Kasabian have formed a string quartet and Franz Ferdinand have busked on the Tube - yes, the UK's biggest-ever music festival (yep, even bigger than Glastonbury) is all set to take off and the good news is all the profits are going to charity.
Kasabian have formed a string quartet and Franz Ferdinand have busked on the Tube - yes, the UK's biggest-ever music festival (yep, even bigger than Glastonbury) is all set to take off and the good news is all the profits are going to charity.
Oxjam, organised unsurprisingly by Oxfam, kicks off tomorrow with over 1000 events expected to raise upwards of £500,000. Events taking place this month include a UK record karaoke attempt in Manchester, a Buskathon - 24 hours of non-stop busking happening simultaneously in 10 UK cities - and dates from Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, Scissor Sisters, Hot Chip, Badly Drawn Boy and De La Soul.
Gareth Simpson, an Oxjam spokesman, said: "We see Oxjam as a kind of Live8 in your back garden - every single person who gets out there and gets involved is the real star of this festival.
"Together, we can all do our bit to fight poverty and enjoy some great new music at the same time."
Find out more about what's going on with Oxjam on the official site, or by ringing 0870 850 6246.
Start booking time off work kids because the seventh installment of the gloriously hot Spanish festival will take place between July 19-21. No line-up's been announced yet (it is, like, months away after all) but tickets go on sale on December 15 so expect more news around then.
We've had a damn good time this summer, in fact, we reckon that this year's crop of festivals have outdone themselves. So someone should by rights give them a lollipop, or a gold star or something, and that someone is the UK Festival Awards.
Other than the hilarity of The Kooks apparently being rock and Belle and Sebastian being classified as a Pop Act (you did see their none-more-fey Reading set, right?), we're quite happy with the nominations. Aloud favourites End of the Road and Latitude have both been nominated for awards, Gogol Bordello have justly been nominated for Feel Good Act and, er, Reading's got a nod for having good toilets. Oh the irony...
To get your vote in and check out the full list of nominees, click here: everyone who enters stands a chance of winning a pair of tickets to every winning festival, VIP tickets to the Festival Awards ceremony on October 19 and a year's supply of Carling. We'll give you a hint of who to vote for by who we gave our precious vote to. This is not a cheap way of having our own awards ceremony in any way.
Best Major Festival - Carling Weekend: Reading Best Medium-To-Large Festival - Bestival Best Small Festival - Jersey Live Playmusic New Festival Award - End of the Road Party People Award For Dance Music - Glade Grass Roots Festival Award - End of the Road Family Festival Award - Ben & Jerry's Sundae Best One Day Festival - Tin Pan Alley Fan-Friendly Festival Award - Latitude Shelter Award For Social Responsibility - Ben & Jerry's Sundae Portaloo Sunset Award for Best Toilets - Guilfest Headline Act - Depeche Mode (Wireless) Rock Act - Foo Fighters Best Dance Act - Mylo Pop Act - Belle & Sebastian (they're not pop, they are Belle and Sebastian) Urban Act - Plan B Breakthrough Act - The Automatic Feel-Good Act - Beck Innovation Award - Latitude Memorable Moment - Scissor Sisters
Billy Bragg and more for Electric Proms25 Sep 2006
There are more line-up additions to the BBC's Camden-based Electric Proms series happening in late October.
BBC Radio 3's Jazz on 3 are pairing up jazz veterans with jazz newcomers on Wednesday 25 Hugh Hopper and Seb Rochford, John Surman and Dave Okumu, John Taylor and Tom Arthurs will all be playing. The same night, Jonathan Harvey leads a workshop on electronic music.
Billy Bragg and Seth Lakeman will be performing as part of 6Music's Hub Sessions on Thursday 26. Also on Thursday, Vashti Bunyan and Donovan are pairing up to recreate the folk scene of the 60s and 70s. If you're mad keen on Donovan you can catch him again as part of Radio 2's Sold on Song on Friday 27.
Nitin Sawney is curating a night on Friday 27 with Laura Izibor, Fink, Natacha Atlas, Reena Bhardwaj, Tina Grace and, er, Will Young. You couldn't make it up, really.
On Saturday, the Asian Network have organised a night of beats with Tigerstyle, Niraj Chag, Bombay Dub Orchestra and Aziz, then on Sunday, 1Xtra's Rodney P has curated a night with Catch 22 ft Deadly Hunter; Instrumental ft Rodney P & Eva Abraham and The Landscapers ft Benjamin Zephaniah.
Most tickets are free, but drawn from a lottery, so head to the official website for more details.
