Posts Tagged ‘pulp’

Walking on to a festival site for the first time on its last day is a strange experience; not too dissimilar to that Simpsons episode in which Homer emerges from a bomb shelter having unwittingly missed a nuclear explosion.

You wander through a barren wasteland, aware that something epic has happened in your absence, but now only presented with an eerie mid-morning calm. A thick layer of half dried mud underfoot tells the story of previous heavy downpours, and the lingering smell of smoke and barbecued meat in the air offers traces of missed 3am camp fires. As the morning progresses, the number of bleary-eyed revellers emerging into the arena area starts to grow, as does the conspicuous feeling of having enjoyed the luxury of a warm shower just a couple of hours ago.

It’s 11am on the Sunday of the 2011 Leeds Festival, and after visits from headliners Muse and My Chemical Romance on the previous two nights, Pulp are due for a little promotion this evening when they make a long awaited return to their Yorkshire roots.

The annual arrival of the Reading / Leeds Festival always signals the beginning of the end for another hectic season of UK summer festivals, and it usually helps each year to go out with a bang, and with a bill that packs in homecoming heroes, some of the US’ finest, and a wide selection of bright young things, this year looks like being no different.

So, after wading through the many stages and many, many artists ready to descend on the twin sites in just over a week’s time, the Live4ever Ezine has picked out ten acts we feel you should not be missing over the course of the weekend – might take some manic dashing to fit them all in though…

(Stages and dates represent the Leeds leg of the festivals)

As MTV celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, here the Live4ever Ezine picks ten of our essential British music videos of all time to mark this significant occasion. While some pre-date the MTV revolution, they all represent the best of a medium which was transformed when the station launched back in 1981.

From the innovation of Queen‘s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘, to the playful nature of ‘Whatever‘ and ‘Bad Cover Version‘, via the emphasis on human emotion featured on ‘Just‘ and ‘Bittersweet Symphony‘, these videos chart the rise of the music promo from its basic state to the leading role it now plays in any band’s life. Yep, this particular anniversary is a good opportunity for those bands who have spent long hours in a TV studio perfecting their lip-syncing technique to raise a glass to the ripest fruits of their labour.

Øya is delighted to announce 2011’s festival has completely sold out.

Final confirmations include a very special performance from Guided by Voices – the band’s first performance in Europe since 2002, and their only planned reunion date in Europe in 2011; alt-rock legend, Lou Barlow’s Sebadoh (who replace Fang Island); plus White Denim who are playing music from their critically acclaimed forth album ‘D‘.

Festival-goers arriving at T In The Park over the coming days could be set for a weekend of heavy showers and thunderstorms according to the latest weather forecasts.

Tomorrow (July 7th), is said to be braced for rain throughout, which will continue into the first official day of this year’s event on the Friday, when the Arctic Monkeys will top a bill which also consists of the likes of Plan B and The View.

3 days to go…Our second classic Glastonbury video this week comes courtesy of Pulp’s stunning 1995 headline show.

Pulp made their major live UK comeback at the Isle Of Wight festival last night, performing a crowd pleasing greatest hits set at their first British gig since 2002.

The Courteeners frontman Liam Fray has told digital station XFM the Manchester band’s new material is ‘bigger, heavier and better’ than previous efforts, but has warned fans not to expect a glimpse of the new tracks for a while yet.

The thousands heading to this weekend’s Isle Of Wight festival are likely to need to save room in the rucksack for a good raincoat as the UK’s festival season looks set to begin in fitting style, with heavy rain forecast for significant portions of the three days.

John Squire has denounced the current trend for reunions as ‘tragic’, and has once again robustly denied any chance of The Stone Roses following in the footsteps of the likes of Pulp and Suede.