News

Grace Jones, Hot CHip and Cut Copy Head Up Lovebox Sunday

• 22nd Apr 2010

So you might have heard that London’s beloved Lovebox Weekender is going to be slightly different this year – it has now been expanded from two days to three days for a start, with the storied likes of Roxy Music, Ellie Goulding, Yeasayer, Mystery Jets, The Maccabees and the Noisettes playing alongside exclusive festival coups such as Empire of the Sun, Mark Ronson & The Business and others. And that’s before we mention the new additions – critically lauded art rockers These New Puritans, returning Australian champions Midnight Juggernauts, lush chillwave purveyors Toro Y Moi, rollicking chart toppers Bombay Bicycle Club, and Mercury Music Prize nominees The Invisible among them.

What you may (or may not!) have heard is that this year, Sunday is also going to be really rather different. Rather radically different, actually.

Far from being simply another glorious festival day, Sunday at Lovebox, in an unprecedented move for any summer festival around, is transforming into its very own unique beast this year – becoming a freewheeling, groundbreaking, no-holds-barred, non-stop polysexual party, pulling together elements of the very best gay clubs, fiercest underground parties, cutting edge fashion, hottest emergent artists and, of course, outrageous, unmissable live acts to create a hedonistic all-dayer like no other.

The live acts are the first clue to this sea change – a splendidly offbeat collision course of celebrated legends, renowned provocateurs and white hot new stars in the making. Towering above mere mortals as the headliner is the one and only diva Grace Jones, the unstoppable one-woman superstar who never ceases to amaze with her undimmed penchant for sedition and subversion, as proven by her comeback in 2008. Electro pop juggernauts Hot Chip, fresh from the critical acclaim showered upon them for their latest effort, “One Life Stand”, will also be bringing their inimitable brand of cerebral yet eminently loveable dance music to the masses. The unstoppable glam disco machine known as Hercules and Love Affair also return to enthrall once more, transporting us from Victoria Park to the heyday of Studio 54 with their irrepressible, glitter-strewn music, while the ever rebellious Peaches is also set to excite and unsettle with her patented controversial live act. New moody electro tykes Hurts are also set to make an appearance, and brand new additions Fenech Soler will get festivalgoers moving with their insidiously addictive synth pop.

Over on the Gaymers Stage, beloved duo Chromeo, will be airing new material from their forthcoming new album “Business Casual”, to be released in the summer, and who say of Lovebox: “If you’re talking anatomy here, you know that’s where we set up shop, schlep in our keyboards and make said box boom with sixty minutes of funk”. Also present and correct are Holy Ghost!, the DFA protégées who are currently blowing up stereos around the world with their deliriously catchy take on punk funk, and Cut Copy, who, in a UK festival exclusive, break their hiatus to dazzle us once more with their incomparably gorgeous, nostalgic, tear-streaked pop. Also, brand new Moshi Moshi signings Silver Columns will undoubtedly win crowds over with tracks from their deliciously offbeat, imminent debut “YES AND DANCE”; as they themselves declare, they are “intensely excited about impregnating the Lovebox massive with out electro-pop hymns…we’re on mid-afternoon and are hoping to whirl the audience into exhaustion, so we can push past everyone and get to the front for Hot Chip and Grace Jones!”

As if that isn’t enough, Lovebox 2010 will also see the return of NYC Downlow, the infamous US import which fuses cabaret, performance and music in one strikingly unmissable individual space and which can only be witnessed in all its eye-popping glory here. And manning the decks at the Downlow, Lovebox will also have the crème de la crème of envelope-pushing gay disco DJ troupes with Wet Yourself, Disco Bloodbath, Trailer Trash and Horse Meat Disco – four of the most influential, exciting and innovative DJ crews around right now, as can be seen from their deliriously crowded and gloriously messy parties around the globe – just some of the heavy hitters representing on the day, ready to melt eager festivalgoers into a sweaty puddle with their inimitable quest for debauched thrills and spills on the dancefloor. To add to the dance frenzy, the seminal Chicago house music pioneer Larry Heard, aka Mr Fingers, will be making his UK exclusive at Lovebox, while the legendary Derrick Carter will also be demolishing the dancefloors with his strain of underground house, honed to perfection over the years. Similarly, for the first time ever, Wish will also be hosting at Lovebox, which, for those not in the know, is a defiantly niche and groundbreaking mixed crowd party for gay women and polysexual lovers of uncommercial techno.

And then, of course, there is the big daddy of them all – Salvation. Famous for being not only one of London’s biggest circuit parties but also the biggest gay party anywhere else in the world, it has played host to some of London’s most decadent venues in London, starting in 1998 at the Café de Paris before moving onto larger venues like Pacha, the Bloomsbury Ballroom and its current home the Hippodrome, in the throbbing heart of London’s West End, which saw its 10th birthday celebrations last year. It is a staple of the London dance scene, one of the UK’s most loved and well-respected events, and it’s here at Lovebox, with two of its most cherished DJs, Olivier M and Sharon O Love.

However, the music is just the start of what sets Sunday apart. As befitting its new, boundary-smashing, gay-friendly focus, Lovebox have also partnered up with Stonewall, a partner that shares the same passion and belief in celebrating human diversity in all its forms, to ensure an all-inclusive party for all. Additionally, as part of Lovebox's commitment to the launch this year, a media partnership has been formed between Lovebox and the UK's multi award winning Gaydar Radio. Gaydar is the number one Uk gay broadcaster with over 500,000 radio listeners per month, and in excess of 1.6million registered online users at link. Robin Crowley, GaydarRadio’s Programme Controller says, ‘I am thrilled that GaydarRadio has partnered with London’s beloved Lovebox Weekender. The Sunday lineup is going to be fantastic and we’re going to be there taking part along with all the Gaydar guys and girls. Grab your glad rags and heels… It’s gonna be an amazing ride!’

So, it is in that spirit that we also have the supreme Jonny Woo – consummate performance artist/entertainer nonpareil – compeering the main stage along with his troupe of club freaks and drag queens, who entreats festivalgoers to 'Go gay on Sunday at Lovebox for what will be the city's if not the country's biggest and most fabulous gay music festival. Hands in the air, I intend to stage dive! In Hackney where the the fiercest underground clubs and cabaret set the standard nationwide. Brilliant!' There will also be an entirely unique, strictly one-off fashion show by Dr Noki NHS, whose fiercely individual, shredded and recycled clothing was recently showcased in Lady Gaga’s already iconic “Telephone” video on the Gaga and Beyonce. There will also be an innovative art collaboration with Central St Martins in support of the charity Art Against Knives, which works towards reducing knife crime by engaging young people in troubled areas with art and fashion-based workshops, and, to top it all off, those rapscallions from The Underground Rebel Bingo Club turning inside out any stodgy preconceptions of bingo games with their wild, raucous parties, making this, all in all, a wickedly exciting and compelling day out, and a fittingly rambunctious and outrageous finale to a fantastic weekend.