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Strummer of Love Part Two: the line up

Told you this was going to be a good 'un:


The full Strummer of Love line up : The Pogues, Badly Drawn Boy, Frank Turner, Billy Bragg, Roots Manuva, Basement Jaxx (DJ), KT Tunstall, Alabama 3, Dreadzone, Emmy the Great, Reverend and the Makers, Don Letts, Mr C, David Rodigan, Kitty Daisy and Lewis, Slow Club, Dog is Dead, Dub Pistols, Man Like Me, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Bastille, The Whip, Joshua Moses, Jim Jones Revue, Fionn Regan, Crazy P, Channel One Soundsystem, Talisman, Fit Les, The Time and Space Machine, Hollie Cook, Josh Kumra, Ska Lavin, Kate Tempest, Yob, Luca C & Brigante, Guy Williams, Parma Violets, Matices Latinos, Dark Moon, Atlantics, The Joker and the Thief, The Validators, The Supernovas, Beans on Toast, Ben Folke Thomas



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That phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust


Joe Strummer - a name mentioned in hushed tones, wherever old punks gather to compare haircuts and share a nostalgic bag of evo-stik.


This summer, somewhere in Somerset, and they ain't saying where, theres a one off festival in the great man's honour.

We don't know where - but its a fair bet it's going to be somewhere near Bridgwater, where the legend lived, or Worthy Farm, where he kept the fire of old school radical punk burning at Glastonbury Festival for decades.

We don't know who's going to play - they'll tell us next week.

The Strummer of Love festival will inevitably, be as cool as the chap hisself.







The festival is being organised by music inspired charity Strummerville and takes place on August 17th-19th with all proceedings going to the charity.

Strummerville does more right on and fabulous stuff than you can shake a studded belt at as you can see here: http://www.strummerville.com/our-work-and-what-we-do/


The first 1,001 tickets were releasedtoday April 11 at £101, to commemorate Joe’s first band The 101ers.

Just 5,000 tickets are on sale.


For line-up details and tickets: http://strummeroflove.com/

For more information on Strummerville’s work: http://www.strummerville.com/

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Holcombe Big Gig


The return of Holcombe Big Gig has been announced for June 16. 

Farmer Simon Eade joins band members Paul Swift from Gass and Pete Rupprich from Indie-cision 
to announce the date for The Big Gig 2012.

Both Gass and Indie-cision have announced that they will take to the stage at Ash Farm once again this year. 

The Big Gig was conceived when the band members wanted to get together for a jamming session.  They needed somewhere large enough for their local fanbase to be able to enjoy the music and dance the night away, and when farmer Simon Eade stepped into offer his Holcombe barn as a venue the event took shape.

"When Simon offered us his barn it meant we could invite other bands to join us," said Paul Swift of Gass.  

 "The Big Gig really took off last year and we were made up that so many bands and locals joined in the party.  There is no Glastonbury Festival this year so we're hoping everyone will join us again for our own mini festival in Holcombe."

Last year's event helped to raise over £3,000 for good causes, and money raised from this year's event will support Dorothy House Hospice, Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance, and Ronald Macdonald House in Bristol.

Tickets will be available from Level 1 women's fashions at Holly Court, High Street, Midsomer Norton nearer the time.

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Folkfest Fundraiser



Burnham on Sea FolkFest kicks off the Somerset Festival Season when it holds a fundraiser on Easter Sunday.


The Old Pier Tavern in Pier Street (opposite Morrisons, just down from the seafront) hosts the event which kicks off at 1pm and will go on late into the evening .

Local singer/songwriter and hearthrob Phil King will be performing, as will jiggity folkies Bag Of Rats, and The Alchemist's Wardrobe.

Even though this is a folk festival benefit, don’t expect too much in the way of hand –behind-me-ear-o whackfoldolriddles. There will also be old school punk from Vermin, and some ace blues-rock from Nick Elswood and Friends

Also on stage at the Pier will be Trisexual Winkers, Snatch 'N' Co, Mr and Mrs Russell, and Tim Fardon and Rowan Ensoll.

All-day wristbands cost a fiver, and all the money goes to supporting the folk festival which runs from August 30 to September 2 and puts on scores of free shows over the weekend.

And as all the shops are shut (yes, even Tesco and B&Q) why not head to the seaside and quaff a couple, take in some music and take the kids to the beach and have a 99 while you are about it.

http://bagofrats.co.uk/

http://www.folkfest.co.uk/

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Orchestra in a Field - free entry and camping for kids


The good people at Glastonbury's Orchestra in a Field event has announced free entry for kids under the age of 13, and weekend tickets for £40 for teenagers. Adults can expect to shell out £55 for weekend tickets, with free camping at Worthy Farm - home of the hallowed (but not very close to Glastonbury) Glastonbury Festival. 

No worries, though. They've also put on a shuttle-bus. 

Orchestra in a Field is being held in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey and will boasts a huge Kids Area with helter skelter, vintage market, local food, a Talk Tent and a programme featuring everything from Carmen to Mussorgsky to Tubular Bells and The Hip Hop Shakespeare Company.

