The music for HBO’s fantasy Game of Thrones TV series is composed by one of the greatest film composers, Ramin Djawadi. Yes, that’s right, the man behind the Iron Man theme, and who has also written scores for Pacific Rim, Prison Break and Person of Interest.
Click any of the video titles to view them in Creation 5!
The Game of Thrones’ Main Title has become very popular and is recognised by almost anyone who knows anything about TV. Due to its popularity, the main theme has been covered many times and in several genres, including Jazz, Indie, Classical, 80’s, and has even been sung by goats!
‘Originality’ is an understatement. See just how creative one can be and check out the many ways in which one can approach a song and reinterpret it with complete ‘originality’.
Enjoy a medieval and non-medieval afternoon of Game of Thrones delights!
“In a world where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime, the crown of Westeros comes with a price. Betrayal, lust, intrigue and supernatural forces shake the four corners of the Kingdom, from the scheming south and the savage eastern lands, to the frozen north and the ancient Wall that protects the realm from the darkness beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noble men vie for power in the bloody struggle for the Iron Throne”.
The New Orleans Swamp Donkeys perform the theme song to Game of Thrones at the legendary B.B. King’s Blues Club in Times Square, NYC. This one is a particularly good rendition of the song. Let’s get jazzy!
“This just happened…” the Scottish synth-pop trio wrote, after recording the Game of Thrones theme song on a smartphone camera. They were bored in the studio and started playing it. “It wasn’t a cover. It was a joke!” says the band. Imagine how amazing it could sound if they really did record it for real!
Eargasm alert! This cello rock cover of the Game of Thrones theme is a beautiful and powerful interpretation, with wonderful sounds. I might even like this more than the original version!
It’s incredible just how many sounds one can produce with one human voice, one violin and a little bit of foot stomping. This cover is glorious. It lifts you up above the ground and has you floating amongst the clouds, across the mountaintops.
So much effort was put into composing the music and recording the video to this cover. These guys capture the essence of the Game of Thrones theme and add their very own style to it.
Check out what you can do with just two harps and one audio tape. This cover of the Game of Thrones theme portrays the medieval and fantasy-like atmosphere of the fantasy series. It’s beautiful and idyllic. A very fitting video, filmed around a ruined castle, where the blonde twins look like they’ve come straight out of one of the scenes. Indeed, they “serenade the 7 kingdoms”. The Harp Twins (as you may know them) have previously performed for President Obama, at the President Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration.
This cover is actually incredible and requires a lot of talent and a hell of a lot of practice. This is awesome! It’s enchanting and pretty and mysterious. We want more!
Did you ever dream of putting Alicia Keys and Jack White, Madonna and Lil Wayne, 5ive and Queen, in the same studio to record a song together? The answer is no… never in a million years! Strangely and fantastically, some of these collaborations are brilliant. Others just sound utterly bizarre. Prepare for the unexpected while two “worlds” come together to create one “world”… with two dimensions.
Linkin Park, Jay Z & Paul McCartney – “Numb Encore/ Yesterday”
Linkin Park, Jay Z and Paul McCartney came together at the 2006 Grammy Awards to perform a medley of “Numb Encore” and “Yesterday”, a strange collaboration that unexpectedly sounded pretty damn good! Who would have thought that one of the greatest rock bands, one of the greatest rappers of our time, and one of The Beatles, could sound good together? Nobody!
Eminem ft. Elton John – “Stan”
What an unusual collaboration for a duet! The Grammy’s always seem to bring incredible talents together to perform on stage. Here’s yet another brilliant performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards, with Eminem and Elton John joining forces. Eminem was under a lot of media pressure at the time due to his homophobic lyrics and the performance was quite the hype. After finishing their number, the two talents hugged it out on stage and held one another’s hand as a symbol of a unity.
Tony Bennett duet with Dani Martín – “Are You Havin’ Any Fun?”
Strange, right? The mythical Tony Bennett collaborating with one of Latin music’s biggest stars, Dani Martín? Tony Bennett came out with a “Viva Duets” album (2012) to perform his classic songs with the help of some younger stars, including Dani Martín, Marc Anthony, Chayanne and Gloria Estefan. Bennett said in a statement: “Latin music has always been about melody and harmony and a lot of soul, so there was a very close artistic connection with each duet guest. I am absolutely thrilled about the record.” Bennett has recently come out with a “Duet II” album, featuring Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood and Amy Winehouse. What a brilliant idea for an album!
Barcelona is a single that was released by Queen’s legendary frontman, Freddie Mercury, together with one of the greatest operatic sopranos of all time, Montserrat Caballé. While Caballé’s and Mercury’s vocals are backed by a full orchestra, the song reflects Mercury’s love for opera and the ways in which the genre has influenced his singing and songwriting. The song was one of Mercury’s greatest solo hits and reached No8 in the UK Singles Chart. Curiously, it was Caballé that approached Mercury and summoned him for the task of producing the song and submitting it as the theme for the 1992 Olympics. It’s a magical duet. Bring on the goosebumps!
Michael Jackson and Eddie Murphy – “Whatzupwitu?”
This song is definitely one of the “weirdest, most terrible-yet-wonderful songs of the 90s.” The lyrics are right up MJ’s street, about saving the world. But why did he jump on Eddie Murphy’s album to collaborate on this song? Despite the music video’s title as “breakthrough” video, MTV deemed it the third worst music video in history. Indeed, it’s a “magical freak show”, with animated hearts floating around MJ’s head and music notes flying around Eddie Murphy’s, while Murphy imitates MJ’s classic dance moves. Enjoy!
Flaming Lips and Ke$ha: “You Must Be Upgraded”
In 2012, Flaming Lips and Ke$ha got together to record “You Must Be Upgraded” for the album Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, after Ke$sha texted Wayne Coyne (frontman) to see if she could jump on their album and collaborate with them. Not only did they accept, they had planned to release a full album together entitled, Lip$ha. Unfortunately, though, the album release was mysteriously called off in November 2013, after Cole tweeted: “As of now… sadly there will be no Lip$ha… I can’t say why… it is sad”.
Alicia Keys and Jack White: “Another Way to Die”
The White Stripes’ Jack White and R&B singer Alicia Keys got together to perform the Bond theme song for Quantum of Solace (2008). Keys thought that by combining The White Stripes’ “very raw, very cut and dry” sound with hers, they could do “something really interesting that mixes rock and soul together, blues and emotion, and it could be really touching.” Time Magazine said that apart from having “no audible chemistry” and “no chorus”, “the lo-fi guitar fuzz suits Bond about as well as a rented tux.” Do we love it or hate it?
Nelly and Tim McGraw: “Over and Over”
In 2004, Nelly and country legend Tim McGraw paired up to collaborate on their hit song “Over and Over”, which topped the UK charts and reached the top ten in 11 other countries. Nelly expressed he wanted to work with McGraw because “he’s badass, he’s got game and he’s got a fine bitch!” – a comment McGraw responded to with: “that’s what Nelly said and I had to respect him for that.” What’s more, McGraw “couldn’t wait to work with him”. This song summons so many memories – we love it!
Madonna and Lil Wayne: “Revolver”
This collaboration is pretty weird and doesn’t make any sense, but it’s actually quite good! “Revolver” featured on Madonna’s greatest hits compilation “Celebration”(2009). The single release included remixes by David Guetta and Afrojack, which won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording. The lyrics are about love and weapons, with a chorus that reads: “My love’s a revolver”. The song became controversial after the 2012 Aurora shootings, as the lyrics glamorise weapons. The single reached number four on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs in the US.
5ive and Queen: “We Will Rock You”
Did this actually happen? 5ive, the UK’s biggest boyband (at the time) covered Queen’s famous song “We Will Rock You” for their second studio album “Invincible” (1999). The song itself featured two members of Queen – Brian May (guitarist) and Roger Taylor (drums). The song charted at No1 in the UK Singles Chart and became 5ive’s second No1 single and their ninth consecutive top hit. Let me tell you that this collaboration is quite original.
Kanye West and Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver): “Lost in the World”
Kanye featured some interesting guests on his “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” album. Bon Iver was by far the most unexpected and, even more unexpectedly, it turned out to be one of the best collaborations on the album. Justin Vernon creates a great atmosphere on the track, with his soft and emotional vocals that somehow blend in really well with Kanye’s rap verses. Indeed, according to Alex Denney (NME), their performance works to “quite brilliant effect… it frames Kanye’s inner demons in a universal way, recasting Vernon’s semi-mythical woodland retreat as his own cipher for spiritual replenishment.”
Norah Jones and Dave Grohl: “Virginia Moon”
The gorgeous Norah Jones teamed up with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters for her 2010 “Featuring” album to record the beautiful Bossa Nova ballad “Virginia Moon”. Her soothing tone fits Grohl’s soft, raw voice like a glove.
Snoop Lion and Miley Cyrus – “Ashtrays and Heartbreaks”
The result of this collaboration is pretty strange. The pair teamed up in 2013 to record the lead single for Snoop’s twelfth studio album “Reincarnated”. The song gathered 1 million streams on its first day of release. The song is a tribute to their loved ones who they have lost and is also about smoking weed. The lyrics read: “Tonight there’s gonna be a whole lotta smoke in the air/ Blow it hard for the ones who ain’t there”. The music video highlights life’s ups and downs – a subject the pair sure knows a little about.
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Ella Henderson is proving herself to be a powerhouse in the music world.
Having soft-released the music video for her second single Glow last week, she also dropped a familiar heart-break ballad on SoundCloud called Missed – the original song she performed on X-Factor almost two years ago at the age of 16. Despite having only performed the song for a few seconds, the crowd instantly pushed her on to the finals. After two years, we finally get to hear the full version!
(Edit: The track was only available for a limited time – it has now been removed from her SoundCloud page.)
Today, Ella just premiered a live acoustic rendition of her new song ‘Yours’. This enchanting track has been lifted from her forthcoming studio album, Chapter One, which will go on sale on September 22 and include ‘Glow’, ‘Missed’ and her international chart-topping hit ‘Ghost’.
Watch Michael Jackson’s new music video for ‘A Place With No Name’ which premiered on Twitter at midnight last night. It features rare behind-the-scenes and outtake footage shot during the production of Michael’s 1991 music video In the Closet. It is the first music video to premiere on Twitter – and arrived on Wednesday 10PM, EST – 3am Thursday in the UK. Lucky fans in New York City got to see the video on the huge Times Square screen at the same moment it launched on Twitter.
During his career Michael was always on the cutting edge of tech advancements, so the fact that he is the first person to have launched a music video on Twitter shows that he continues to set the pace of pop culture. Amazing.
The video is a beautiful short film directed by the award-winning director Samuel Bayer (Nirvana, Rolling Stones) and tells the story of a man who is enticed to a magical ‘place’ by a mysterious woman. This ‘place with no name’ is a utopian location where “no one is in fear” and “no people have pain”. The outtakes footage, that has been kept in the vault since 1992, combines perfectly with the new material.
The song may sound familiar to you because it is Michael’s re-envisioned version of the 1972 classic A Horse With No Name.
A Place with No Name is taken from the posthumous album Xscape which reached Nº1 in 52 countries. The first single from the album Love Never Felt So Good achieved 17 Nº1s and 67 top 5 positions around the world. The album is his 50th top 10 Billboard hit making Michael Jackson the first artist to ever have a Top 10 hit in each of 6 consecutive decades.
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Gorgeous George, with his gorgeous Deep South baritone folk voice, rhythmic guitar strumming and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, had us at hello when we first listened to his debut album, rich with crisp and upbeat melodies and full-throated choruses. Indeed, the album is chirpy, charming, soulful and oh so full of gusto.
