Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

Festival line-up update – 21 Jan 2013

By Aly Barchi | Published on Monday 21 January 2013

Ah, so it seems those who’ve been ‘Searching For Sugar Man’ will be rewarded with a sight of that very man, aka ‘lost’ 1960s songwriter Rodriguez, at this year’s Coachella, Glastonbury and Primavera Sound festivals. Or so he’s blabbed to Billboard, anyway. Also taking the same ‘unauthorised self-confirmation’ option is Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan, who says she’ll also be playing at Coachella. So, that’s nice.

Rather significantly, Glastonbury has named Malian vocalist Rokia Traoré as its first official guest artist of 2013. As part of what co-programmer Emily Eavis deems an act of “solidarity” with Traoré and her native musicians, who are banned from playing in Mali by Islamists in the north, the singer will appear daily as the first act on at the Worthy Farm festival’s Pyramid Stage.

Traoré says: “What is happening with the Islamists is a tragedy. All we want to do is to get on with our normal lives. If it can happen in Mali, it can happen anywhere. We’re very grateful to Glastonbury for allowing us the opportunity to help draw attention to what’s going on”.

COACHELLA, Empire Polo Club, California, USA, 12-14 Apr/19-21 Apr: Bat For Lashes, Rodriguez. www.coachella.com

GLASTONBURY, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, 24-30 Jun: Rokia Traoré, Rodriguez. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

HEINEKEN OPEN’ER, Gdynia, Poland, 3-6 Jul: Animal Collective, Tame Impala, Disclosure, Maria Peszek. opener.pl/en

NEWARK FESTIVAL, Riverside Park, Tolney Lane, Nottinghamshire, 14-16 Jun: Madness. www.newarkfestival.co.uk

PRIMAVERA SOUND, Parc del Forum, Barcelona, Spain, 22-26 May: Rodriguez. www.primaverasound.es

V-DUB, County Showground, Northwood, Isle Of Wight, 15-19 Aug: The Cuban Brothers. www.v-dubisland.com