SUMMER SUMMER FESTIVALS FESTIVALS Ghostface Killah
ON THE TO
B reaking away from the idea that it must best be enjoyed in bulk while sitting in a rural i eld, the last decade has seen the music festival scene expand. Now, a festival could be a local multi- venue crawl, a one-day marathon held in a single space or tightly- curated but less frantic events which stretch to many days. Some even stick a lot of people in an urban public park, just like a countryside festival.
It’s not surprising to anyone who knows the city that Glasgow has found itself home to many of these festivals. Home for many years to Celtic Connections in the depths of winter, Glasgow’s summer includes a day of breaking new bands at the returning Stag & Dagger on Sauchiehall Street and two days of international dance and electronic music at the Riverside Festival on the banks of the Clyde.
There will also be a day of local artists like Joe Howe, Apostille and Babe at the Hug & Pint’s inaugural First Big Weekend on Great Western Road and big names in August at the more traditional, park- based Summer Nights (featuring Super Furry Animals, Primal Scream and Van Morrison) and Summer Sessions (headlined by Biffy Clyro). While Edinburgh is less well-served by music events, Hidden Door opens up at the end of May with music, visual art and more. Yet one new Glasgow event is particularly eye-catching. The inaugural Restless Natives is happening across seven days at the beginning of May in various venues around the East End. Its aim is to
18 THE LIST 7 Apr–2 Jun 2016
bring international artists as diverse as Ghostface Killah, Future of the Left, Tim Hecker and Fuck Buttons offshoot Blanck Mass to the city, as well as showcasing Glasgow’s energetic DIY scene and the area’s hidden corners to a wider audience.
‘The aim is to bring back some of the superior aspects of the European underground scene, and the way they circumvent a lot of the mainstream constraints placed upon them,’ says Chris Cusack, booker at Glasgow’s Bloc venue and instigator of Restless Natives. ‘It’s about respecting the dignity of musicians and audiences, and about taking something from the way communities of promoters and musicians in Europe come together to hijack parts of town with socially conscious cross-platform programming. For example, there’s a festival in Montpellier where people just hang extension leads out of their windows for the weekend and invite musicians to play in their street.’ Restless Natives won’t be quite as ad hoc, but it’s very much focused on ideas which bring together the city’s self-starting DIY promoters and cross-genre practitioners. ‘We want to do something which operates outwith the big corporate festivals, which tend to feature the same names,’ says Cusack. ‘Part of what we’re doing is inviting different community arts groups to curate a cinema screen or music stage each night. Why programme what we think is best in jazz or hardcore punk when we can get Stretched or Struggletown to do it