George Ezra, the 21 year-old from Hertford who went to music college in Bristol, who came fifth in the BBC sound of 2014, and who has been topping the charts across Europe with his hit single “Budapest”, released his debut album, “Wanted On Voyage”, in June earlier this year. Ezra took inspiration from the journals he kept whilst traveling and busking his way across Europe and based most of the songs on his album on his experiences. Full of adventure, “Wanted On Voyage” feels fresh, vibrant, enthusiastic and tirelessly energetic.
George Ezra – Budapest
“Blame It On Me” kicks off the album with a blazing start, with its powerful vocals that scream out Ezra’s self-confidence as a singer-songwriter. It’s quite remarkable how quickly he has us captivated and wanting more. And he sure gives us more with “Budapest”, a simple folk song with a foot-tapping baseline, in which Ezra’s solid vocals take centre stage as he tells the story about a man willing to give up everything for the one he loves, singing “for you, I’d leave it all/ Give me one good reason why I should never make a change”. Despite the single’s recycled lyrical content, Ezra strikes an authentic note, and we can’t help but adore his sweetness and sincerity.
George Ezra – Blame It On Me
This bleeds into “Cassy O’”, a song that, at first glance, just doesn’t seem to make any sense at all, whose narrative is absurd, and whose lyrics read, “I travelled to Australia and I travelled there by train”. But, in fact, “Cassy O’” is a song about the unalterable passing of Time. Ezra sings: “the bastard face kept changing and the hands they wouldn’t stop”. The track is fun, enthusiastic and powerful, and is catchy as hell.
George Ezra – Cassy O
Ezra beautifully strips it back, with his lovely and nostalgic ballad “Barcelona”, one of his more traditional songs on the album, followed with the playful track, “Leaving It Up To You”, in which Ezra contemplates an ex and her “half-wit of a boyfriend” and expresses “it’s a damn good job he isn’t here or I might have wind up harming your darling”. Ezra unexpectedly falls into an exquisite falsetto as he sings the chorus “leaving it up to you”.
George Ezra – Barcelona
George Ezra – Leaving It Up to You
“Did You Hear The Rain?” is one of Ezra’s older tracks, a stunning a cappella version of the deep dark delta blues atmosphere he adopts from his peers, and with a taste of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Ezra literally howls, and sings, “you can try and run and hide, tearing at the chain oh, Lucifer’s inside”. The song is interesting and soulful, with full-blown instrumentation; it’s incredibly catchy, and has a bottomless sound.
George Ezra – Did You Hear the Rain?
While “Stand By Your Gun” takes a slightly different sonic direction, experimenting with electronic keyboard disco sounds and beatbox loops, “Breakaway” takes on a deep, expressive and elegant tone. Ezra opens with bare vocals against a guitar and gradually builds the song up until a gospel choir finally kicks in toward the second half of this staggering song, and produces goosebumps. The song is breathtaking and mournful and we can’t help but play it on repeat.
George Ezra – Breakaway on BBC Introducing in the West
Ezra closes the album with “Spectacular Rival”, a song that takes on an old western feel, with Ezra’s gloomy and powerful voice reverberating and bringing the album to a spectacular climax. Here, Ezra gives us inkling as to where he’ll be taking his music next, and damn, it’s exciting!
George Ezra – Spectacular Rival
As for the songs on the deluxe album, well, they’re something quite special.
Gorgeous George is far more than a handsome face and an excellent voice. He’s reached first place after sprinting his way across the finish line, and there still seems to be more fuel in him! He’s the real deal, a howling wolf, and it’s quite clear that he’ll be coming back with more.
