Follow The Sun Festival

There is so much good new music out there, so many prospective new favourite bands and artists who want your ear's attention, that it can sometimes seem a struggle knowing where to begin with life's musical buffet. What's better, wilfing your way through SoundCloud or typing random characters into Spotify's search box? Should we wait for 6Music to spin our new musical obsession or go along with Last.FM's "if you like this then you might like that" algorithms? Or, if you're at all like me, do you spread yourself across all options in a desire to hear as new music as you can? Decisions decisions, there are only so many hours in the day, etc etc..

One of the more sociable ways of encountering new music is obviously the humble gig where, just possibly, you might be lucky enough to catch a future stadium band in their first support slot (have I ever mentioned the time I saw The Killers play such a set at The Wedgewood Rooms?). Better yet are music festivals, sprawling events where a wider array of music is invariably on offer, although enjoyment of such events can depend on just how much confidence you have in your Wellingtons. 

If you fear that your galoshes are suspect, are distrustful of Ian McCaskill's brethren, or simply don't want to walk too far then fear not, these are salad days for indoor festivals, one or two day shindigs that offer tasty musical morsels in a mud-free environment. Portsmouth was previously home to one such urban festival, SouthseaFest, an annual event that turned Albert Road's pubs into pop-up venues.

Unfortunately SouthseaFest is no longer running however, such was its impact, like-minded groups of promoters have channelled its spirit into a new series of microfestivals that call Pompey home; from the multi-venue joys of Dials and Icebreaker to the one day, one venue affairs of Golden Touch and Follow The Sun, all showcase a variety of both local and national acts.

The latter of these returns to the Edge of The Wedge for a second instalment this July, with a hand-picked by London-based promoters CloseUp, with the Wedge's sibling venue boasting a compact and bijou performance space which offers punters the opportunity of enjoying an intimate musical experience without the need for a trusty pair of Hunters.

The line-up for this year's instalment includes Londoners LONA and Shanghai Blues, local bands Sad Palace and Dutch Criminal Record, Southsea-based singer-songwriter Megan Linford, Isle of Wight indie-rockers JEPH (who release their new single, Space, via Honeymooner on Friday 5th July) and the hottest thing out of High Wycombe, Only Sun (woefully bad pun intended).



Topping the bill is Lauran Hibberd who, fresh from touring the UK & Europe alongside American indie-rock outfit Hippo Campus and supporting Norwegian pop-punk's Sløtface in London, will be taking her wry brand of observational indie pop to this weekend's Glastonbury Festival. If you miss her sets on the Greenpeace & BBC Introducing stages you'd best get yourself a ticket for Follow The Sun.

Follow The Sun 2019 takes place at the Edge of The Wedge on Saturday 13th July, with doors open from 1300. Tickets are priced at a very reasonable £10 (plus booking fee), available now either via TicketWeb or the venue, and punters are advised that the event has a 14+ age restriction.

Funk The Borders

Cultural collective The People's Lounge are well known for hosting a diverse array of talent at their events, at their Sunday night Late Lounge Sessions at Southsea's HUIS or via their now annual presence in the World Music Village at Portsmouth's Victorious Festival (where their tented stage hosts a variety of artists, providing a programme of spoken word, poetry and discussion, as well as hosting both live music and DJ sets). 

Whilst The People's Lounge has a presence at Victorious the World Music Village is curated by the Arms Around The Child charity, an organisation that aims to provide love, hope and dignity to children around the world who in desperate need of it. Similarly local charity Friends Without Borders provides support and friendship to asylum seekers, refugees and immigration detainees in the Portsmouth area, and it's for these two organisations that The People's Lounge are hosting a musical fundraiser this weekend.

Funk The Borders takes place this Saturday, 2nd March, at The Loft on Albert Road (upstairs of The Kings pub) and features an eclectic line-up of Funk, Folk, Hip-Hop and, perhaps, some Jazz too. Nice. Singer-songwriter Megan Linford, whose new single First Day of Spring features below, will be performing as will TPL's own Global Sounds Portsmouth music project.

There'll also be some hip-swinging tunes courtesy of The People's Lounge Funk Band and up-and-coming local hip-hop act Prøspects will be laying down their flow (which, I'm reasonably assured, is the correct parlance). Prøspects recently released the Grim EP which features Deceit, available below:

It promises to be a musical selection box of an evening, with DJ sets from Sahara Rock, Mo Funk and Sam Foot in addition to the live acts, supplying good music to the paying punters whilst helping do some good for those that need a hand. Tickets are priced £5 and can be purchased in advance via EventBrite.

