asked back to direct this live session. As soon as I heard we had The V&A it made it all that more exciting. Location is so important for my live performances, so to have the chance to shoot in the paintings gallery was insane.”

Kiwanuka seems to be staying grounded rather than basking in the afterglow of his Mercury Prize triumph for Kiwanuka, a record which has been glowingly described as “an early-career opus” by Rolling Stone, and a “bold, expansive, heartfelt, sublime album” by the Guardian. In a recent NME interview he suggested that he was looking to invest a portion of his prize winnings in community music facilities, saying “I think people forget how exciting and powerful playing music is, especially young people. With the news about kids not enjoying school, if they can find music and a place to do that and play loudly or just learn instruments, I think there’s so much they can gain from that. Music saved my life so I’d love to have a space where people could be able to do that. So hopefully some of this money can go towards starting something like that.”

2021 looks set to be another busy year for the Muswell Hill product, with a series of re-scheduled tour dates around Europe and the UK culminating in a homecoming show at Alexandra Palace on September 17th.

2021 UK Tour dates:

26/03/2021 – O2 Academy – Glasgow
27/03 – Bonus Arena – Hull
29/03 – O2 Apollo – Manchester
30/03 – Empress Ballroom – Blackpool
01/04 – De Montford Hall – Leicester
02/04 – Pavilions – Plymouth
03/04 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
05/04 – O2 Academy – Leeds
06/04 – O2 Academy Brixton – London
09/08 – Summer Sessions – Edinburgh
15/09 – O2 Academy – Newcastle
16/09 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
17/09 – Alexandra Palace – London

#TimsTwitterListeningParty pic.twitter.com/8O0GkRf0Se

— Tim’s Listening Party (@LlSTENlNG_PARTY) August 28, 2020

#TimsTwitterListeningParties have only gained in popularity throughout the duration of lockdown. Tim Burgess initially brought them back at the height of isolation, and they proved to be one of the best ways that social media could be used as a force for good. There have been at least 400 Listening Parties – at least one almost every night since March 23 2020, when they kicked off with the Charlatans’ Some Friendly. 

The premise is that everyone puts an album on at the same time and then a commentary is produced by a number of people who were responsible for putting the album together. These range from the informative to the hilarious, and Bonehead always cries when he comes to the end of hosting a Listening Party. At the same time, you can ask questions or share opinions in real time.

It’s also worth noting that there is a degree of excitement that you get when you know that all over the world people are listening to the same album at the same time. In the absence of live music, knowing that everyone is going to put on a great song at the same time feels like a unifying event. Each Listening Party is then available forever at https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/, where the tweets are archived in the order that they were sent out.

Digging even deeper into archive for this one — original demos, all sorts https://t.co/u9AJYCAbgz

— Sports Team (@SportsTeam_) August 28, 2020

The 2020 Mercury Prize nominees were announced earlier this month. Other than the ones listed above, they are Charli XCX, Kano, Michael Kiwanuka, Dua Lipa and Stormzy. This year, for the first time ever, there are more female solo artist nominees than male.

This is Laura Marling’s fourth Mercury Prize nomination, so she comes in at joint second for the most nominations ever, alongside PJ Harvey and Arctic Monkeys. The group who have been nominated most in the Prize’s 29-year history are Radiohead, who have had five albums up for the Prize. Stormzy’s Heavy Is the Head, on the other hand, is the grime star’s first ever nomination. Everything you need to know about the 2020 Prize is here.

Like everything, the Mercury Prize has had to do a little adapting this year. What you can expect on the day of the awards is a whole lot of great TV and radio coverage from the Mercury Prize partner BBC Music, in place of a live event. This isn’t completely confirmed yet, but in the meantime, you can get involved in the Listening Parties to get excited! Times and dates are below.

Wednesday 2 September 2020
8pm – Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter
9pm – Moses Boyd – Dark Matter

Thursday 3 September
7pm – Georgia – Seeking Thrills
8pm – Anna Meredith – Fibs
9pm – Porridge Radio – Every Bad

Wednesday 9 September
8pm – Lanterns on the Lake – Spook the Herd

Thursday 10 September
9pm – Sports Team – Deep Down Happy

“UK folks, with respect to and in line with the Covid guidelines we have had to push the tour dates back to next year. If you’ve bought a ticket, it will remain valid so keep a hold of it. Really missing playing live for you and can’t wait to get back out on the road to pick up where we left off! Love and miss y’all and hope you’re keeping safe,” said the 33-year-old singer.