Wanted on Voyage Tracklist 1. Blame It on Me 2. Budapest 3. Cassy O 4. Barcelona 5. Listen to the Man 6. Leaving It Up to You 7. Did You Hear the Rain? 8. Drawing Board 9. Stand by Your Gun 10. Breakaway 11. Over the Creek 12. Spectacular Rival
Deluxe Edition 13. Song 6 14. It’s Just My Skin 15. Da Vinci Riot Police 16. Blind Man in Amsterdam
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Over the last two decades, Siempre Así has become one of the most popular bands in Spain. Renowned for bringing together the joy and freshness of the rumba together with their flamenco roots, their success speaks for itself…Since their debut, the folk band from Andalucía has released 13 albums onto the market, which, together, have sold over 1 million copies and, year in and year out, thousands of fans attend their concerts held across Spain and Latin America.
Bound together by friendship and a love for music, Siempre Así continues to tour around Spain. The band’s next performance is on August 20, at the hugely popular Starlite Festival in Marbella. It will be an unmissable concert where they will review their most popular songs over the last 20 years. The artist José Manuel Soto, will also join the group on this special night.
In Performance at the White House is a series of concerts produced by WETA (a non-commercial TV channel located in Washington DC) since 1978 and spans every administration since President Carter’s. Created to showcase the rich fabric of American culture in the exclusive setting of the nation’s most famous home.
It all started with a piano recital by the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz and since that first concert the series has celebrated more or less every genre of American musical performance. Over the last 36 years concerts have honoured the genius of musical legends such as Sir Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Celebrated the rich roots of America’s Country music, Motown and the Blues, music from the Civil Rights Movement, Hispanic musical heritage and the unique spirit of Broadway and the American musical.
Women of Soul
In this show you can watch Aretha Franklin, Melissa Etheridge, Patti LaBelle, Jill Scott, Janelle Monáe, Tessanne Chin and Ariana Grande bring blues, jazz, soul, R&B and Rock and Roll to the White House. This hour long concert is a wonderful celebration of American female artists whose music has made a profound impact on America’s musical culture. President Obama said in his introductory speech, “Soul music is about reaching and touching people on a human level…..and telling some truth. And tonight we’re in for a healthy dose of truth from some of the finest voices there are.”
Download these shows and add them to your music library
We will be running a 10-week series of these shows on our blog, with the music videos conveniently separated into individual performances so that you can save and download your favourite artists, or the whole show if your prefer. Creation 5’s YouTube feature lets you download videos so you can watch offline when you’re traveling and enjoy great music on-the-go.
In Performance at the White House: Women Of Soul 2014
Intro [President’s speech] 02. Patti LaBelle – Over The Rainbow 03. Janelle Monae – Goldfinger 04. Melissa Etheridge – I’m The Only One 05. Tessanne Chin – Last Dance 06. Jill Scott – Rock Steady 07. Ariana Grande – I Have Nothing 08. Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) 09. Janelle Monae – Tightrope 10. Patti LaBelle – Lady Marmalade 11. Jill Scott – Golden 12. All – Proud Mary 13. Aretha Franklin – Amazing Grace
Australian singer-songwriter, Sia Furler, claimed the Nº1 spot on the US album charts with her sixth studio album, “1000 Forms of Fear”, on the back of the success of her hit single “Chandelier”. After having spent time hiding away from the spotlight, writing hits for other artists, such as “Pretty Hurts” for Beyoncé, “Diamonds” for Rihanna and David Guetta’s “Titanium”, Sia has returned to the mic to record an album full of songs she simply could not let go of. The result – a pouring out of emotional maturity, honesty, vulnerability, humanity, creativity, all hidden beneath the layers of smart, consistent and powerful pop music.
“1000 Forms of Fear is pop music turned into pain, instead of vice versa, like we’re used to.” – Consequence of Sound.
Indeed, Sia uses every stunning and gripping element of pop to communicate her story, writing intimate songs mostly about pain and “delivering [that] great pain with even greater triumph” through her beautiful and athletic vocal cartwheels, melodic diversity and deep lyrical content.
