Wednesday 16 March 2011

Got any Stooges?


The summer stretches out before us like a fox that’s been run over by a Land Rover, and there are a thousand (well, a few) pop events on the horizon that are simply unmissable.

When I were a lad, you waited patiently all summer to go and spend four days in a field on the outskirts of Reading for your kicks, nowadays it’s all very different. There is a popfest in just about every major European capital, as well as those dotted around the US, and in the UK provinces there are all-dayers and the like, as well as the mighty Indietracks.

You might notice up there on the right is the date of this year’s Nottingham indiepop all-dayer. We decided that last year’s two-day stress-fest, despite everyone seemingly enjoying it, was just too much for our crumbling minds and bodies, so this year we’re fitting the best pop music into about ten hours on Saturday 1 October.

Time flies, and this will be the fourth all-dayer/weekender we’ve done. The first one was in 2008 at the tiny Lee Rosy’s tea shop in Nottingham. Since then we’ve done two at Bunkers Hill, but a double booking at the venue last year led to Very Stressful Scenes half way through the Saturday’s afternoon when we had to shift the whole PA downstairs.

But, onwards. This year we’re at the loveably knackered Chameleon, right in the very middle of Nottingham. There are some more names to add to that list up there, but they’ll become apparent over the next month or so.

Before that, and on 28 July, I’m putting on a special Indietracks warm-up show in Nottingham. I’ve got two-thirds of the bill sorted, but I shan’t reveal any names because both of them are playing the festival that weekend, and I don’t want to spoil anything. Suffice to say, I’m wetting my pants about this one.

But first, it’s Milky Wimpshake on Saturday night. So much pop right now, and so much fun ahead. I love this time of year.

No comments: