DJ and producer Jamie xx has announced a colossal world tour in support of his new album In Waves.

In Waves, released on 20 September, is Jamie xx’s first solo full-length since 2015’s In Colour. Last week, he celebrated its release with two homecoming shows at London’s Alexandra Palace on 25 and 26 September.

Over the summer, he performed his series The Floor, which included five shows in New York from 23 to 17 July and five shows in Los Angeles from 30 July to 3 August. The club residencies featured an open-to-close performance from Jamie xx with surprise special guests.

Now, the xx member has announced a 49-date world tour that’s set to run from October 2024 to March 2025 and stop in Asia, South America, North America, Australia and Europe.

The global outing kicks off with a previously announced set in Mexico City on 2 October, before heading to Arizona, Miami, Buenos Aires, Santiago and São Paulo. In November he’ll play in Taipei, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Tokyo, before heading to Australia in December to play shows in Melbourne, Sydney and more.

In the new year, he’ll return to North America for shows in New York, Chicago, Vancouver and Los Angeles, before a European leg in March that will make stops in Copenhagen, Prague and Milan before and wrap up in Paris on 21 March.

Jamie xx is booked by Wasserman Music’s Sam Hunt in the Americas and by Wasserman Music UK’s Jim O’Regan and Tom Schroeder worldwide.

Jamie xx’s In Waves world tour dates include:

10/02 – Mexico Pepsi Center WTC – Mexico City, Mexico
10/05 – FORM Arcosanti – Arcosanti, AZ
10/19 – III Points – Miami, FL
10/22 – C Complejo Art Media – Buenos Aires, Argentina
10/23 – Paraiso – Santiago, Chile
10/25 – Opera de Arame – Curitiba, Brazil
10/26 – Praça das Artes – São Paulo, Brazil
11/16 – Desert Air – Palm Springs, CA
11/18 – The Filinvest Tent – Manila, Philippines
11/19 – Taipei Legacy – Taipei

11/21 – EmSphere – Bangkok, Thailand
11/23 – 27 Pasir Pajang – Singapore
11/27 – Toyosu PIT – Tokyo, Japan
11/28 – YES24 Live Hall – Seoul, South Korea
11/29 – BNSB-Dream Hall – Shanghai, China
12/01 – Clockenflap Festival – Hong Kong
12/28 – Potato Head – Bali, Indonesia
12/04 – PICA – Melbourne, Australia
12/05 – PICA – Melbourne, Australia
12/07 – Meredith Music Festival – Meredith, Australia

12/08 – Carriageworks – Sydney, Australia
12/09 – Carriageworks – Sydney, Australia
12/13 – Hotel Brunswick – Brunswick Head, Australia
01/09 – Park Avenue Armory – New York, NY
01/10 – Park Avenue Armory – New York, NY
01/11 – Park Avenue Armory – New York, NY
01/12 – Park Avenue Armory – New York, NY
01/14 – HISTORY – Toronto, ON
01/15 – HISTORY – Toronto, ON
01/17 – Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL

01/18 – Armory – Minneapolis, MN
01/20 – PNE Forum – Vancouver, BC
01/21 – WAMU Theater – Seattle, WA
01/23 – Shrine Expo Hall – Los Angeles, CA
01/25 – Cow Palace – San Francisco, CA
01/27 – The Concourse Project – Austin, TX
01/28 – Factory – Dallas, TX
01/30 – The Anthem – Washington, DC
02/01 – Franklin Music Hall – Philadelphia, PA
03/09 – ING Arena – Brussels, Belgium
03/11 – AFAS Live – Amsterdam, Netherlands
03/12 – Sporthalle – Hamburg, Germany
03/13 – K.B. Hallen – Copenhagen, Denmark
03/14 – Uber Eats Music Hall – Berlin, Germany
03/15 – MTP 3A – Poznań, Poland
03/17 – Forum Karlin – Prague, Czechoslovakia
03/18 – Stadthalle – Ofeenbach, Germany
03/19 – Big Theatre, MIND – Milan, Italy
03/21 – Adidas Arena – Paris, France

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AEG’s Goldenvoice UK is bringing the British Summer Time model to the East End, today announcing plans for a new ten-day event in Victoria Park next summer.

The festival, dubbed All Points East (APE) will be staged in the 213-acre east London park from 25 May to 3 June 2018, and combine two weekends of music with a BST-style free-to-access midweek offering.

The announcement follows the news that AEG Presents/Goldenvoice has been awarded a five-year contract by Tower Hamlets Council, which owns the park, for exclusive use of Victoria Park for events, meaning other festivals that have traditionally taken place in the park will be forced to move. The company has a similar exclusive on Hyde Park until 2019.

Field Day has already confirmed it plans to relocate, while Lovebox and Citadel promoter Live Nation has not yet commented.

The first music event, All Points East Festival, will take place from 25 to 27 May. Headliners are The xx, with Popcaan and Lykke Li also named in the launch announcement.

The second, APE Presents, comprises three “huge standalone headline shows”. The first to be announced is The National on 2 June, with support from the War on Drugs, Future Islands, Warpaint and the Districts.

