Festival Fever: what to expect from summer 2020
Continuing the series of 2020 line-up announcements, IQ has a look at what Saga Festival, Pitchfork Music Festival and Sea Star Festival have in store, as well as the latest additions to the massive Roskilde and Mad Cool line-ups.
(See the previous edition of Festival Fever here.)
Roskilde
When: 27 June to 4 July
Where: Roskilde, Denmark
How many: 85,000
Roskilde Festival has completed the line-up for its mammoth 50th anniversary edition, with Kendrick Lamar, the Strokes, Haim and Charli XCX among those joining the bill.
The Roots, DaBaby, Dave, Brittany Howard and Bicep also form part of the 110-strong group of new additions.
The newly announced artists join Taylor Swift, Pusha T, Faith No More, FKA Twigs and Tyler the Creator for the festival’s half-century celebrations.
“With this year’s line-up, we do what we’ve always done: look ahead,” comments Anders Wahrén, the festival’s head of programming.
“It has been important to us that festival number 50 points to the future, and that is why 2020 will feature the lowest average age ever among the headliners. You don’t have to have 20 years of experience to perform on the main stage. That era is over.”
Tickets for Roskilde Festival 2020 are available here, with a full eight-day festival pass costing DDK2250 (£257).
“2020 will feature the lowest average age ever among the headliners”
Saga Festival
When: 5 to 7 June
Where: Izvor Park, Bucharest, Romania
Saga Festival, a new three-day event promoted by electronic music specialists Alda and Insomniac, is debuting in Bucharest this summer.
Tiësto, Marshmello, Disclosure, Faithless, Meduza and Sigala are among more than 150 acts performing across five stages at the festival, with recently announced artists including Timmy Trumpet, Vini Vici, Laidback Luke, Denis Sulta and Zara Larsson.
The festival has partnered with Romanian waste management charity Reciclad’Or and conservation organisation WWF, as part of its commitment to securing a low ‘festival footprint’ and promoting understanding of the issues facing the planet.
Tickets for Saga Festival are available here, with a three-day pass priced at RON299 (£52) and VIP options costing RON699 (£123).
Tiësto, Marshmello, Disclosure, Faithless, Meduza and Sigala are among more than 150 acts performing at the festival
Pitchfork Music Festival
When: 17 to 19 July
Where: Union Park, Chicago, USA
How many: 20,000
YeahYeahYeahs, Run the Jewels and the National are headlining US magazine Pitchfork’s flagship Chicago festival this year, with other performances coming from Angel Olsen, Danny Brown, Phoebe Bridgers and Badbadnotgood.
2020 marks the 15th year of the Chicago edition of Pitchfork Music Festival. A spin-off event has taken place in Paris since 2011, promoted by Parisian booking and events agency Super!, and a German edition is launching this year in Berlin, featuring Lianne La Havas, Celeste and Modeselektor.
Tickets for Pitchfork Music Festival 2020 are available here, with day tickets costing $75 (£58) and a three-day pass priced at $185 (£144).
2020 marks the 15th year of the Chicago edition of Pitchfork Music Festival
Sea Star Festival
When: 22 to 23 May
Where: Stella Maris lagoon, Umag, Croatia
How many: 20,000
The brainchild of the team behind Serbia’s Exit Festival, Sea Star Festival is preparing for its fourth outing this year in the Croatian seaside town of Umag.
Hip-hop group Cypress Hill are topping the bill, which features acts including Amelie Lens, Meduza, Umek, Dubioza Kolektiv and Farrago. A welcome party and closing party will take place on 21 and 24 May respectively.
Sea Star is part of Exit’s extended festival network, consisting of Serbia’s No Sleep Festival, Romania’s Revolution Festival and Montenegro’s Sea Dance Festival.
Exit Festival will see performances by David Guetta, Tyga, Fatboy Slim and James Arthur for its 20th anniversary edition this year.
Tickets for Sea Star Festival 2020 are available here, priced at €39 (£33) for international fans and €30 (£26) for locals. Ticket prices will increase on 6 March.
The brainchild of the team behind Serbia’s Exit Festival, Sea Star Festival is preparing for its fourth outing this year
Mad Cool
When: 8 to 11 July
Where: Espacio Mad Cool, Madrid Spain
How many: 60,000
Live Nation’s Mad Cool festival has a big year ahead, with an extra day of programming for 2020.
Royal Blood and Mumford & Sons are the most recent additions to the extensive line-up, joining previously announced acts Taylor Swift, the Killers, Kings of Leon, Faith No More, Billie Eilish, Twenty One Pilots, Foals and Anderson Paak.
Other acts appearing across the three days include Wolf Alice, Placebo, Jamie Cullum, Major Lazer and Khalid.
Tickets for Mad Cool 2020 are available here, with a four-day pass costing €179 (£153).
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Alda, Insomniac launch Romanian festival Saga
Leading dance music promoters Insomniac and Alda have announced the launch of a new three-day festival in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
Saga Festival, billed as the first major music festival in Bucharest, will take place from 5 to 7 June 2020 and promises performances from more than 150 artists over three stages.
Alda and Insomniac, based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, respectively, have been partners since October 2018, when majority Live Nation-owned Insomniac acquired a 50% stake in Alda.
Insomniac has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event. Alda, meanwhile, is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival.
According to the partners, Saga marks “a new beginning for the eastern European festival scene” and “a landmark moment for the people of Bucharest, serving as the city’s first-ever major music festival of such impressive scale”.
The festival additionally promises an “immersive storytelling experience” alongside the over 350 shows.
https://www.facebook.com/ALDANetherlands/videos/720684698422911/
Tickets for Saga go on sale this Friday (6 December), priced from 99 lei (€21).
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