Twisted Village Festival - Initial Line-up announced / CANCELLED

UPDATE: 19/06 - Unfortunately, owing to poor ticket sales and the financial risk this has incurred, the organisers of the Twisted Village Festival have made the sad decision not to proceed with year's event. A full statement on the event's cancellation can be found on the festival's website and Facebook page. 

UPDATE: 25/06 - The Portsmouth News is reporting that the festival's production company has gone into liquidation; the festival's website is still active, however its social media presence has been shuttered. 

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The tiny hamlet of Woodmancott, nestled roughly midway between Winchester and Basingstoke, might seem an unlikely destination for a new festival to pitch up. Yet here, at Vicarage Farm, is where the Twisted Village Festival will pitch tents for its inaugural outing.

Billed as a "festival of performing arts, music and curiosities" Twisted Village promises to be a compact and bijou affair, hosting 4999 souls on-site (a number which also includes both crew and artists), offering the seasoned festival-goer something more than big stages, huge crowds and annoyingly long queues for the amenities. If you didn't get Glastonbury tickets, or find that walking a festival site the size of Coventry isn't your bag any more, then this might be just what you're looking for.

Personally I'm a fan of a smaller festival; as much fun as a large sprawling site is to explore there is always something (or several) that gets missed. Limiting the number of attendees should hopefully make for a more comfortable stroll around the site, stumbling across promised curiosities, helping to create the "village vibe" that the organisers are striving for. 

The organisers have set out their ethos on the website, which includes their vision for a festival that includes dance, spoken word performance, theatre and street theatre as well as, obviously , music. The festival also boasts excellent environmental credentials, effecting a no plastic policy on the main site, asking festival-goers to bring reusable bottles to enjoy free refills at various water stations. If that wasn't enough the festival will also employ solar power & biodiesel-powered generators to lessen its carbon emissions.

So far so very right-on, but what's to see and enjoy at this shindig you may wonder. Well, the line-up announced so far includes Beans On Toast, LibraLibra, Yassassin, Alabama 3, Curl, Oh My God! It's The Church, Shoot The Duke, Megan Linford and the truly brilliant (and quite possibly worth the ticket price alone) joy that is The Lovely Eggs. With more acts TBA it's refreshing to note that the festival is also aiming to ensure female artists represent 50% of the final line-up (other, larger, festivals should take note).

Twisted Village Festival runs from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th August and Tier 1 (Early Bird) tickets are available now, priced at £90 for adults, via the festival website. Prices are scheduled to increase in Tier 2 (£105) and Tier 3 (£120), full pricing information and more can be found on the festival's FAQ page.

Welcome to The House of Rapture

Waking up on a wet Saturday morning, with a sore throat and a head full of cold, puts no-one in the best of spirits. So it was then that I attempted to recharge my energies with a double-header of caffeine and Twitter. Whilst the coffee machine did its noisy thing I scrolled through my feed and, yes, saw something which brought the sunshine back into my day.

For a while now small venues have been disappearing from out midst, with Portsmouth losing several over the past few years (The RMA Tavern, Drift In The City and The Cellars to name but three). It's therefore nice to be able to report some good news; the lovely folks of local ale producers Staggeringly Good have today announced the imminent of a new venue for the city, The House of Rapture.

Situated adjacent to both the brewery and its taproom, within shouting distance of Fratton Park, this new venture promises to marry the joyousness of live music with craft beer (which Staggeringly Good brew some very tasty examples of). If you're in the least bit beardy, like me, then this is a very good thing indeed.

The House of Rapture opens next week and, to celebrate its launch, the venue is hosting three evenings of FREE live music. The fun starts this Thursday, 20th December, with party ska from the always effervescent Skaraman, psychedelic rock from Mystic Hipniks Picnic (from Portsmouth, via Metropolis) and some chilled out ambience from Highlights Of Our Modern World (who were excellent at Dials Festival this year). 

The following night, Friday 21st December, boasts modern folk from Megan Linford, shoegaze from Superdrone and 6Ts flavoured psych-rock courtesy of Number 9. The opening celebrations conclude on Saturday 22nd December with grunge from Make Them All Smile and [drum roll] a super secret special headliner who will be announced on the day. All that and they sell very nice beers too which, I'm sure you'll agree, really is something to celebrate.

Dials Festival 2018 - Just added...

The lovely folks behind Dials have announced some additions to the bill of their multi-venue one-day festival. Rounding out an already packed line-up of new music are London bands Yassassin and Krush Puppies, Brighton synth-pop duo Fröst, singer/beatboxer Grace Savage and Portsmouth singer-songwriters Megan Linford and Dani Uziel. All this and more for the bargain price of just £16? You'd be silly not to really.