Sia deals with matters of love and pain as well as matters of life and death, allowing herself to dabble into an array of songs, from power-ballads to pop-classics to rock-opera anthems, that give the album an overall sense of completeness and accomplishment.
Sia’s hit single and album-opening track, “Chandelier” beautifies the diary of an alcoholic, revealing every process of the desperate cycle, with its heedless highs and its despairing lows, through a triumphal pop production and a mind-blowing vocal performance. Indeed, “Chandelier” is the Rihanna song that had too much of Sia in it to become another “Diamonds.” – Consequence of Sound. The song’s music video, featuring an amazing performance by 11-year old Maddie Ziegler, victoriously colours the song in beauty, elegance, dynamism, energy and spirit.
“Big Girls Cry” is one of the most vulnerable and gorgeous songs on the album. It conveys the emotional journey into heartache, it’s “agony”, and the fear of loneliness. Sia’s vocals are coloured with pain and perfectly convey the lyrics “big girls cry when their hearts are breaking.”
While “Burn The Pages” contains all the qualities of an anthem and tells the story of a broken girl having to let go, “Eye of the Needle” is a stunning piano ballad about not wanting to let go. The chorus sings: “And you’re locked inside my heart/ And your melody’s an art/ And I won’t let the terror in, I’m stealing time/ Through the eye of the needle.” Sia’s versatile voice is glorified as she belts elastic vocals that oscillate between rock and opera.
“Hostage” lightens the mood set up by the album’s opening four tracks and turns the beat up a notch. The song sounds like an early Kings of Leon-meets-Amy Winehouse-meets-Gwen Steffani toe-tapping and upbeat pop track. Yet Sia brings everything back down again in “Straight for the Knife”, a hazy and atmospheric grand ballad that dips into the world of Lana Del Rey. Full of hurt, this song is about being tormented by a lover who knows your weaknesses and uses them to cut deep beneath the layers and inflict maximum pain. Here, Sia’s presence and wandering vocals are timeless yet ephemeral at once.
Despite all the pain caused by another, “Fair Game” looks into love’s mind games and Sia admits she doesn’t play fair either in her stinging piano and drum-heavy track, which is followed by the synth-pop Diplo-produced track, “Elastic Heart”, which features in the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” soundtrack (read our blog here) and conveys all the bravery, strength and fearlessness embodied by Katniss Everdeen. The soundtrack reached Nº5 on the Billboard 200.
While “Free The Animal” is an electric pop track that attempts to break the dualities of love/hate and love/death, the cinematic and defiant track “Fire Meet Gasoline”, uses the song’s title as a metaphor to convey the connection and passion that can exist between two people and the pain that one endures when “the fire dies”. Sia admits, “Darkened skies/ Hot ash… Only smoke is left… Certain death.”
While the cutting-edge and hazy track “Cellophane” makes a direct reference to mental instability, helplessness and the need for love as Sia piercingly sings the lyrics “I’d have fallen through the cracks without your love tonight… while I fall apart you’ll hide my pills again”, the album’s closing track “Dressed In Black” is about Sia defeating the feeling of loneliness, as a new-found-love brings her back to life. She sings: “I was dressed in black… You took my hand in yours/ You started breaking down my walls/ And you covered my heart in kisses.”
Apart from love’s unfair game, part of the pain Sia transmits comes from her experience with fame and the consequences that come with it. The world now knows that Sia is a “reluctant star” that hides her face from the public eye and rebels against the general concept of fame. Her record deal specifies nominal promotion.
Still, “1000 Forms of Fear” debuted at Nº1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 52,000 copies in the album’s first week of release. Kitty Empire (The Guardian) writes “1000 Forms of Fear” is “probably her best, the result of years of refining her art (yes, writing pop smashes is an art) and of feeling wretched and unloved despite all her success.”
Sia is, no doubt, a master songwriter and vocal brilliance – it’s clear to most that it’s Sia’s time to “shine bright like a diamond”.
