After last year’s festival season allowed only a select few to experience a couple of days in the sun, this time around the entire industry seems to have come back in full force. Among the many festivals trying to up their game with bigger headliners, more stages, and generally more pizazz, the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival has dropped the line-up for its first face-to-face outing since 2020, this time being hosted in Cardiff April 1-3. Alongside the usual live performances, the festival will also show DJ sets, new music showcases, in conversation events, and other events that will all be streamed on BBC Sounds, BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. More information can be found here.
THERE YOU HAVE IT
We’ll be bringing this lovely lot to Cardiff from Friday 1st April – Sunday 3rd April and WE CANNOT WAIT!!!
Who’s joining us? pic.twitter.com/uauVHsryyp
— BBC Radio 6 Music (@BBC6Music) February 15, 2022
“The most exciting element about the 6 Music Festival is the coming together, in a physical space, of our beloved 6 Music listeners and the staff at the station, with artists we love,” 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs said in a statement. “Lockdowns have kept us apart since 2020, so this year’s gigs in Cardiff are going to feel super-charged.” The line-up on the first-day does seem to reflect the super-charged initial thoughts; post-punk icons IDLES take to the stage in The Great Hall to supply the Welsh crowd with their usual brand of woke-punk. Singer-songwriter and one part of the indie powerhouse that is Boygenius; Lucy Dacus is going to appear at The Great Hall, with none other than the one-and-only Pixies. St David’s Hall is another venue to be given the BBC treatment, Little Simz will appear alongside Mykki Blanco, Curtis Harding, and Deyah to create a fabulous blend of R&B, Poetry, and generally top tier songwriting. Tramshed will also be hosting a club night with appearances from DJ’s SHERELLE, Overmono, Tom Ravenscroft and many more.
Saturday night in Cardiff see’s appearances from Bloc Party, slightly before the release of their 6th LP Alpha Games on April 22nd, Sports Team take another swing at the festival after performing at the 2020 bout too, beabadoobee rounds out proceedings at The Great Hall. Khruangbin, an American psychedelic-dub-soul-trio make their first appearance in the UK since 2019, while Ezra Collective add a 2nd date to their (currently quite short) touring schedule, Ibibio Sound Machine will also make an appearance to bring their own taste of electronic afro-funk to Wales. Nemone, Craig Charles, and David Holmes will also make appearances at Tramshed.
The final day of the festival brings Johnny Marr, Self Esteem, and Wet Leg together under the same roof; allowing the crowds to get quite the spread of music from only 3 artists, The Smiths singer-songwriter sits in stark contrast to Self Esteem’s experimental-pop aura, and Wet Leg’s post-punk anger. The most anticipated act of the evening however (for me at least), has to be the appearance of Father John Misty with the backing of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The new sound of this album has revealed 2 great singles so far, so putting it into a live context can only highlight the glum maximalism he’s going for at the moment. Cat Power, Super Furry Animal’s own Gruff Rhys, and audiobooks round out what could be a very exciting evening.
