festivals
theartsdesk at the Verbier Festival 2016Sunday, 07 August 2016
Idyllic setting, star-rated musicians, the sense of an occasion. Verbier so wholly fulfils the clichés of an international music festival that to the cynical it can seem complacent or arrogant in doing so. To the uninitiated – and this was my first... Read more... |
Campo Sancho 2016Sunday, 07 August 2016
“Ooooh, it’s gorgeous!” exclaimed my wife-to-be as we arrived at what had been described as “an oasis in Hertfordshire.” They weren’t kidding, either. The site for the inaugural festival organised by Notting Hill Carnival stalwarts Sancho Panza... Read more... |
Standon Calling: Suede/Jess Glynne/Anna CalviFriday, 05 August 2016
For anyone who suffers from FIFOMO (festival-induced-fear-of-missing-out), Standon Calling is ideal. It’s like a pocket-sized version of Latitude, borrowing the Big Top and the mix of modern music with nostalgic pop acts, or Wilderness, borrowing... Read more... |
Camp Bestival 2016Thursday, 04 August 2016
Camp Bestival, curated by DJ Rob da Bank, has taken place at Lulworth Castle in Dorset since 2008. It’s now an institution of sorts, rammed to the gills with ageing ravers pulling around colourfully decorated trollies and paying over the odds for “... Read more... |
WOMAD 2016, Charlton ParkWednesday, 03 August 2016
Nestling amid the area in the woods where they have the gong baths and the kora-makers and back massages was an art installation by Graeme Miller - basically, you lay back on a trolley while an intern/elf pushed you through the woods while you... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2016Sunday, 31 July 2016
Where would you go to hear the most electrifying and collegial orchestral playing in the world? It used to be Lucerne while Claudio Abbado was alive. Now that the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has become like any classy superband, the answer is Pärnu... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Montreal Jazz FestivalSaturday, 30 July 2016
The Montréal International Jazz Festival's 37th edition presented its accustomed surfeit of gigs, covering the complete range from concert hall spectaculars to small club sessions. A large part of this, the globe's biggest jazzfest, is the massive-... Read more... |
theartsdesk in the Faroe Islands: G! Festival 2016Sunday, 24 July 2016
Familiar words pepper the lead item on the 9am radio news: "Brexit", "Theresa May", "Boris Johnson". Yet the bulletin is delivered in the first language of the 49,000-population Faroe Islands. The self-governing region of Denmark may be a remote... Read more... |
The Golden Dragon, Music Theatre Wales, Buxton FestivalTuesday, 19 July 2016
It’s the kitchen of a Thai-Chinese-Vietnamese fast food restaurant. The onstage orchestra wear sweatbands and T-shirts, and a red work surface stretches across the stage. As the four chefs take the stage, the clatter of pans and knives is first... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016Saturday, 25 June 2016
Even without any particular pomp or focus for celebration, the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival has felt like a particularly strong and broad-ranging one, with a programme so big it was a struggle to take it all in.Opening golf drama Tommy... Read more... |
Sónar Barcelona 2016Tuesday, 21 June 2016
A few beers down, in the middle of a crowd listening to music you love, you tend not to think of the latest news story as your highest priority. But Britain's relationship to Europe weighs heavy on the mind these days, and when the news of the... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Holland FestivalSunday, 19 June 2016
The Holland Festival is one of the greats. It has a British director, the articulate Ruth Mackenzie, formerly of the Chichester Festival and the cultural Olympiad, now into her second year. It’s the same age as Edinburgh and Avignon – 70 in 2017 –... Read more... |