To learn more about Sia, listen to her sincere and outspoken interview with Howard Stern:
Congratulations to Sia who just got married this past weekend to her boyfriend Erik Anders Lang. They tied the knot in Sia’s home town – Palm Springs, California
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Lollapalooza kicked off the August festival season by setting the bar high! Over the course of three days, Chicago’s Grant Park saw 300,000 festivalgoers and 130 artists attend the festival madness, and included headlining performances from Eminem, Skrillex, Calvin Harris and Outkast.
But it’s not over yet! Boom Festival opened its gates only a couple of hours ago and thousands of international ravers are currently making their way over for a week of magical extravaganzas.
In the pipeline are festivals in Sweden, Canada, Hungary, and in several cities across the UK and the US. Year in and year out, we are spoilt with choice when it comes to music festivals.
Boom Festival
August 04 – 11, 2014 Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal
“Boom is not only a festival, it’s a state of mind. Inspired by the principles of Oneness, Peace, Creativity, Sustainability, Transcendence, Alternative Culture, Active Participation, Evolution and Love, it is a space where people from all over the world can converge to experience an alternative reality.” – Boom Festival.
Held biannually just off the border of Spain, in Portugal, Boom Festival is a bohemian mishmash of art, music, culture and spirituality, where every festival goer is a VIP; there are no echelons, no VIP areas, no special treatments.
Boom Festival first began in 1997, where people from all over the world would flock over to Portugal for a weeklong festival of psychedelic music, including trance, chill-out, alternative and all other sorts of electric styles. Art and performance are also a big attraction, with circus, street theatre, jugglers, fire shows, film screenings, and a variety of sculptures scattered across the grounds.
Boom Festival also focuses its sustainable spirit, art and culture, and energy to create a transformational experience for those who seek one. Free spirits are encouraged to communicate without words in order to eliminate all social and cultural norms that influence our daily lives.
The festival also provides a Healing Area, in which group workshops, sound journeys, mediation and therapy take place, and where love, compassion, wisdom, beauty, patience, acceptance, forgiveness and kindness are practiced.
Boom also has an Environmental Program and has been recognised with the Outstanding Greener Festival Award. It strongly focuses on clean energy, encourages participants to recycle and uses biodegradable products.
Boom Festival starts today (August 4). If this bohemian experience speaks to the inner you, check out the website and book your tickets for Boom Festival 2016!
Seen as the “Swedish Woodstock” or the Glastonbury of the 21st Century, Way Out West has become one of the most popular cultural festivals in Europe, centred on music, film, art and a carbon-free footprint. The Swedish festival first began in 2006, after Sony, Spotify and Stockhold-based music producer Luger teamed up to host Way Out West.
With a healthy and eco-friendly mind-set, where alcohol and drugs are trumped by dancing, where camping and crowd-surfing aren’t permitted, where all food served in the park is vegetarian, and where all plates and cutlery are biodegradable and all festival merchandise are made from organic materials, it’s no wonder Way Out West has won several awards, including MTV’s O Award for Most Innovative Festival.
During the daytime, there is a selection of 50 different musical acts on three different stages, food stalls, a merchandise market and street art installations. The park itself has a zoo, a couple of lakes, and both playing and picnic fields.
At nightfall, Way Out West transforms itself into Stay Out West. Venues, pubs, clubs, museums and churches all around the city open their doors to host a diversity of events, with international acts as well as local acts providing entertainment until the early hours of dawn.
Film and talks are also a big part of the experience. Music videos screenings and documentaries are played in theatres across the city, while art, advertising and journalism talks are held in auditoriums.
The musical roster is an impressive one and has seen the likes of Prince, Florence and The Machine, Sigur Rós, Public Enemy and Manu Chao bless the stage. This year’s line-up is of no disappointment either – acts such as Outkast, Clean Bandit, Jamie XX, Queens of The Stone Age, Icona Pop and Little Dragon are to perform (to list a just few!).
