Blissfields
First Blissfields Festival band applications open today
The hugely popular Road To Blissfields is returning this year and it promises to be bigger and better than ever before. Last years competition was held across three cities, but this year the search for talent will be spreading to Reading, Basingstoke and Brighton. Applications opened today (1st January 2012) and acts have until the [...]
mINtSOUTH Writers’ Highlights of 2011 & Tips for 2012
2011 was a great year for new music – personally, there was so much good stuff I literally couldn’t keep up. We asked a few of our writers to put together a few words on their new music highlights of 2011. We also asked them for their top tips for 2012. Joel Ransom (Express FM) [...]
Blissfields announce 2012 theme and Christmas Ticket details
Following their biggest, most successful and creative year yet in summer 2011, Blissfields Festival returns in 2012 to Winchester, Hampshire on the weekend of 29th June to 1st July, while organisers are now pleased to announce that tickets are on sale via www.blissfields.co.uk priced at £70.00 for an adult and £47.00 for a youth weekend / camping ticket. [...]
review: Bastille & Mojo Fury at POP Southampton
If you believe everything you read on the internet, Bastille are going to be THE band to watch in 2012, and judging by the set they played at POP! recently, you’d be hard pressed to disagree with all the bloggers. Playing to a crowd that is pretty much a 50/50 split of South Coast taste-makers and well [...]
review: I Dream In Colour – Strangest Place
Having made a strong impression in the South this summer with sell out gigs in Portsmouth, Southampton and a triumphant set at Blissfields, Essex based I Dream in Colour are finally releasing debut single ‘Strangest Place‘ next month. Starting with a Doves style drum beat and a intricate piano line, the track is clearly a step [...]
Stone Roses tickets sell out in 68 minutes – tickets already selling on ebay for £300+
Tickets for next summer’s Stone Roses gigs in Manchester today sold in a record time today – all 220,000 for the Heaton Park gigs went in just over an hour – making it officially the fastest selling UK gigs in history. At £55 a ticket, that works out at over £12million worth of tickets. Yikes! And [...]
Exclusive FREE download from Fly, Frankie, Fly!
After Seán McGowan last week tore our download chart apart (almost literally, as all 100 downloads were downloaded in 24 hours), we’re excited that we have another exclusive song added to the chart. This song is by upcoming electro, rave upstarts Fly, Frankie, Fly who have had a busy summer playing many festivals including local [...]
Frank Turner announces Wembley date
Rounding off an exceptional year that has included headlining festivals (including Blissfields) Main Stage sets at Reading and Leeds and a chart bothering album, Frank Turner will release his new single ‘Wessex Boy’ on 28th November through Xtra Mile Recordings. Frank Turner has also confirmed his biggest headline show to date at London’s Wembley Arena [...]
Oxjam Southampton All-Dayer line up announced
As part of The Weekender, Guava this Saturday plays host to an Oxjam All-dayer, featuring some of the cream of local talent – and a couple of special London acts thrown in for good measure too. At just £4 for 12 acts over the whole day, it’s a real bargain. Here are some to look [...]
Vote! Vote! Vote!
The end of the festival season coincides with the opening of awards nominations for the best festivals and live music we’ve seen over the summer. And now it’s time for you to get voting! There are a few local festivals, venues and promoters that have all been nominated, so we thought it only right that [...]
The End of Festivals?
I was saddened to read of the struggles facing many UK festivals in The Guardian today. Bosses of Festival Republic and Seatwave were right to say going to a fest is one of the luxuries people may have to cut from their budgets in this current economic climate (as one might say). The addition of [...]
Preview: Pulse Festival – Part Two
Pulse Festival organisers are getting excited as the site has been growing over the past couple of days to weather that seems to be getting hotter and hotter. The fence has been going up today and organiser Mark Ward told me they’ve already sold more than double the amount of tickets than they had at [...]
review: Heathward – Decipher
Take a hop, skip and jump into Emmett Brown’s Delorian, reach 88mph and travel back to the Castle Morton free rave in 1992. Then add a vicious dollop of bass upside the head, two-step all night to The Prodigy whilst prancing your way through a Psy-Trance forest and BAM! You have experienced Heathward’s debut album [...]
Review: The Widowmaker – Soundtrack to Reality
When I first encountered The Widowmaker (Ian Easton) I was intrigued – it’s a great name for an artist and music that draws you in from the off. From the opening track, My True Colours, you start to get drawn in, the strange atmospherics and poetry/talking mixing into the main song which has some amazing [...]
Review: Blissfields from the eyes of a performer
After a few days of dull and demoralising normality I can truly say that the last remnants of ‘Bliss’ have finally left my body. The fact that they remained so long can only play testament to the success of Blissfields 2011. The festival remains pretty small, but it certainly is living proof that big things [...]
Blissfields – A review by a 10 year old
This year at Blissfields there was an amazing line up of bands and I had been very excited for months. The journey to Blissfields this year was much quicker than last year as they had moved to a new site and I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like. When I arrived on Friday [...]
Frank Turner streams his new album
Frank Turner is streaming his fourth studio album via NME.COM ahead of its official release. The album isn’t out until next Monday (June 6), but you can hear it in full now by scrolling down and clicking below. Frank is playing to a sold out audience at The Railway Inn, in his home town of [...]
Various Cruelties to release debut single and Lennons show this weekend
Various Cruelties have announced details of the release of their debut single. Neon Truth will be self-released on their own Almanac Recordings on Monday 23rd May 2011. Released on limited 7” and CD and as a 4 track download, the single tracks were recorded on the Isle of Wight with Boe Weaver. They play Lennons this Saturday (21st [...]
Sound Of Rum to play Pop Factory next Wednesday
The hotly tipped Sunday Best Recordings band, Sound Of Rum, are due to play at Pop Factory in Southampton next Wednesday, 11th May 2011 as part of the Andy Warhol celebration gigs at Pop. Also confirmed to play the same bill are Road To Blissfields winners, LST and the Man Dem. Conceived at a South London squat [...]
The Cabin Fever, Oresteia and more confirmed for Blissfields
Along with Road To Blissfields winners LST and The ManDem, Flight Brigade and Bear Cavalry, Blissfields organisers have today announced details of more acts for this summers bash. Southampton’s next big thing The Cabin Fever, who recently made their hometown debut, have been confirmed to play the main stage. Whilst Oresteia, who impressed at The [...]