Welsh rock legends Manic Street Preachers are set to top the bill at this summer’s Camper Calling Festival. Supergrass and Pixie Lott are among the other headline acts to feature at the three-day showcase, which takes place during the August Bank Holiday weekend (27th-29th August) at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. The Manics and Pixie Lott had been due to headline Camper Calling in 2020 before it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a press release shared with local paper the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, festival organiser Shelley Mears said “The sense of community, joy and togetherness that festivals bring is something we are all longing for right now. Following the recent government announcement we are optimistically moving forward and planning for the best Camper Calling yet. We can’t wait to be back in a field dancing with you and your loved ones under the sun!”
Camper Calling will return this August bank holiday with headliners Manic Street Preachers and Supergrass plus Pixie Lott, Embrace, Symphonic Ibiza and more are confirmed for the line up. Tickets are on sale NOW! https://t.co/nVm5otufq8 pic.twitter.com/uTEfogEwHc
— Local Sound Focus (@LocalSoundFocus) March 18, 2021
Manic Street Preachers‘ performance at Camper Calling could coincide with the release of their highly-anticipated fourteenth studio album this summer. The Manics drip-fed early details of the as-yet-untitled LP via social media in January, telling fans to expect an ‘expansive‘ and ‘broader‘ record than 2018’s Resistance Is Futile.
The Blackwood trio, who recently marked the 20th anniversary of their historic 2001 gig in Cuba and their cult sixth record Know Your Enemy, are also due to perform two sold-out concerts in Cardiff this summer in support of the NHS. In an interview with NME last year, frontman James Dean Bradfield – fresh off the back off his acclaimed Victor Jara-inspired solo album Even In Exile – said: “The NHS is the biggest employer in Wales, and all around us we saw people giving and giving and giving and not getting enough back. We just thought that this should be for them.”
Supergrass, who are also due to perform at Nottinghamshire’s Splendour Festival and the South Facing Festival at Crystal Palace in London this summer, reformed in 2019 after a nine-year break. The Oxford outfit had been scheduled to tour the USA, Australia and Europe last year – topping off what was set to be a bumper 2020 with a comeback gig at Glastonbury – prior to the pandemic scuppering their plans. It has yet to be confirmed whether the group will bring new material on the road this summer, with thirteen years having passed since their last LP Diamond Hoo Ha (2008).
Pixie Lott can add to Camper Calling to a growing roll-call of festival commitments this year, with sets at Park Proms in Hampshire and Cleethorpes’ new POP-Live 2021 showcase already in the Mama Do star’s calendar. The Essex-raised singer is currently at work on her fourth studio album, which will be her first record in nearly eight years.
Other artists set to feature at Camper Calling include West Yorkshire pop-rockers Embrace, dance collective Symphonic Ibiza, Leeds indie five-piece The Pigeon Detectives, DJ-drummer duo The Stickmen, sibling folk-pop troupe The Magic Numbers, and Dodgy, who are best known for 1990s’ hit Good Enough. Tickets for Camper Calling are available through the festival website.