Beeeyootiful Glastonbury Abbey
 “Kids can run about and be themselves – they don’t have to behave in a certain way,” says organiser Charles Hazlewood. “But we don’t want them sitting passively either – we want them to get involved and have a go!”
This year’s main concerts will be Mussorgsky’s magical ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ on June 30th, and Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ on July 1st.  A distinctive feature of the Mussorgsky piece will be the improvised replies to the orchestra supplied by Charles Hazlewood’s All Star Collective, a musical ‘supergroup’ featuring Will Gregory from Goldfrapp, and Adrian Utley from Portishead.

Aside from this, each day of the festival will feature a range of one-off musical experiences, including a performance of Mike Oldfield’s seminal 70s classic Tubular Bells on June 30, Adrian Utley’s “gargantuan” Guitar Orchestra on July 1, and a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture by the Scrapheap Orchestra.

For more information, visit  www.orchestrainafield.com.

 

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Somerset festivals: Part one.



OK. This is suddenly coming across as a MAMMOTH undertaking. Here's the first batch of festivals.



Cider and Chocolate Festival
April 7, The Buckland Bell Showground, The Bell Inn, Buckland, Dinham, near Frome
Cost: Free! Zilch. Nada.



This is just clearly the best idea anyone has ever had for a festival. Chocolate, and Cider, and live bands.

Retro Trax Old Skool Festival

May 12 - 13, Bath Racecourse, Lansdown, Bath.
Cost: £89.99 for weekend tickets.

Line up includes Greg Wilson, Alex (The Orb) Paterson, CJ Bolland, Ce Ce Rogers, Alison Limerick and others.

Vegfest UK Bristol



Finley Quaye. I'm not very photogenic, either.

May 25 - 27, The Amphitheatre, Bristol's harbourside, Bristol
Line up includes Finley Quaye, Neville Staple of The Specials, Johnny Clarke, Soothsayers, Talisman, Baraka, and Dub Mafia.

Somerset Chilli Festival
May 26 - 27,  Bath Race Course, Lansdown, Bath, Somerset
Cost: Tickets £60 for a weekend with camping

Line-up starts includes Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Alabama 3, The Blockheads, KT Tunstall and The Wedding Present.

Jubilee Cider and Tobacco Festival

June 2,  The Buckland Bell Showground, The Bell Inn, Buckland, Dinham, near Frome, Somerset
Cost: Freeeeee!

No acts are confirmed, expect live local bands. Camping available on site at £5 per head

Scrumpstock



June 2 - 3, Oaktree Farm Arena on the A38 near Highbridge
Cost: £18.12 for a weekend ticket.

Celebration of all things scrumpy and Western, with acts including the awesome Surfin' Turnips, The somerset Paddies, The Fallen Apples, Combyne Arvester and The Communicators.

The Last Jubilee Festival
2 - 4 June, Bath Race Course, Lansdown, Bath
Cost: £125 for a weekend with camping


Damned if you...

Headliners are Buzzcocks, The Damned and Eddie and the Hot Rods. Also appearing are Anti-Nowhere League, UK Subs, 999. Also very special guest performances by Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) and Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols)

Sunrise Celebration
21 - 24 June, Gilcombe Farm, near Bruton, South Somerset -
Cost:  £122 for the weekend


Warsaw Village band, ready to rock da house.

Line-up includes Warsaw Village Band, Laid Blak, Hidden Orchestra, Resonators, Yes Sir Boss.

Glastonbury Fringe
June 21 - July 1, various venues across Glastonbury.

The line up is still being finalised but will feature mainly local musicians and artists with some headline artists yet to be confirmed.

Orchestra in a Field '12
June 30 - July 1,  Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury
Cost: £65 weekend tickets with camping, £40 for under 18s, 11s and under free

Highlights include Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' on June 30th, and Bizet's 'Carmen' on July 1st. The Mussorgsky piece will feature improvised replies to the orchestra supplied by Charles Hazlewood's All Star Collective, a 'supergroup' featuring Will Gregory from Goldfrapp, and Adrian Utley from Portishead.

National Adventure Sports Show '12
July 6 - 8, Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet
Cost: £72 for a weekend with camping


Sum 41, yo.

Line-up includes Sum 41, Roni Size, DJ Fresh, Andy C, Modestep and others.

Priddy Folk Festival
July 6 - 8, Priddy, Somerset
Cost: £60 for weekend ticket

Line up includes John Mc Cusker, John Doyle & Mike McGoldrick; Spiers & Boden; Jamie Smith's Mabon; Spiro and more.

The rest of July, August and September's festivals will follow soon-ish. Chill your boots. 

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Wot no Glastonbury?


With Glastonbury taking a year off, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the musical landscape of Somerset is going to be a barren, desolate wasteland this summer.

You'd be wrong.



Somerset has a whole bunch of festivals - from cider and chaos at Burnham's Scrumpstock, to the slightly-more-genteel Priddy Folk Festival, to the Glastonbury Fringe Festival, Godney Gathering, Sunrise Offgrid, Farm Festival, Party in the Park, Orchestra in a Field, NASS and a whole host of other, smaller festivals that barely get a look in and are generally ignored by the unwashed masses as they head out of our beautiful little county and straight for the M5.

Ignored they are no longer - this year we're aiming to get to as many of them as we possibly can, reporting from the front line with no concern for our own, personal safety.

We'll battle mud, sideways rain, inexplicable heatwaves, bands we've never heard of and hangovers in an attempt to open your eyes to the wonderful world of the rest of Somerset's Festivals, and the people that make them happen.

And you'll love us for it. Deal? 

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