Alex DeLarge

Who should be booked instead?

Coldplay, Dua Lipa and (probably) SZA

Tbh as much as the BBC can be irritating - services like 6music and BBC Introducing do more for the British music scene than our Government would.

That T in the Park gig was the same Summer when they got an alright crowd on the other.

They'd sell more if the designs weren't so bad tbh.

Great. Would love to hear someone you think has great live vocals?

The past ten years: Alternative/ indie/ rock headliners: Arcade Fire, Metallica, Kasabian, Florence + The Machine, The Who, Muse, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, The Killers, The Cure, Paul McCartney, Arctic Monkeys, Guns n Roses (14) Hip Hop Headliners: Kanye, Stormzy, Kendrick Lamar + Pop headliners: Adele, Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish, Elton John (7) I'm sure rock/ alternative will be fine. There used to be dance music headliners before rock became the expected thing every year.

The 2022 festival sold out in January of that year. As far as I can see it didn't sell out last year. Blink-182, Fred, Raye, 21 Savage, Lana, a reunited Catfish, The Prodigy would be big sellers you'd think. Then the undercard is full of hyped up artists: Spiritbox, Denzel Curry, Nia Archives, Barry Cant Swim, Overmono, Fontaines D.C., Skrillex, The Last Dinner Party, Wunderhorse and TikTok/ indie favourites Two Door Cinema Club and the Wombats. If I was designing a line-up for 16-24 year olds that's pretty mad on paper. So I wonder what the problem is?

Get into the groove, like.

It was only a decade ago festival line-ups were filled with bands like Mumford & Sons and The Vaccines. It's getting harder and harder to be creative and come from a working class background (or even middle class tbh). That's why rare examples like Sam Fender and Little Simz are refreshing.

Give this a watch if you're on the fence - they're actually sick live and their vocals are incredible. Nia would be great but I can imagine she'll have a few sets over the weekend which I'm gonna catch, Justice killed it last time so I'm happy about them. Will check out Black Pumas now.

Probably not as effective these days going by the (abysmal) viewing figures.

I genuinely think it goes underrated how the biggest festival around is run by Emily. Literally look at anywhere else - it's all blokes (Melvin Benn, Andy Copping) but having someone who understands what it's like to be a woman in the music industry and actually make a push for equality is amazing.

Who are you most excited for BLAM? Sugababes would be a laugh but I've seen them twice now and feel like I've got my fill. Balming Tiger is a really cool discovery and someone I wasn't aware of before. Danny Brown is going to kill it. What a mad booking he is.

I'm 99% sure Drake won't be appearing. I think the Giggs thing was his love-in with the chap and a cool thing to do because of his love for British music. Giggs had just appeared on More Life with Sampha, Skepta and Jorja Smith. If we are getting guests, I'm guessing it will be Doja, maybe Phoebe Bridgers and then a wildcard like Avril Lavigne to come out for F2F.

Very well spotted! Gotta be surely?

She has two singalong bangers but they're both collabs: All The Stars w/ Kung Fu Kenny and Kiss Me More w/ Doja. Not beyond the realm of possibility she bring Doja out (who incidentally has a GSH). Throw in Kill Bill and there's three mega-hits. Good Days/ Snooze/ The Weekend for popular tracks that her fans will all know. It all depends on how she can structure the rest of the set. If she can get the field on board with stuff they're not familiar with (like Stormzy did, for example) then the job's a good one. If she's boring the tears off everyone like Gorillaz then it will look like a bad decision to take a punt on her.

I think the festival has a bit of tunnel-vision when it comes to hip-hop. Someone like Kendrick is obviously extremely popular, but he's also acclaimed in the music press, played on 6Music, etc. They'd never book someone like J Cole, or 21 Savage.

I will say Coldplay have written some great songs. Strawberry Hill is a beautiful and strange little track. Their music has aged a lot better than 90% of the bands the British music press hyped up when they used to slag them off. It's only really post 2011 where they've become truly shite.

I'm surprised Lana is going to be SOS mixed with more bonus tracks. I like the album but the last thing it needs is more bloat.

I can see where you're coming from with this - but the caveat that SZA's fanbase won't use internet forums like this one. If they posted about her on TikTok for example and the comments were the same, maybe there would be an issue.

"The sources have all been wrong this year. Anyway here's twenty pages where we discuss Coldplay who haven't been announced yet."

Right, but Coldplay will basically do exactly the same set. Give or take a few tracks off their past two albums no-one cares about and some guests. Some artists surprise you every time with something fresh, whereas Coldplay are the old reliable.

This is true. I feel like there are two sides to it though, depending on how you respond. Either "Oh, I'm not surprised I haven't heard that, I might check it out/ not for me" OR "who is this? How can they be any good if I haven't heard of them?"

I love Blade Runner but I don't need to watch it every week.