MNS FESTIVALS! supplement (May21-23)

MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS
Doune the Rabbit Hole announces new
dates and revised lineup for 2021 festival
Lake of Mentieth (Stirling) :: 12-15 August :: www.dounetherabbithole.co.uk
Doune the
Rabbit Hole has
announced a
revised lineup and
dates for 2021.
The August festival now features new headliners including
MC, rapper, songwriter and record producer Dizzee Rascal,
the inimitable Sleaford Mods and much loved Scottish acts
Camera Obscura and Teenage Fanclub alongside 10cc, Earth,
Wind & Fire Experience ft Al McKay and Charlotte Church’s
Late Night Pop Dungeon.
The family-friendly favourite, which has grown to be one of
Scotland’s biggest small festivals, has moved dates from 15-
18 July to Thursday 12 - Sunday 15 August. The 2020
festival, which takes place at the Cardross Estate in
Stirlingshire, was postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Dizzee Rascal’s only date on the Scottish festival calendar is
at Doune The Rabbit Hole. One of the most successful British
rappers of all time, the Mercury Music Prize winning MC’s
seventh album E3 AF was released during lockdown. Dizzee
continues to flirt with grime and elements of garage,
bassline, British hip hop, and R&B.
If any band epitomises our new era, it’s Sleaford Mods with
their unrivalled bite, wit, humour and powerful railing
against hypocrisy, inequality and apathy. New album Spare
Ribs features guest appearances from Brit act Billy Nomates
and Amy Taylor of Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers.
Released in January, the album made the Top 5 in the UK
album charts with tracks like Shortcummings pre-empting
that now infamous trip to Barnard Castle.
Glasgow based Camera Obscura have released five
acclaimed albums including their most recent release Desire
Lines. In 2018, Camera Obscura announced their longawaited
live return as part of the Boaty Weekender, a cruise
festival curated by Belle & Sebastian which sailed from
Barcelona to Cagliari in August 2019.
Fellow Scots and Belshill natives Teenage Fanclub release
new album Endless Arcade later this month and play their
only Scottish festival dates at the festival ahead of a planned
2021/2022 international tour.
One of the most influential and inventive bands in music
history, 10cc have sold 30 million albums worldwide. Original
member (and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee) Graham
Gouldman remains in the lineup and their longevity is
testament to his timeless classics I’m Not in Love and
Dreadlock Holiday written with Eric Stewart - spotted
everywhere from Hollywood films to sports themes.
South London post-punk band Goat Girl
www.facebook.com/goatgirlofficial
BUY YOUR TICKETS @ www.dounetherabbithole.co.uk/tickets-2021
On the subject of legends, veteran Grammy award-winning,
multi platinum artist Al McKay, guitarist for Earth, Wind &
Fire will perform with his full band as the Earth, Wind & Fire
Experience ft Al McKay. Al McKay penned seminal hits such
September and Sing A Song with the bands’ founder Maurice
White. In the spirit of McKay’s eight years in Earth, Wind &
Fire, the Earth, Wind & Fire Experience feat Al McKay’s Heed
the Message is an album rich with Al’s signature guitar
sound, impressive harmonic backing vocals, ample moving
saxophone runs, driving funk bass grooves and uplifting
lyrics.
Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon was a firm
favourite at the Edinburgh Fringe and on tour across the UK
and this is Charlotte’s only date of 2021 in Scotland. As the
details for the late night party attest “The Grand High
Executionatrix, dungeon mistress Charlotte Church, will give
her MK Ultra treatment to the greatest tunes that time
forgot, and some that will forever haunt our collective
memory. Bring dancing shoes - the floor is on fire.” Expect
Bowie alongside Beyonce and Black Sabbath alongside
Britney plus much more.
Eighty-five year old American folk legend Peggy Seeger joins
the lineup alongside hotly tipped Scottish band Tide Lines,
the first unsigned band to sell out Kelvingrove Bandstand.
South Londoners unite with all-girl quartet Goat Girl and
Grime MC Nadia Rose (MOBO favourite and Stormzy’s
cousin) with the lineup augmented by much loved Scottish
artists such as Honeyblood, Sacred Paws, Eddi Reader, The
Rezillos, The Pastels, The Bluebells and BIS.
Doune The Rabbit Hole is looking forward to welcoming fans
back for the 2021 edition and all festival stages will be open
air in light of restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic.
There will be further measures to ensure the safety of
festival goers which will be communicated as the festival
receives guidance from the Scottish and UK governments in
June.
Festival director Jamie Murray said: “Audiences will note
changes to this year’s lineup. We have worked incredibly
hard to secure some truly fantastic new acts and headliners.
Some previously booked acts could not make the new dates,
including, to our great sadness, our 2020 headliners Belle &
Sebastian and John Cale though both acts have confirmed
that they will be performing with us in 2022!
“We believe we've curated an epic lineup for 2021 in their
absence, but if you wish you can still roll your ticket over to
2022, just as you will be able to if you aren't able to make
the new August dates. We are sorry to those who were
desperate to see the acts that were set to perform, but we
hope you agree we've more than made up for this with this
new line up.
“Unfortunately, the UK government has yet to back an
insurance scheme for events and has not published any
official guidelines for how live events will be required to
operate in the wake of Covid-19, but these are expected to
be provided by mid June following their test events. Our
change in date from July to August is to allow time for an
insurance scheme to be drawn up and for the guidelines to
be published so we have time to incorporate them into our
festival planning, something we are able to do at shorter
notice than other much larger festivals.
“The safety of our audience, staff, artists, and contributors is
our number one priority and we are fully aware that the
festival may still yet need to be postponed until 2022.
However, it’s important we continue to prepare should we be
given the go ahead to head safely back into the beautiful
fields of Cardross Estate again in 2021.”
In the event that the festival has to postpone to 2022,
audiences will be given the option to rollover tickets to July
or August 2022, whichever is confirmed.
More information will follow shortly on the activities
programme (including yoga), glamping, children’s fun and
food suppliers. If you have further questions on how the
pandemic is impacting the festival, please see the Covid-19
FAQ section of the Doune the Rabbit Hole website.
www.dounetherabbithole.co.uk
www.twitter.com/dounetherabbit
www.facebook.com/DouneTheRabbitHole
email your festival news to alastair.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com