Glastonbury cancels it’s 50th Anniversary event over Covid-19 concerns

Glastonbury Festival, due to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary on 24-28 June, has taken the decision to cancel the event due to ongoing concerns about the corona virus. The move will be seen as a bad sign for any other upcoming summer events and likely be the first of many announcements from large scale events across Europe. You can read the full statement from the organisers below:

We are so sorry to announce this, but Glastonbury 2020 will have to be cancelled, and this will be an enforced fallow year for the Festival.

Clearly this was not a course of action we hoped to take for our 50th anniversary event, but following the new government measures announced this week – and in times of such unprecedented uncertainty – this is now our only viable option.

We very much hope that the situation in the UK will have improved enormously by the end of June. But even if it has, we are no longer able to spend the next three months with thousands of crew here on the farm, helping us with the enormous job of building the infrastructure and attractions needed to welcome more than 200,000 people to a temporary city in these fields.

We would like to send our sincere apologies to the 135,000 people who have already paid a deposit for a Glastonbury 2020 ticket. The balance payments on those tickets were due at the beginning of April and we wanted to make a firm decision before then.

We understand that it is not always easy to secure a Glastonbury ticket, which is why we would like to offer all those people the chance to roll their £50 deposit over to next year, and guarantee the opportunity to buy a ticket for Glastonbury 2021. Those who would prefer a refund of that £50 will be able to contact See Tickets in the coming days in order to secure that. This option will remain available until September this year. For those who are happy to roll their deposit over, that will happen automatically. Further information – including details on rolling over coach packages, official accommodation bookings and local Sunday tickets – will be added to our website in the coming days.

The cancellation of this year’s Festival will no doubt come as a terrible blow to our incredible crew and volunteers who work so hard to make this event happen. There will also inevitably be severe financial implications as a result of this cancellation – not just for us, but also the Festival’s charity partners, suppliers, traders, local landowners and our community.

We were so looking forward to welcoming you all for our 50th anniversary with a line-up full of fantastic artists and performers that we were incredibly proud to have booked. Again, we’re so sorry that this decision has been made. It was not through choice. But we look forward to welcoming you back to these fields next year and until then, we send our love and support to all of you.

Michael & Emily

For all the things TMFTML Follow us on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//INSTAGRAM

And So I Watch You From Afar launch OK? Festival in aid of mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

Northern Irish instrumental rock legends And So I Watch From Afar have launched a brand new festival which takes place at the end of March.

OK? Festival is a music and arts festival in support of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. To celebrate community and to encourage asking the question… Are you ok?
The show will be raising money for Aware NI, PIPS, and Help Musicians UK and they’ve gathered up a ridiculous lineup to help do just that. Performing on the night will be:

And So I Watch You From Afar // Soak // General Fiasco
David Holmes // Phil Kieran // Joshua Burnside
New Pagans // Catalan! // Pillow Queens // Junk Drawer
Jordan Adetunji // Careerist // Cherym // Problem Patterns // Gnarkats

The concert takes place in The Telegraph Building on Royal Avenue, Belfast on Saturday 28th March 2020 from 6pm-late. Tickets priced £20 and more information available here.

A few words from the organisers:

“OK? aims to bring us all together in a show of community, love, support and awareness, to check in with one another and ask are we OK?

After suffering a devastating loss at Christmas ASIWYFA and friends partnered with charities Aware NI, PIPS and Help Musicians to raise money for mental health awareness and suicide prevention charities. We have all experienced some level of mental health issue. Anxiety, depression, trauma, the list goes on. Most of us know someone who has died because of these issues and have seen the devastating impact it has on those left behind. OK? aims to help people feel supported and able to reach out for help.

Organizer Rory Friers says – “At times in my life I’ve really struggled with my mental health, the community of music and the celebration of friends has always helped me find my way back. I have my reasons for why I need something like OK? right now, other people will have theirs, so whether you’re coming to this show to support the cause, support the music or to find some support yourself, lets make the the loudest most positive noise we can and remind ourselves that we’re surrounded by people who care”.

Organizer Helen Sloan says – “This event is a necessary coming together, through one of art’s great unifiers – music, to reinforce a sense of community and let everyone know there are available support networks for those in need.”

