V Festival 2007
Virgin Group and Michael Coppel bring the hottest new music festival to Australia
V Festival 2007
Virgin Group and Michael Coppel have teamed up to bring V Festival to Australia.
The inaugural Australian V Festival will be held in two locations:
SATURDAY MARCH 31ST - CENTENNIAL PARK - SYDNEY
SUNDAY APRIL 1st - AVICA RESORT – GOLD COAST
Pixies Pet Shop Boys
Phoenix Gnarls Barkley Groove Armada
The Rapture Soulwax Nite Versions 2 Many DJs
Softlightes Bumblebeez The Temper Trap Mercy Arms
More to be announced…
Tickets on sale MONDAY DECEMBER 4TH at www.vfestival.com.au & all Ticketmaster outlets 1300 799 753.
$124:40 inclusive (transaction fees may apply)
After building an enviable reputation over the last 11 years as the best of the UK music festivals, V Festival Australia will introduce a new level to the Australian festival market with an eclectic mix of the hottest international and local acts. In awesome park side locations the V Festival experience will be a unique one.
V Festival has this year spread its wings internationally, launching in Canada and the USA in September. The Australian V Festival will be the first in the Southern Hemisphere and will continue to roll out the superior level of experience that ‘V’ is becoming renowned for across the globe.
As the headline sponsor Virgin Mobile has signaled its intention to move aggressively into the music space and lay claim to its rich musical heritage, helping to ensure the quality of the Australian V Festivals is second to none. Virgin Blue will be V Festival’s exclusive partner for flights, accommodation and V Festival travel and ticket packages. $1 from the purchase of every ticket will also be donated to Virgin Unite, the charitable arm of the Virgin Group.
Modular People will also be on board overseeing the development of a unique look and feel for this new Australian Festival.
From Pixies to Phoenix the Australian line up fits V’s international ethos by bringing together a rich variety of influential bands, many of whom have never toured our shores before. With more to be announced during the coming months, the first set of V headliners confirms the diversity that is the trademark of V.
Tickets will become publicly available from Monday 4 December, however V Festival fans will not get their event tickets in hand until early March. In an effort to ensure that tickets reach the hands of real fans (rather than those hoping to resell at inflated prices) we will be issuing every customer with a receipt as proof of purchase when they buy, and mailing tickets to their nominated address prior to the Festival.
There will also be a release of a limited ‘last minute’ allocation of tickets 3 weeks before the Festival date so that the market is flooded with tickets at the V Festival price.
V FESTIVAL ARTIST INFORMATION
Touring Australia for the first time ever, the PIXIES will co-headline V Festival 20 years on from their inception. The PIXIES’ initial six years of existence blew a breath of fresh air into the world of music. From the backwoods of Boston to headlining festivals worldwide, Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal and David Lovering combined blistering guitar work with a unique approach to songwriting, to became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of our time. Melding punk, indie guitar rock, classic pop, surf rock and riffs, the band created a sound that no one had ever heard before. With classic anthems like “Here Comes Your Man”, “Gigantic”, “Debaser”, “Wave of Mutilation” and “Monkey Gone To Heaven”, the
band became the pioneers of alternative music as we know it today. After releasing the bands fifth and final studio record (to date) “Trompe Le Monde”, the band’s grueling schedule, plus constant touring saw the PIXIES break up in ’93. After an 11-year hiatus, PIXIES hysteria reignited across the globe when the band reformed for some live dates in 2004, including festival headline slots at Coachella, Reading and Leeds. The reaction from fans and critics alike has been overwhelming, with the chemistry between the four musicians arguably better than ever. There’s even been talk of a new album…
Touring Australia for the first time since ’96 electro Godfathers the PET SHOP BOYS will co-headline V Festival. When vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe discovered their shared passion for dance music and synthesizers in the early eighties, the PET SHOP BOYS were born. With a lush musical history spanning almost 25 years, PET SHOP BOYS’ cheeky, smart and utterly danceable music established them among the most successful and popular artists of their era. From their first single “West End Girls”; to the biting and witty “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money), their lovely cover of the perennial beauty “Always on My Mind,” - “It’s a Sin,” to the duet between Tennant and the great Dusty
Springfield “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” the PET SHOP BOYS have always remaining one step ahead of their contemporaries. The PET SHOP BOYS return to Australia on the back of the release of their ninth studio album “Fundamental”, released earlier this year. Navigating the constantly shifting world of music, the PET SHOP BOYS have moved easily from disco to house to techno with their own distinctive image remaining completely intact; satiric and irreverent. Their new album is no exception.