“We’re confident that this is the most exciting new event in the country”

Similarly to BST, the four non-music days in the park will feature “entertainment, incredible food, an outdoor cinema and much more”, all free to access. The festival’s name is apparently inspired by All Points West, a short-lived New Jersey event that ran from 2008 to 2009.

“All Points East will be ten days of amazing live music, food, enjoyment and positive community engagement,” comments Jim King, AEG Presents’ executive vice-president of live music. “It’s about seeing the best artists, with the best production in one of the UK’s truly great community parks.

“We are thrilled to be able to launch this new festival concept and bring some of the world’s most exciting artists to Victoria Park. We’re confident that this is the most exciting new event in the country. We are aiming to attract the fans of credible and more independently focused artists.

“When you see the full line-up, then the vision for what we are aiming to deliver creatively should hopefully be very clear.”

Adds Tower Hamlets mayor John Biggs: “The council is pleased to be working with AEG, who were selected following a rigorous procurement process to deliver some exciting events in 2018 which can be enjoyed by local people, Londoners and visitors from across the UK.”

Tickets for APE Presents go on sale this Friday (27 October) at 9am via AEG’s own AXS platform and Amazon Tickets – the official ticket agent and “official ticketing partner”, respectively – with All Points East Festival following a week later, on 3 November.

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Pukkelpop programmer Chokri Mahassine has hailed the diversity of the Belgian festival market, telling IQ that – far from there being trop de festivals – “people like the variety our festival scene has to offer”.

Some in Belgium, as elsewhere in the world, have cast doubts on the viability of the “festivalisation” of the live music business, with Christophe Goethals of CRISP warning last year that the “supply [of festivals] cannot grow indefinitely”. Yet despite this increase in competition – as well as the potential for terror attacks to hurt ticket sales, as happened last summer – Mahassine says the health of the market remains “excellent”.

“I certainly don’t feel like there are too many festivals,” he explains. “People like the variety.

“With small-town events, they can go with their families and hang out with friends while enjoying live music; the bigger festivals, of course, have even more to offer; and hip and trendy fringe events make festivalgoers feel that they’re part of something new. It’s a package deal nowadays: popular music, the latest fashion trends, fancy food, celebs and stars, glamping, hipster activities, art – it’s all there.”

For Belgians, says Mahassine, “festivals truly are part of our national heritage”. “They belong to the Belgian summer like sand to a beach!” he explains. “Or like tea to the British, for that matter…”

“You can’t cook without ingredients. Beer prices continue to rise, and so do the fees of our artists and security expenses”

Independently promoted Pukkelpop – meaning ‘Pimplepop’ in Dutch, as “we wanted a name to refer to something all young people have in common”, jokes Mahassine – is Belgium’s second-largest music festival, after Live Nation Belgium’s Rock Werchter.

Founded in 1985, it has taken place in the village of Kiewit, near Hasselt in Dutch-speaking Limburg, since 1991, with a daily capacity of 60,000. Ticket sales for the 2017 event, headlined by Bastille, Editors, Mumford & Sons and The xx, are off to a “good start”, says Mahassine, adding that he’s “pretty confident we’ll sell out this year”.

Heading into its 32nd year (there was no festival in 1989), Mahassine says one of the biggest changes he’s seen in the festival is an increased focus on non-music entertainment, such as poetry, theatre and comedy. “Fringe activities are gaining popularity rapidly,” he explains. “Nowadays, they’re part of the overall festival experience.

“Petit Bazar and Salon Fou usher in street theatre and comedy, entertainment and wellbeing, [while] Food Wood serves up dishes from around the world in the festival’s greenest nook and Baraque Futur focuses on sustainability, experiment and keynote speaking. […] No Pukkelpop experience is complete without a visit to these corners of the festival site.”

However, all those fringe activities come at a price – and with ever-increasing costs, Mahassine says it’s becoming a challenge to keep from raising ticket prices, echoing recent comments by North Sea Jazz’s Jan Willem Luyken.

“You can’t cook without ingredients,” he comments. “Beer prices continue to rise, and so do the fees of our artists. Plus, it won’t come as a surprise to hear that we’ve seen a significant increase in security expenses in recent years – and, of course, we continue to invest in our festival infrastructure.

“Fringe activities are gaining popularity rapidly. Nowadays, they’re part of the festival experience”

“We’ve set the bar high to keep all our festivalgoers happy, but ticket prices for Pukkelpop haven’t changed in four years. Last year we were forced to raise the price of food and drinks tokens, but we’re still offering them at a reduced rates in the presale. For now, we’re trying to keep the price level constant for another few years.”

As expensive as on-site security is, Pukkelpop can at least benefit from the sharing of security intelligence with other festivals, including those promoted by Live Nation Belgium, with which Mahassine says the festival has a “very good relationship”.

“We meet on a regular basis, and they help us with a lot of issues,” he explains. “Of course, that relationship is essential when it comes to booking international acts – but we also exchange security measures and other festival-related know how.

“[Live Nation Belgium CEO] Herman Schueremans always reminds us of the Belgian national motto, “L’union fait la force” (“Unity makes strength”). That’s a mantra we try to live by!”

Pukkelpop 2017 takes place from Wednesday 16 to Saturday 19 August.

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