Fatboy Slim

Parklife, brings some serious class and style to the amazing city of Manchester, whose history of music deserves such a stella line up! Having Frank Ocean headlining on Sunday night, pretty much sums up the quality of Parklife these days. Parklife 2017 will not disappoint and seems like a big contender in the plethora of premier music festivals in the UK this year. Parklife would appear to be a brilliant way to start the summer. The festival is held at Heaton Park which is rapidly becoming a place of musical legend!

I attended the festival years ago at Platt Fields Park and though it was in its early years, it had great potential. Being a music lover, I can't believe how much the festival has evolved and grown into major festival. With a capacity of 70,000, as well as a VIP area and eight stages, Parklife looks to be firing on all cylinders!

Continue reading: Parklife 2017 Preview

Amazing acts have been announced to perform at this year's T In The Park including Kasabian, Avicii and Fatboy Slim. Despite notorious festivals to match up to, it is looking very likely that this year that T in the Park will blow people away.

T in the Park has moved to it new home in the grounds of Strathallan Castle. Organisers DF Concerts and Tennent's Lager are ecstatic about the festival's first year here, playing host to 85,000 fans this summer. Festival Director Geoff Ellis said: 'This year is going to be a very special one for T in the Park as we make the beautiful grounds of Strathallan Castle our new home, and we're thrilled that some of the biggest artists in the world will be joining us in this historic first year.'

Continue reading: T In The Park 2015 Announces Killer Line-Up For Its New Venue

Part of Glastonbury’s enduring reputation is its propensity for composing a line-up that is extensive that a wealth of acts will pass by unnoticed. We’ve sieved through the thousands of acts who will be making the trip to Worthy Farm to highlight ten acts whose inclusion in the festival bill may surprise many. Sifting through the lower rungs of the bill uncovers a slew of rising stars and forgotten flames, those who are on the ascension to the upper levels of cultural recognition as well as those whose days of glory are far behind them.

Metallica will be this years most controversial performers. Photo: Getty Images, Credit: Frazer Harrison

Beyond the endless stretch of humans eyeing up the pyramid stage with binoculars are copious tents and smaller stages which host a myriad of curiosities, from fading pop stars regurgitating their hit songs for the umpteenth time to all manner of odd theatrics, spoken word performances, comedians, circus performances and Happy Monday’s hype-man Bez, who has this year been granted his very own ‘Acid House’ stage. Here then, are ten acts who to varying degrees will surprise festival goers with their very presence at the culturally sacred Somerset site: 

Continue reading: 10 Acts You Had No Idea Were Playing Glastonbury

Coachella Festival is nearly here, bringing with it one hell of a weekend chock full of great food, exciting entertainment and, most importantly, amazing music.

Arguably California's most eagerly anticipated event of the year, Coachella settles at the Empire Polo Club in Indio once again for the fifteenth year running between April 11th and 13th on the first weekend and April 18th and 20th on the second. It's not unheard of that a music festival was so good they had to hold it twice, but as of 2012 it has become a no-brainer for Coachella. In a nutshell, it is basically a big playground for grown-ups - though of course it is a family friendly event - featuring activities such as the 3 Legged Race, the Beauty Bar, the art studios, dodgeball and the almighty Pie Eating Contest, all while you're munching on a variety of cuisine from around the state and rocking out to some of the best bands you will ever hear.

Continue reading: It's Almost Here! 25 Must See Acts For Coachella 2014

We all know that Lady GaGa loves to shock, so no one was actually that surprised to see the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills make a cameo appearance in her new ‘ARTPOP’ music video for ‘G.U.Y.’ Gaga isn’t the only musician to make use of celebrities in her music videos, although she is certainly the first to dress up reality TV stars as an ancient Greek chorus. The video for ‘G.U.Y.’ sees Lisa Vanderpump playing the tambourine, while Kim and Kyle Richards play guitars, Carlton Gebbia strums the harp with Yolanda Foster on the cello.  No one can call Gaga unoriginal!