Another first time visitor to our shores French four piece PHOENIX bring their underground, loungy, mellow and unpretentious sounds to the main stage at V Festival. Blessed with a musical telepathy - born no doubt from the fact their relationship with one another stretches way back to High School - PHOENIX have channeled that connection into a rare and unique sound. They have a musical playfulness that sees them swapping between new hip-hop technical noise and luscious orchestration, or between fluttering house timbres and straight up rock. Throw the French accent from Thomas Mars – PHOENIX’S photogenic mouthpiece into the mix - and the combination is irresistible. From the luxurious soundscaping they perfected to monumental effect on “Alphabetical” or its wildly eclectic but strangely coherent predecessor, “United” (which spawned the Lost In Translation hit “Too Young”),
PHOENIX has garnered an inspired musical reputation among both fans and critics alike. With the
release of their latest album this year, “Its Never been Like That”, the band delivered the masterpiece they have always threatened to make, recording extraordinary new PHOENIX songs like “Consolation Prizes” and “Long Distance Calls”. Their live show have been lauded as a “must see”, and lucky Australian audiences will have their chance to witness it first hand next March.
GNARLS BARKLEY is the remarkable collaboration between Baltimore DJ and producer Danger Mouse, and rapper / singer Cee-Lo from Atlanta. Coming together in 2003, their debut song “Crazy” created history when it became the first ever single to reach number one in the UK, based on download sales alone. The enormous hit sparked a huge wave of anticipation for their debut album “St Elsewhere”.
Steeped in gospel and blues, merging timeless soul with experimental funk and hip-hop, add to the mix a dramatic voice and soul-rummaging lyrics, and you quickly realise “St Elsewhere” is a psychedelic, soul masterpiece. Now close to selling a million copies worldwide and spawning another three hits since release, “Smiley Faces”, “Gone Daddy Gone”, and “Who Cares”, GNARLS BARKLEY’S music bears Marvin Gaye’s depth of feeling, Jeff Buckley’s emotive theatrics, and wild courage not seen since Prince’s prime. Behold the most exciting debut of 2006. When it comes to their live shows - anything goes. They performed at the MTV Movie Awards dressed as Star Wars characters, fronted up at Lollapalooza in tennis whites, performed in Philadelphia dressed in surgical scrubs, and hit the stage at V Festival in the U.S dressed in togas with Cee-Lo wearing a breast plate and helmet. You get the picture.
One of the most anticipated acts on the V Festival bill, GNARLS BARKLEY will not disappoint.
Since ‘97 Tom Findlay and Andy Cato aka GROOVE ARMADA have soundtracked modern life. Even if you’ve never bought an album, single or ticket to a show, you know their music. It’s everywhere, from the dancefloor to the cd player at the hair salon. From humble beginnings – the duo’s debut single, “At The River”, sold just 500 copies. But it wasn’t long before things took a sharp upward turn, as GROOVE ARMADA provoked a hysterical response from critics and fans with the release of their debut album, “Northern Star”. Since then, the band have released a further three studio albums – “Vertigo” in 1999, 2001’s splendid “What Does This Mean”, “Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)”, and “Lovebox” in 2002 – as well as a handful of essential mix albums. And with each album came the singles, from the sublime, jazzy drift of a re-released “At The River” to solid-gold floorfillers like ”I See You Baby” and “Superstylin’” and the blissed-out grooves of “Easy. The sounds of GROOVE ARMADA and their diverse musical styles are set to return to Australia for their third visit as part of the inaugural V Festival.
Citing their influences as everyone from Bill Cosby to Bad Brains and Parliament, THE RAPTURE put themselves on the musical radar with the underground success of their highly acclaimed 2003 debut “Echoes”. Three years after the release of their much-lauded first outing, New York four-piece THE RAPTURE returned in 2006 with “Pieces of the People We Love”. Recorded with a team of producers including Danger Mouse in Los Angeles, the album was preceded by the spectacular single, “Get Myself Into It” - which can only be described as “summer in a song.” The album winds a diverse musical course, reeling from the pop-funk sounds of the grins-so-hard-it-hurts “Whoo! Alright-Yeah…Uh Huh.” to the psychedelic “Live In Sunshine”, to showing their softer side on tunes like “Calling Me”, to finally wiping the slate clean with the blast of energy on “The Sound”. With glowing accolades swirling around the bands live show - heralded as the “party everyone’s invited to” – THE RAPTURE are at the top of the list of unmissable things to see at V.