ดูโพสต์นี้บน Instagram

UK folks, with respect to and in line with the Covid guidelines we have had to push the tour dates back to next year. If you’ve bought a ticket, it will remain valid so keep a hold of it. Really missing playing live for you and can’t wait to get back out on the road to pick up where we left off! Love and miss y’all and hope you’re keeping safe.

โพสต์ที่แชร์โดย @ michaelkiwanuka เมื่อ ก.ค. 24, 2020 เวลา 4:38am PDT

It is another day, another unfortunate event in the music scene. This time, the “You Ain’t the Problem” crooner is the latest performer in the country to push back his shows. Kiwanuka is forced to do this one more time after previously announcing that the tour would be taking off this coming September.

However, the silver lining is the London-born artist has upgraded the Glasgow show to a bigger venue at O2 Academy, which is also the first gig to kick off the run. The rescheduled dates can be seen below.

Elsewhere, Kiwanuka recently snatched a huge achievement with a nomination for the Hyundai 2020 Mercury Prize. His eponymous third studio album made it to the shortlist of the prestigious award alongside other impressive acts, such as Charli XCX (‘how i’m feeling now‘), Dua Lipa (‘Future Nostalgia‘), Sports Team (‘Deep Down Happy‘), and Stormzy (‘Heavy Is the Head‘).

Let’s celebrate Kiwanuka’s success with one of his monumental works from the ‘KIWANUKA‘ album and be a little more patient for his show next year.

Rescheduled Dates for the 2021 UK Tour
26/03/2021 — O2 Academy — Glasgow
27/03 — Bonus Arena — Hull
29/03 — O2 Apollo — Manchester *sold out*
30/03 — Empress Ballroom — Blackpool
01/04 — De Montfort Hall — Leicester *sold out*
02/04 — Pavilions — Plymouth
03/04 — Centre — Brighton
05/04 — O2 Academy — Leeds *sold out*
06/04 — O2 Academy Brixton — London *sold out*
15/09 — O2 Academy — Newcastle *sold out*
16/09 — Corn Exchange — Cambridge *sold out*
17/09 — Alexandra Palace — London *sold out*

The 2020 #HyundaiMercuryPrize Shortlist has been revealed! Let’s take a deeper look at the 12 incredible albums that make up a snapshot in music over the past twelve months… pic.twitter.com/2xuP1WtMWG

— Mercury Prize (@MercuryPrize) July 23, 2020

On her BBC Radio 6 Music slot this morning, showhost Lauren Laverne revealed a record-breaking shortlist that for the first time in the award’s 29 year history included more women solo artists than men. Alongside mixed gender groups Sports Team, Porridge Radio and Lanterns on the Lake, five women were nominated for the award. In addition to Scottish composer Anna Meredith and English folk singer Laura Marling, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX and Georgia all hail from the pop sphere, though a pop album has not won the award since M People’s Elegant Slumming in 1994.

Charli was one of several artists to record their reaction from lockdown, saying that “it feels really good to be recognised, especially when there are so many incredible artists making so many bold steps and albums at the moment”. While the nominations have platformed Newcastle indie underdogs Lanterns on the Lake (frontwoman Hazel Wilde works a part-time job at Newcastle University to help fund the project), eyebrows have been raised at the omission of critical darlings Rina Sawayama and FKA twigs. Similarly, Guardian columnist Alexis Petridis lamented that despite Dave’s win last year, UK rap newcomer J Hus hadn’t got a look in so as to make way for genre staples Kano and Stormzy.  

