Seven years old, Lovebox has become a must do event on the bristling summer social calender.
Held annually on London's oldest public park bordering Bethnal Green, Hackney, and Bow, London's most creative and socially dynamic quarters, Lovebox as a festival, urban event or "happening" is without comparison.
“You can’t beat London as the hippest place on the planet, the Lovebox Weekender is proof of that” Gilles Peterson
Music has always been at the heart of Lovebox; with all the rock & roll chaos and glamour of supercharged sets, epic performances with dramatic backdrops, and chuggy jams under the trees from bands and DJs spanning the genres.
The first show saw Groove Armada, The Blackbyrds, Norman Jay and Richie Havens play the same live stage while Mr Scruff, Joey Negro, Gilles Peterson and Movement amongst others fired up 3 different dance music arenas.
Since then we've more than tripled in attendance and in the size of the site. Now, with such a big space to play means we expect 50,000 people in July . The best bit about this is that we can now not only programme three times more music, but we can programme across more styles and genres in what gets booked while digging deeper to find some amazing rising talent. The result is that anyone coming to Lovebox can traverse their way across an incredible musical landscape hand picked by a bunch of real fanatics turning each other on to new and old bands, DJs and musical styles, be it folk, hip hop, indie, disco-punk, rock, world or electronic music. It's very much a case of the whole being "greater than the sum of the parts.
Set and setting also play a big part in what we do; our basic principle here is to create a space to enjoy the music to enhance mood, provoke thoughts and challenge expectations. Being in the capital city we've a lot to compete with and a standard to live up to, so the levels we set ourselves are already high.
“Festivals don’t come much better” Time Out London
Places to sit, delicious food, cold beer, fast service, enough loos are all basic rights in a big city, so while we strive for the best here we also aim to take the customer out of the city for a while and into something more fantastic, with great care and love lavished on making the beautiful park look even more beautiful and with bespoke built venues and arenas.
"In the hidden corners of Lovebox it still felt like you were part of something deafening, furtive and special" The Observer - July 2008
LOVEBOX PAST ARTISTS setting the standard...
A.Human / Adam Goldstone / Afrika Bambaata / Aim / Alela Diane / Ame (Innervisions) Andy Smith (Portishead) / Andy Votel / Anthony Johnson / Ashley Beedle / The B52s / The Bays / Beardyman / The Bees / Ben Watt / Ben Westbeech / Benji B / Bill Brewster / Black Seeds / Blackbeard & Yam Who / Blondie / Blood Red Shoes / Bob Jones / Bonde De Role / Booka Shade / Breakin' Bread / Broken Records / Brownswood Sessions / Bryan Gee / Bugz In The Attic / Buraka Som Sistema / Candie Payne / Candi Staton / DJ Cash Money / Chicken Lips / Cibelle / Coldcut / Cosmo / Craig Richards / Crazy Penis / Cuban Brothers / Cut A Shine / Cut Copy / Daddy G (Massive Attack) / Damien Lazarus / Dan Greenpeace / Dandy Warhols / Daniele Baldelli / Dark Captain Light Captain / Das Pop / Dave Jarvis / Dead Kids / Deadbeats / Dengue Fever / Dennis Alcapone / Desmond Dekker & The Aces / Digitalism / Dirty Stop Out / Disculpos Do Otilia / Displacements / Dixon (Innervisions) / DIY Soundsystem / DJ Derek / DJ Diplo / Don Letts / Dynamo Productions / Dynamo's Rhythm Aces / Earl 16 / Earl Zinger / Eats Tape / Easy Star All Stars / Ebony Bones / Eclectic Method / Egg / Eli "Paperboy" Reed / Erol Alkan / Errors / Esser / Evil Nine / Fabio / Faith / Fat 45s / The Feeling / Felix Da Housecat / The Flaming Lips / Flipron / DJ Format / Frank Tope Freeform 5 / Friendly Fires / Funk D'void / Fujiya Miyagi / Geddes / Giles Smith / Gilles Peterson / The Glimmers / The Go! Team / Gogol Bordello / Goldfrapp / Goldierocks / Good Shoes / Grandmaster Flash / Greg Wilson / Grime Allstars / Groove Armada / Guillame & The Cotu Dumonts / Hayseed Dixie / Heritage Players / Hervé / Hey Negrita / Horse Meat Disco / Hot Chip / Howling Bells / The Human League / Idjut Boys / IG Culture / Jack Penate / James Priestley / Jamie Lidell / Jamiroquai / Jerry Dammers / Jim Noir / Jimmy Cliff / Joey Negro / Johnny Foreigner / Jon Carter / Josh Wink / Killa Kela / K'naan / Klaus Says Buy The Record / Kraak & Smaak / Krafty Kuts / Kurtis Blow / Ladyhawke / Larrikin Love / Last Man Standing / Late Night Tales / Laura Viers / Leon Jean-Marie / Lethal Bizzle / Liam Finn / Lightspeed Champion / Lily Allen / Lost Vagueness / Loud Minority / Lykke Li / Man Like Me / Manu Chao / Mark Rae / Mark Ronson / Dj Marky & Patife / Maurice Fulton / DJ Mehdi / Metros / Midnight Juggernauts / Milk Kan / Misty’s Big Adventure / Mr C / Mr Hudson & The Library / Mr Scruff / Mr Thing (Scratch Perverts) / Mulletover / Munch Munch / Mylo / Natty / New Young Pony Club / Nextmen / Norman Jay / Nouvelle Vague / Ojos De Brujo / Operator Please / Ozolmatli / Padded Cell / Palladium / Patrick Wolf / Paul Trouble Anderson / Plantlife / Pnau / The Presets / Pull Tiger Tail / Quantic Djs / Ra Ra Riot / Rachel Unthank & The Winterset / The Ragga Twins / Rainer Truby / The Rapture / Reverso 68 / RGB's / Richard Sen / Richie Havens / Riotous Rockers / Rob Birch (Stereo Mcs) / Rob Da Bank / Rob Mello / Rodrigo Y Gabriela / Roni Size Reprazent / Roots Manuva / Rowenta Cash / Rub N Tug / Runaways / Russ Jones / Sancho Panza / Scratch Perverts / Sebastien Tellier / Secret Stealth Secretsundaze / Severino / Shy Fx / Ska Cubano / Skitz & Rodney P / Sly & The Family Stone Smerins Anti Social Club / Soothsayers / Soul Jazz Soundsystem / Soul II Soul / Soul Mekanik / DJ Spinna / Stanton Warriors / Stateless / Stuart Patterson / Suen Kuti & Egypt 80 / Super Furry Animals / Switch / Tack!tack!tack! / Talvin Singh / Terry Farley / Theo Parrish / Think Of One / Tiefschwarz / Tiga / Tinariwen / Todd Terje / Todd Terry / Toddla T / Toots & The Maytals / Treva Whateva / Trojan Records Soundsystem / Tunng / Unabombers / Various Production / Vincent Vincent & The Villians / The Whip / White Lies / Who Made Who / Will Saul / Williams Fairy Band / X-Press 2 / Dj Yoda / The Young Knives / have all played at Lovebox
Influences
London town, Glastonbury, The Paradise Garage, Burning Man, CBGBs, The Loft, Raves in Fields, Barnum & Bailey, The Ringling Bros., The Gallery, smoke in the trees, The Warehouse, The Music Box, freak shows and travelling carnivals, Ken Adam, dancing on beaches, mountains, in forests, fields and in the streets.