Since these Belgium based heroes set the benchmark for electro fineries with burning dancefloor tracks like E-Talking and New York Excuse, SOULWAX NITE VERSIONS have single-handedly championed the new electronic sound of Europe. Remixing and collaborating with the crème de la crème of the world’s musicians; artists such as Tiga, The Gossip, Trevor Jackson, LCD Soundsystem, DJ Shadow and Daft Punk, have all been touched by the magic of the SOULWAX NITE VERSIONS wand. Garnering a huge following with their latest Nite Versions album “Radio Soulwax club nights” and being a highlight of the huge festival circuit over the past northern hemisphere summer, those two things alone threaten to propel them to even greater heights, and make them a must-see act on the Festival bill.
2 MANY DJs and their multitude of mixed albums, remixes and bootlegs are the darlings of the world’s djs and clubs. Undoubtedly the heavy weights and pioneers of the bastard pop and mashup scenes, their sets are nothing short of legendary. No one else seems to bend genres and mesh the seemingly unmixable like these guys do. From their initial radio program, ‘Hang the DJ’, in Belgium to storming sets on London’s XFm and at Erol Alkan’s ‘Trash’ nights, the Dewaele brothers have carved out a niche as producers of music that can be both pop, dance. or anything else for that matter.
Californian 5 piece SOFTLIGHTES round out the international line-up. Formed 3 years ago from the ashes of various indie bands (including The Incredible Moses Leroy), the SOFTLIGHTES make classic pop music with a twist. Citing influences such as Everything But The Girl and Yo La Tengo, the SOFTLIGHTES use a dizzying array of instruments in search of the perfect melody. Their sound inhabits a world where choruses rain down in buckets, synths and drum machines whir, guitars chime and pop is a beautiful thing… and no- where is it more evident than on their EP “Heart Made Of Sound” - a lush and beautifully balanced pop record. Following on from this shimmering first release, SOFTLIGHTES debut album “Say No To Being Cool - Say Yes To Being Happy” is their next serving of dazzling pop songs and will be out in time for their March visit.
BUMBLEBEEZ are a dirty tumble of tunes and beats that sound like everything and nothing you’ve heard before. From “Pony Ride” on their first up to “Brooklyn” on their second, their sound is raw, authentic, messy, honest, and sassy. But mostly sassy. The brain child of Chris Collona and kid sister Pia (Queen ViLa) BUMBLEBEEZ emerged in 2003 when they were discovered by the good folks at the now defunct FLY TV on the ABC, getting a subsequent nod from Triple J when they were “Unearthed” in the Canberra region later that same year. With their debut album set for release in early 2007, ”Black Dirt” is the blistering first track to surface from the forthcoming full record. What can only be described as a musical Molotov cocktail, it’s as close to a faithful introduction to the skittish new record as you’re likely to
get. “Black Dirt” is a scorching, primal scream and a triumphant return for BUMBLEBEEZ, their first recording since the release of the two EP’s, “Red Printz” and “White Printz”, two years back, and a more than welcome return it is. BUMBLEBEEZ debut album is due for release in March 2007 to coincide with V Festival. Bee ready.
THE TEMPER TRAP are four indie musos from Melbourne on the verge of making it very big with their solid songs and dangerously tight trousers. They play a melodic-new-wavey-indie-rock sort of thing, and with the release of their debut ep this November, on just one listen you know the standout tracks on this very diverse EP. “My Sun” races out of the blocks, all crash and bash, while “Peter Parker’s Alter Ego’s” pop sensibility is shrouded in a dark veil of melancholy and ‘Sirens’ is an anthem that just well, builds and builds. In their short lives THE TEMPER TRAP have shared stages with internationals, headlined their own shows, and will enjoy one of their first Festival experiences when they join the traveling V Festival wagon.
MERCY ARMS are Thom Moore on vocals and guitar, Kieran Callinan on lead guitar, Ash Moss on bass and Julian Sudek on drums. Just over a year ago their lives crossed paths in a inner city band room and fate has it that they decided to rehearse together. A stranger offers them a gig and the MERCY ARMS are formed. They push through a bunch of early shows with an enthusiasm for grand, noisy, and romantic. People dig what they do, and the show offers keep coming. Noise gives way to melody, their guitar sound becomes distinctive, the top line sweetens over their now driving rhythm. Darwin would be proud of this rapid evolution. The Strokes hear their songs and invite them on a national tour, Dave Sitek from TV On The Radio is into the band so much he stays in Australia to produce their debut single. The result of that is the debut double A-side single ‘Kilbey/Footsteps’ to be released in the beginning of ‘07
through the Brille label in the UK (The Knife, Good Shoes etc) and Capitol Records through the rest of the world.