Aware NI – Lesley Wright, Community Fundraiser in AWARE says “AWARE is delighted to be involved in OK?. We are so pleased to see the musical community coming together in support of mental health in Northern Ireland. We would like to thank all involved in organising the event for choosing to support AWARE. Any funds raised will help us to continue to support people living with depression in Northern Ireland.”

As always it’s great to see artists banding together in support of causes they believe in!

For all the things TMFTML Follow us on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//INSTAGRAM

Gig of the Week: Vernon Jane launch their new album in The Academy with support from BiCurious this Friday

We’re big fans of Vernon Jane here at TMFTML, so it’s only fitting that this weeks ‘Gig of the Week’ goes to the Dublin jazz-punks who continue their unstoppable rise by launching their debut album ‘The Ritual of Love Making’ tomorrow night in The Academy.

The band have gone from strength to strength throughout the years, constantly pushing their musical boundaries and innovating with each release. Having been lucky enough to attend the intimate preview show in Abner Browns Barbershop last month I can safely say that this show is not to be missed.

Support on the night comes from instrumental noise-wizards BiCurious and remaining tickets are extremely limited so don’t sleep on this.

For all the things TMFTML Follow us on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//INSTAGRAM

Keep up to date with Vernon Jane on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//YOUTUBE//INSTAGRAM

And BiCurious on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//YOUTUBE//INSTAGRAM

COMPETITION: Win 2 tickets to Athens, Georgia based jazzers Kenosha Kid in Lost Lane this Friday!

Athens, Georgia based jazzers Kenosha Kid come to Lost Lane this Friday and Improvised Music Company have kindly offered us some tickets to give away!

Win 2x Tickets to Kenosha Kid in Lost Lane

More info below:

Post-everything instrumental music embracing beautiful melodies, compelling rhythmic glue, and jazz-informed improvisation. This band take chances, but never EVER loses sight of what makes music interesting: melody, rhythm, and texture. Is it jazz or some kind of miracle of modern rock music? Yes, it is both. Think: the simple soulful melodies and deep grooves of Booker T and the MG’s, but armed with the lush harmonic language of Wayne Shorter and a rhythmic vocabulary beyond 1-2-3-4.

Well known throughout the southeastern USA, Kenosha Kid made recent appearances in Germany, Ireland, and Canada, often enlisting the additional help of like-minded fellow musicians.

In 2020, the European formation of the group makes a return to Ireland and features Dan Nettles, Berlin bassist Roland Fidezius (the fierce Lemmy-like low end from Peter Van Huffel’s Gorilla Mask) alongside Dubliners Shane Latimer (guitarist of OKO, Outerspaceways Inc. and arch-minimalists) and Matthew Jacobson (the percussive genius behind ReDiviDeR, Insufficient Funs, and Clang Sayne).

Based in the humid indie-rock haven of Athens, Georgia, guitarist/composer/bandleader Dan Nettles has supplied the world with his own unique blend of modern-jazz-meets-college-radio for over a decade. In 2004, Nettles formed Kenosha Kid with these principles: build a scene, write for people you know, and listen to your creative heart regardless of music idiom. Starting with the release of Projector [2005], Kenosha Kid has succeed in this, providing a steady string of remarkable content in a variety of formations (from trio to ten-piece) and flavours (from silent film scores to sci-fi influenced future-music).
The newest album, Outside Choices [2017] picks up where 2015’s Inside Voices left off.
The melodies are haunting, the grooves are devastating, and the band continues to expertly serve jazz purists, indie-rock hipsters, and funk loving jam fans alike.

Kenosha Kid
Lost Lane, Grafton St, Dublin
Friday 6th March, 2020

Doors 8:00pm/Music 8:30pm
Tickets €15 incl. booking fees online/€17 door.

Keep up to date with Kenosha Kid on:
FACEBOOK//INSTAGRAM//BANDCAMP//WEB

Follow Improvised Music Company on:
FACEBOOK//INSTAGRAM//TWITTER//YOUTUBE

For all the things TMFTML Follow us on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//INSTAGRAM