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The National, Spiritualized to make Ypsigrock debuts

The indie legends will join a record six Etep bands at the 23rd edition of the boutique Silician event, which returns to Castelbuono on 8–11 August

By IQ on 19 Jun 2019

Ypsigrock's main Ypsi Once stage

The main Ypsi Once stage


image © Elisabetta Brian/Ypsigrock 2018

Italian boutique festival Ypsigrock has released its full line-up for 2019, including headliners the National, Spiritualized and David August and a record six European Talent Exchange Programme (Etep) bands.

Ypsigrock 2019 – which takes place in the mountain village of Castelbuono, in Sicily, from 8 to 11 August – is the 23rd edition of the 3,000-capacity festival, and will also feature performances from hotly tipped up-and-comers including Fontaines DC, Pick a Piper, Giant Rocks and Let’s Eat Grandma, several of which are making their Italian debuts.

Almost a quarter of the line-up are Etep participants (Fontaines DC are currently the most-booked Etep act), a record for the event, say co-founders Gianfranco Raimondo and Vincenzo Barreca in a joint statement: “There’s so much terrific talent being presented that this came pretty much naturally. This shows how interesting and diverse the showcasing bands are – it’s really relevant to us and our tastemaker audience.

“Out of a total of 26, with Ireland’s Fontaines DC, Britain’s Free Love, the Netherlands’ Pip Blom, Britain’s Boy Azooga, France’s Lafawndah and Belgium’s Whispering Sons (BE), we have a nice mix of six bands from five nations coming to visit us in this beautiful but somewhat remote piece of Earth.”

All acts performing at this year’s festival are new to Ypsigrock – a deliberate move on organisers’ part, who subscribe to an ‘Ypsi once’ booking philosophy (ie an artist may only play the event once in their career). Among the artists who played Ypsigrock 2018 are the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Horrors, Aurora, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and Seun Kuti, while the likes of alt-J and Jon Hopkins made their Italian debuts at the festival in previous years.

Ypsigrock tickets are priced at €99 for a three-day pass.

 


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