It’s that time of the year again when hemlines get higher, sunnies are permanently fixed to our faces and Twitter is awash with the only thing that really matters: what festivals you’re pitching your tent at.
Here’s another reason to pick carefully: the plethora of live dance acts taking mind-blowing multimedia performances to another level this summer. You already know all about how, like, totally awesome Chase & Status, Pendulum, Deadmau5 and Chemical Brothers’ live shows are. So, why not see a new kind of live show, whether from a platinum-selling artist or one of this year’s rising stars? How about the kind of show that’s pushing boundaries out in different directions, or putting the focus firmly back onto dancing and not moshing? Right on!
Here’s our guide to the hype dance music shows you can’t miss during 2011’s festival season:
Carl Craig presents 69
The Detroit techno innovator is celebrating 20 years of his label, Planet E, throughout 2011 with a string of dates worldwide and a commemorative compilation. But this summer he’ll be playing live as 69 (“six-nine”), the alias under which he wrote some of techno history’s classic tracks: Jam The Box, Sound On Sound, 4 Jazz Funk Greats and Desire (which is, according to FACT, one of the greatest Detroit techno tracks of all time ) [http://www.factmag.com/2011/04/07/carl-craig-presents-69-at-field-day/]. He’ll be performing these and more live and exclusively at hipster festival Field Day in east London, where he also promises some impressive visuals to boot. When it comes to Carl Craig, we wouldn’t expect anything less.
Where to see him: Field Day, London, August 6
Trentemøller
Did you know that Trentemøller’s live shows look like this? Now you’ll want to go and see him and his band a lot more, we’re sure of it. We can only hope that this Chinese New Year-styled affair goes on tour with Mr Anders Trentemøller wherever he goes this summer – or something, if it’s possible, better. We’ll be trekking to see him play live at Sonar’s expansive aircraft hangar in June to find out.
Where to see him: Sonar, Barcelona, June 16-18
Plastikman
The floppy-fringed Minus ringleader, Richie Hawtin, returns for summer with his ambitious strobetastic alter ego, Plastikman’s, live show – the project he was known far way before he started wearing too much eyeliner and releasing over-priced clothing lines. Ever the techno nerd, his experimental performance uses the latest audiovisual technology – a helping hand from Minus visual artist Ali Demirel and visual architects Derivative alongside some serious software development muscle – to create a wall of intense LED-fuelled skullfuckery in sync with his deep techno beats. It certainly doesn’t lack the wow factor, but despite its scale, the set-up is also nostalgic for the halcyon days of rave: a dark room and one strobe light piercing the blackness, with the focus purely on the deafening sound. Brace yourself…
Where to see him: I Want My MTV Ibiza at Amnesia, Ibiza, August 5
Groove Armada
Music snobs would disagree, but at 3am, when you’re slammed off your face, shirtless and pogoing around with the new group of people you made friends with at the chai tent, Groove’s 2001 anthem Superstylin, with its laidback trumpet breakdowns, is an epic festival choon. Yes, choon. Get nostalgic about the Big Beat glory days as the duo unveil their ‘four-decks & FX’ show, Red Light, this summer, newly refreshed with a Grammy Award-nominated album last year and their latest metallic Lycra-wrapped electro-disco steer.
Where to see them: EXIT, Serbia, July 7-10
Digitalism
The electro equivalent of Little and Large are back for 2011 after four years off the clubbing radar, with a brand new album, I Love You Dude, out in June. And a new live show to boot! At least, we hope so, or we’re going to feel darn stupid. They’ve been dropping a few DJ sets here and there over the past year or two, but it’s this German duo’s live sets, with plenty of tub-thumping, vocals and the brain-tunnelling hooks of tracks like ‘Pogo’ and ‘Zdarlight’, that can send a few thousand people totally nutzoid bonkers. We can’t wait.
Where to see them: Wireless, London, July 2 & Melt, July 15-17
Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound
Not strictly a dance act – okay, nowhere near, whatever – but Snoop’s performance at Lovebox on July 16 is set to be one of the live highlights of the year, whether you’re a fan of His Blingness or not. He’ll be performing his seminal 1993 album, ‘Doggystyle’, with the rest of Tha Dogg Pound (featuring Warren Dogg and co) for, according to the organisers, the first time since the album was released. It’ll be an extra-special affair too as crewmember Nate Dogg passed away on March 15 this year.
Where to see them: Lovebox, London, July 15-17
David Rodigan
If there’s one DJ you see this year, make it Rodigan. At 60-something, the soundclash legend and revered reggae selectah has the most turbo-charged DJ performance we’ve ever seen. It’s not a live show per se, but he makes Goldie Lookin’ Chain look as motionless Westlife as he high kicks all over the decks. No crowd-hyping opportunity goes amiss, nor does the chance to dedicate a track to the “original badman”, as he did at last year’s Secret Garden Party, before launching into Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ amid a whirlwind of jungle rewinds. Rodigan’s DJ performances are a culmination of years hosting soundclashes in the slums of Kingston and of still being, all this time, inspired by original roots music. Don’t miss.
Where to see him: Secret Garden Party, July 21-24
Flying Lotus
Californian producer Stephen Ellison is bringing the sun-dappled, squashed hip hop and future electronic styles of his Brainfeeder parties and his formative home, Los Angeles’ club night Low End Theory, on tour this summer as he takes over a whole Lovebox tent with the help of Vice magazine. He is live too, of course, with one of his dexterous tapestries of bass, joined by another similarly talented live hip hop dude, Hudson Mohawke, and many more – and he’ll be appearing at plenty more festies himself too.
Where to see him: Lovebox, London, July 15-17 & Big Chill, August 4-7
Katy B
That voice! The gorgeously lung-ed pop siren of the south London underground is no longer just the special guest singer with the likes of her friends and Rinse FM family, Skream, Benga, Geeneus and crew: she has her own show now to support her garage, dubstep and funky-driven debut solo album this year. She’s been performing in clubs since she was a teen, so expect some serious stage sass and, though she may not be the oracle of urban electronic music knowledge that we’d first hoped, she can still belt out songs like nobody’s business.
Where to see her: Creamfields, UK, August 27-28
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