“Stop! Whoa!” Here’s @charli_xcx‘s reaction to making the 2020 Hyundai Mercury Prize Shortlist! #HyundaiMercuryPrize pic.twitter.com/aNJe9zEkOW

— Mercury Prize (@MercuryPrize) July 23, 2020

Marling’s Song for Our Daughter – an album addressed to a fictional, future daughter inspired by the concept of Maya Angelou’s book Letter to My Daughter (2009) – is the singer-songwriter’s fourth Mercury nomination, making her the joint second most nominated artist (level with PJ Harvey and the Arctic Monkeys) in the award’s history, just lagging behind Radiohead’s five. Like the Oxford five-piece, none of her previous entries have yet won her the £25,000 prize.

Fellow nominee (and bookies’ favourite) Michael Kiwanuka also matched previous award records, joining Coldplay and Anna Calvi in having all of his first three studio albums nominated. This year’s obligatory jazz nomination (made seemingly into an unwritten tradition in recent years) went to Moses Boyd’s Dark Matter. As of now, the awards ceremony is still set to take place on the 10th of September at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, though organisers will of course have to wait on future government guidance. Read the full list in alphabetical order below:

Moses Boyd – Dark Matter

Charli XCX – how i’m feeling now

Georgia – Seeking Thrills 

Kano – Hoodies All Summer

Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA

Lanterns on the Lake – Spook the Herd

Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia

Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter

Anna Meredith – FIBS

Porridge Radio – Every Bad 

Sports Team – Deep Down Happy

Stormzy – Heavy Is the Head

The festival will be held in iconic music venues in Camden, London, namely Roundhouse, Electric Ballroom, Dingwalls, and Fest Camden from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March. Tickets to all shows will be available on Friday, 24 January on the festival’s official site.

Apart from the aforementioned artists, Róisín Murphy, Kate Tempest, and Brittany Howard are also unveiled as part of the line-up. Furthermore, Ed O’Brien from Radiohead’s EOB will debut his performance in the festival as well. He has just released “Santa Teresa” and its music video, the very first solo work off the rumoured debut album.

The leading name like Michael Kiwanuka not long ago released his sophomore album KIWANUKA, which received rave reviews from music critics. Meanwhile, Bombay Bicycle Club also dropped their fifth studio album Everything Else Has Gone Wrong, the record that marks the end of the band’s three-year hiatus from the music scene. Moreover, all-female indie band The Big Moon is set to release Walking Like We Do, the second album after 2017’s Mercury Prize-shortlisted album Love in the 4th Dimension.

Check out the complete line-up from the post below.

ดูโพสต์นี้บน Instagram

Tickets for our festival are on sale on Friday at 10am. Here’s who’s joining us this year. #6MusicFest

โพสต์ที่แชร์โดย BBC Radio 6 Music (@bbc6music) เมื่อ ม.ค. 21, 2020 เวลา 2:38am PST

In addition to the live of numerous artists, the attendants will get to join Q&A sessions and DJ sets from Mike Skinner, Mary Anne Hobbs, DJ Yoda, and many more.What’s more exciting is that on March 8, the festival will celebrate International Women’s Day by holding an all-female line-up at Roundhouse with the appearances from the likes of Kate Tempest, Kim Gordon, Nadine Shah, Jehnny Beth to name a few.

For more information about 6 Music Festival, click here.

This year sees Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Cave and Laura Mvula all vying for for best album, whilst Coldplay have two songs in the Most Performed Work, against Adele. Meanwhile, Mystery Jets take on both  Laura Mvula and Michael Kiwanuka for the award for ‘Best Song Musically And Lyrically’.

Chairman of BASCA Crispin Hunt was very proud of both the longevity of the ceremony, and the quality and diversity of the artists nominated for this year, and said in a statement that “BASCA’s nominations for the 62nd Ivor Novello Awards are as diverse and impressive as the contemporary UK music scene itself […] As the only peer nominated music award ceremony in the country, we’re especially thrilled to be honouring such a cool selection of both emerging and established nominees; they are the true architects of the music we love, and reflect the creative global force that is British music writing. Our congratulations go out to everyone nominated today.”

The ceremony will take place on May 18, at Grosvenor House in London, and will doubtlessly see many of the nominated artists both in attendance, and potentially performing at the event too. The categories include awards for International Achievement, Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Song Collection, Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and the Special International Award, Songwriter of the Year, The Ivors Jazz Award and The Ivors Inspiration Award, you can see the full list of awards, and nominees here.