Outlook organisers unveil new south London festival
The team behind Outlook, Dimensions, Cross the Tracks and We Out Here is launching a new festival for fans of drum & bass, techno, hip hop and grime.
Project 6 will comprise a festival in Brockwell Park, south London, on 26 May and 10 nights across venues including Fabric, Phonox and Village Underground.
Ghetts, Goldie, Channel Tres, Hudson Mohawke, Shy FX, Flohio, Fabio and Grooverider, Ojerime, Pip Millett, Calibre and DJ Storm are among the acts on the bill.
Notably, the festival’s line-up lists appearances from Rustie, teasing a live return for the Scottish electronic artist. Back in 2015, the producer cancelled live appearances and announced he was taking a break from touring, citing “addiction & mental health problems” on Twitter at the time. He has not performed live since.
“Project 6 is about community, supporting venues, artists, labels, collectives and bringing people together”
“We’re proud to announce Project 6, a brand new event with a carefully curated line-up that covers a daytime festival and 10 nighttime sessions across some of London’s best dancefloors,” said Project 6 organisers.
“Clubs are a vital part of this city’s vibrant music scene and we wanted to create a festival where music lovers can enjoy music outdoors in the summer sun, while placing equal focus on the city’s treasured club spaces.
“Project 6 is about community, supporting venues, artists, labels, collectives and bringing people together celebrating the music we love.”
The festival, which will feature 60 artist, DJs and collectives across seven stages, will also offer talks, panels and workshops from “those in the scenes you love”.
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Lovebox, Citadel to relocate to Gunnersbury Park
Despite both festivals confirming last November they would be moving to Brockwell Park in Brixton for 2018, Ealing and Hounslow councils today jointly announced they have reached an agreement with Mama parent Live Nation/Festival Republic for Lovebox and Citadel to instead relocate to Gunnersbury Park in west London.
Lovebox will take place on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 July, with Citadel following on Sunday 15 July 2018. Initial line-up announcements for both events are due next month.
The festivals’ planned move to Brockwell Park, first reported by IQ last October, was met with fierce opposition from locals, with residents’ association Friends of Brockwell Park complaining that the “small, urban park” does “not have not have the capacity to host such gigantic events. We oppose them utterly.”
Many local residents are also opposed to Eat Your Own Ears’ Field Day festival moving to Brockwell Park, as is planned.
All three events previously took place in Victoria Park, in east London, but were forced to move after AEG agreed a five-year contract with Tower Hamlets council for exclusive use of the park.
“I have no doubt that this move for Lovebox and Citadel 2018 will be a great success”
Commenting on today’s news, Julian Bell, leader of Ealing council, says: “I am delighted to welcome the Lovebox and Citadel festivals to the borough this summer. Rightly recognised as among the very best anywhere across the capital and beyond, these festivals will boast acclaimed, international artists and a vibrant atmosphere for the many thousands of fans attending. It is a venue with an excellent record of hosting large public events, including the London Mela, which has attracted over 90,000 visitors in the past.
“Gunnersbury Park is currently undergoing a hugely positive transition which will see brand-new sports facilities and wonderful historical buildings opening their doors in the near future. Hosting these festivals is another huge boost for the park and it also underlines our reputation as a place to see great live events.”
“Gunnersbury Park has undergone a phenomenal transformation in recent years,” adds Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn, “and I have no doubt that this move for Lovebox and Citadel 2018 will be a great success.”
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Field Day’s Brockwell Park move confirmed
After 11 years in the now AEG-exclusive Victoria Park, Eat Your Own Ears’ Field Day is heading south of the river.
As first reported by IQ last month, the 20,000-cap. festival, headlined in 2017 by Aphex Twin and Run the Jewels, has been rumoured to be moving to Brockwell Park in south London since the announcement of Goldenvoice UK’s new All Points East festival. Goldenvoice parent AEG has a five-year exclusive on Victoria Park; Live Nation/Mama’s Lovebox and Citadel festivals also understood to be moving to Brockwell Park.
Field Day’s move has yet to be officially confirmed, but organisers held a consultation with local residents last night to discuss plans for the 2018 festival.
“The award-winning event has taken place in Victoria Park every year since 2007, with the 2018 edition being planned for its new home at Brockwell Park”
“The award-winning event has taken place in Victoria Park every year since 2007, with the 2018 edition being planned for its new home at Brockwell Park,” reads a letter to sent to residents.
According to one person present at the meeting, however, Eat Your Own Ears still has some work to do winning over local residents: Most are “not at all happy” about having an increased number of festivals in the public park, the source tells IQ, with one lamenting that the green space could become “one big urinal”.
Field Day 2018 will take place on 2 and 3 June.
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London’s parks set for 2018 festival boom
London’s parklands and open spaces are gearing up for a huge 2018 festival summer, following a slate of new announcements – and with more events believed to be in the pipeline.
In the last 24 hours alone, AEG announced the launch of a new ten-day event, All Points East, following its securing a multi-year contract for exclusive use of Victoria Park in Bow, east London, for events, while rival Festival Republic revealed it is adding a headline show by Liam Gallagher to its programming for Finsbury Park next year, alongside the existing Wireless and Community Festivals.
AEG’s exclusivity on the 213-acre Victoria Park leaves at least three festivals by other promoters without a home for 2018, with Eat Your Own Ears’ Field Day already confirming it will be “upping sticks” for an as-yet-unannounced location elsewhere in London.
Both Field Day and Live Nation/Mama’s Lovebox and Citadel festivals are rumoured to be decamping to Brockwell Park in Brixton, south London, in 2018, where they would share the 26-acre space with indie events such as Sunfall Festival and Gala Brixton.
In addition to Wireless, Community and Liam Gallagher’s As You Were, Festival Republic has applied to Haringey Council for permission to stage a “music event” with a daily capacity of 20,000 from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 May. (A spokesperson for the promoter declined to comment.)
Festival Republic has applied for permission to stage a “music event” with a daily capacity of 20,000 from 4–6 May
Also in Finsbury Park, council minutes reveal Slammin’ Events plans to reprise its Southport Weekender/Tranz-mission and Hospitality/Abode in the Park events in 2018, with the festivals pencilled in for 9–10 June and 22–23 September.
Back in south London, meanwhile, Lambeth Council has given permission for an “unprecedented” 110 event days on Clapham Common in future, paving the way for new events to join the likes of SW4, Let’s Rock and Madness’s House of Common, while Crosstown Concerts has confirmed OnBlackheath will return to the park of the same name next year following a successful debut event this summer.
Finally, in Hyde Park – a grade I-listed, 350-acre royal park in Westminster, and London’s most famous – AEG has exclusive rights to produce festivals until at least 2019. And with almost half a million people attending its flagship British Summer Time event in 2017 alone, don’t bet against that relationship lasting well into the 2020s…
After IQ revealed in September that London is by far Europe’s leading city for live music, and the third biggest in the world, mayor Sadiq Khan paid tribute to the city’s “incredible nightlife” and called London a “powerhouse for music”.
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