"Winner - Best Medium Sized Festival"
UK Festival Awards 2008
"Winner - Party People Award for Dance Music"
UK Festival Awards 2006
"Lovebox is not just one of the most authentic festivals of the summer, but an annual love letter to the capital"
The Guardian
THIS YEAR'S LOVEBOX... 18th & 19th July 20009
LOVEBOX2009 CONFIRMED LINE-UP SO FAR:
Alan Pownall, Andy Butler (Hercules & Love Affair) DJ Set , Annie Nightingale, Au Revoir Simone, Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton (DJ History/Lowlife), Black Joe Lewis, Bombay Bicycle Club, Chairlift, Chew Lips, Chipmunk, Dan Black, Dananananaykroyd, David Shrigley, Datarock, Diplo, Disco Bloodbath, DJ Sneak, Doves, Drums Of Death, Duran Duran, Fenech-Soler, Filthy Luka AKA Luke Howard, Florence And The Machine, Fontan, Friendly Fires, Frankmusik, Gang Of Four, Gary Numan, Giles Smith, Groove Armada, Gruff Rhys, Hip-Hop Karaoke, Horse Meat Disco, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Idjut Boys, James Priestley, Jazzie B, Joakim, Joey Negro (VIP ONLY), Johnny D, Justin Robertson, Ladyhawke, Late Night Audio, Magistrates, Matt Berry, MPHO, Mr Hudson, N*E*R*D, New York Dolls, Nisennenmondai, Noah & The Whale, Norman Jay M.B.E (VIP ONLY)., Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Richard Norris (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve), Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Rokia Traore, The Rumble Strips, secretsundaze, Severino, Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar, Simian Mobile Disco, Swimming, Temper Trap, The Death Set, The Emperor Machine, The Jive Aces, The RGBs, The Twelves, Tom Maddicott, Tommy Reilly, VV Brown, Wave Machines, X-Press 2, Young Fathers PLUS MORE TBA
On Saturday we welcome the legendary Duran Duran to Lovebox, in their only UK festival appearance of 2009. Backing them up on Saturday's main stage will be N*E*R*D and Florence and the Machine. Elsewhere on site, our Gaymers stage will be headlined by Friendly Fires. Other acts on Saturday will includeGang of Four and VV Brown.
Sunday will see performances from Doves , New York Dolls , Rodrigo y Gabriela, Noah and the Whale, Ladyhawke, Simian Mobile Disco and the evening will be rounded out by Lovebox's own legends, your hosts Groove Armada, back for their only UK festival date of 2009.
Also joining us this year will be Dan Black, Rokia Traore and Mr Hudson and many more yet to come..........
We've also confirmed some of the best dance acts around for our Relentless Dance Arena - DJ Sneak, Johnny D, Tom Maddicott & the best in live dance including sets from The Emperor Machine, Young Fathers, Ou Est and The Twelves . Plus this year for the first time, Lovebox plays host to the Rizla Invisible Players Stage which will include performances from dance legends old and new, inlcuding Diplo, X-Press 2 and Jazzy B .
Providing the music in our exclusive VIP Area will be Norman Jay, M.B.E. and Joey Negro
Plus we've got the best of London disco from Disco Bloodbath and Horse Meat Disco AND the best in new music from Last.fm and The Fly on our brand new Pushmi Pullyu stage, another dance stage yet to be announced, the first ever Outdoor Bowling Championship at a Festival and loads more to come.........
As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, check out our website for more information as we strive to bring you the best bands, the hottest djs, the weirdest fringe peformers and the greatest Weekender London has ever seen:
Hi, hope things are going good for you. I’m just letting you know that after a year of no new tracks, I now have 10 freshly made for your listening pleasure, but 1 at a time eh?
Remember the old cheese-fest called Hey Micky (your so fine)? Well it’s been remixed by Bronze Medal complete with a fat B-line and myself rapping on it. I’m pretty chuffed with how it’s come out so please drop by, have a listen and leave a comment, love it OR hate it.
Look out for The Linda Jones Tribute Concert/Awards to benefit American Diabetes Association in Newark ,NJ. Soul Artist performance announcements updates coming soon!
Big Bad Love at 93 Feet East July 10th Doors: 7pm £6.50
This is our first 93 Feat East gig and we’re happy to be gracing this illustrious stage so look out for special door price offers a few days before the gig… Or you can buy in advance here: http://www. wegottickets. com/event/32336