Lady Gaga is known for releasing outrageous music videos

Who remembers Courteney Cox’s cameo appearance in Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 video for “Dancing in the Dark”? We don't blame you if you can't, it was quite a long time ago and the Friends star herself was only 20 years old. The video sees The Boss pluck Cox from the crowd to bring her up on stage to dance with him.

Continue reading: Angelina Jolie And Meatloaf? Celebrity Music Video Cameos

Rihanna made chart history this weekend when her latest collaborative effort with rapper Eminem entered the chart at number one, meaning she's hit the top spot for seven years running, at some point or another. The feat has only ever been matched by The Beatles and Elvis Presley and has etched her into the history books alongside those two recording greats.

'The Monster' - her second number one collaboration with Eminem following their massively successful link up on 2010's 'Love the Way you Lie' - continues a run of form that began in 2007 with 'Umbrella' and it looks as though she could even break the eight year mark.

Rihanna has now had 8 number one singles over a period of 7 consecutive calendar years. But let's put that into perspective: alongside her fellow 'Club 7' record breakers, The Beatles had 17 number one singles in the same period, more than double that of Ri-Ri. She's got a long way to go.

Continue reading: Rihanna Makes UK Chart History As Eminem Collaboration Storms To The No. 1 Spot

Despite already being a mainstay in the Las Vegas and Orlando music line-up, the Electric Daisy Festival has never ventured to the colder climates of up north, that is until this weekend when the EDM showcase took the Chicagoland Speedway by storm. The (moderately) colder temperatures failed to put off any festival goers at the travelling festival's first ever stop in Chicago.

Having already passed through New York with similar success earlier this month (May 17 - 18), the touring EDM showcase will hit up Vegas for the June 21 - 23 weekend, before heading out to Puerto Rico (September 13 - 14) and Orlando (November 8 - 9) later in the year. The festival will also be skipping borders as it moves to London for a one-day event on July 20, bringing all the electro-madness with it for the one off event. Festival goers this weekend were treated to such EDM mainstays as Calvin Harris, Dj Fresh, Fatboy Slim, Pete Tong, Araabmuzik, La Roux, Tiesto and A-Track as well as a smorgasbord of other quality electronic music acts. As for the weather, although the heavens remained closed the temperature was still a far cry from the blistering Nevada desert heats, but this was a factor some say made the festival all the better.

EDC faithful DJ Gareth Emery, who performed in Chicago and New York and will be following the festival to Las Vegas, told USA Today, "When the weather is bad, the festivals can actually be better because people kind of huddle up together. It's probably one of the times where you want to be down in the middle. You don't want to be in the VIP; you get cold."

Continue reading: Chicago's Inaugural Electric Daisy Carnival Gives Festival Goers A Weekend To Remember

David Byrne is a man known for pushing boundaries. Be it the stretching of the outer limits of art-pop, with Talking Heads, or, indeed, prodding at the concept of comfortable suit design (remember that over-sized suit he wore… you know the one), he’s never settled for the obvious choices. His latest venture – a collaborative effort with Norman Cook / Fatboy Slim, is no different.

Here Lies Love, at the Public Theater in New York is a beguiling theatrical and musical creation, which tells the life story of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and does so via the medium of dance music, demanding high levels of audience participation as it goes. The New York Times describes the unusual theatrical staging with a sense of awe, playing tribute to “the hardest working tech crew in town” for creating a staging in which “all the world’s a dance floor and all the men and women merely disco rats.” Theater ushers in neon pink jumpsuits “herd” the audience into place at the sets change and reconfigure and attendees are expected to keep dancing throughout. “You’ll be asked to vote for Marcos, too,” NYT advises. “And as folks tend to do when caught up in the fever of a crowd, you’ll probably find yourself smiling and nodding assent.”

Bloomberg were equally full of praise for the show, describing it as “the most engaging and provocative new musical of the season.” It looks as though Byrne has successfully pushed that envelope, once again. 

Continue reading: Reliably Unusual: David Byrne's Imelda Marcos Musical A Hit With The Critics