Apparently at Shambhala, “DJ’s play in the heart of the forest out of burnt-out, old grown cedar tree stumps while surrounded on all sides by fire-breathers, hula dancers, fairies, furries, and various creatures of night.” – 300fest.
Every year, the Bundschuh family open the gates to their 500-acre Salmo River Ranch, to host the largest EDM festival in Western Canada. Shambhala Festival, first created by the Bundschuh kids in 1998, with two stages and 500 attendees, now has six stages and over 10,000 attendees. With 200 shambassadors (volunteers) and no corporate sponsorship, this extended family affair, filled with team spirit and a feel-good, cosy, home-y vibe, has achieved more than any working ranch, with cows, horses, pigs, chickens, and miniature donkeys, would have expected.
More than just an EDM rave, Shambhala has art installations, painted murals, yoga platforms, meditation bays, craft workshops, ethical fair trade vendors, hip-hop and beatboxing acts.
Sziget festival has been described as “an electronically amplified, warped amusement park.” Held on the island of Óbudai-Sziget, in the heart of Budapest, Sziget has become one of the most popular European festivals, and has recently received the merit of “Europe’s Best Major Festival” for its 24h jumble of music, art, food, performance and regional culture. There’s also a luminarium!
The festival has been deemed the Eastern European Burning Man (see below), but its array of musical experiences sets it apart from any other festival. The musical diversity showcased at Sziget certainly has something for everyone.
Plus, the city of Budapest is itself a huge attraction. You’d be crazy not to escape from the island madness for a day and discover one of the only cities left in Europe that has a raw vibe to it.
This year’s line-up includes Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Skrillex, Bastille, Imagine Dragons, The Kooks, Stromae, London Grammar and so many more.
August 22 – 24, 2014 Daresbury Estate, United Kingdom
Creamfields, one of the largest electronic dance music festivals in Britain featuring live acts and DJ’s, has set off a dozen other Creamfield festivals around the world. The 3-day event, held on August bank holiday weekend in Daresbury, expects 200 artists to fill 11 stages during the course of the weekend. Party people are looking forward to huge LED screens, VIP lounges, cocktail bars, fairground rides, and silent discos, to top off their rave experience that includes a cocktail of genres such as drum ‘n’ bass, techno, dubstep, electronica and deep, hard, tribal, funky and indie house.
Creamfields was spawned by the success of Liverpool’s nightclub, Cream. The success of Cream’s weekly music night that showcases international DJ’s led to Cream hosting a night in Amnesia, the award-winning and world famous nightclub in Ibiza. Cream then launched itself into the festival market in 1998. Creamfields has since expanded its reach and has organised festivals in Dublin, Buenos Aires, Andalucía, and more.
Creamfields has one of the most vibrant summer music festival vibes around. This year’s line-up is yet again unbelievable.
For a last minute chance to see Avicii, Deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren, Steve Angelo, Eric Prydz, Maya Jane Cole, Skream, Pete Tong, Joris Voorn and so many others, all in one place, check out the website!
Notting Hill Carnival
August 24 – 25, 2014 London, United Kingdom
“A battle of the bands makes for some frenetic and full-contact dancing. The costumes are as beautiful as the copious amounts of bare flesh, with silver-sequined G-strings shaking to the sound of samba.” – 300fest.
Recognised as one of the largest street festivals in the world, Notting Hill Carnival uses music and dance as a means to interconnect cultures. The festival was first set up to celebrate diversity and shake off racial tensions.
Before Notting Hill became a “poshemian” (boho and posh) district around the 1980s, it was a run-down neighbourhood home to West Indian immigrants. In January 1959, following the 1958 Notting Hill race riots in which a mob of 300 plus working-class whites attacked West Indian immigrants in their Notting Hill homes, an immigrant from Trinidad decided to throw a carnival in St. Pancras Town Hall in a celebration to repair cultural differences and celebrate heterogeneity. Since, it has escalated to the Jamaican hippie-inspired festival that it is today and brings in at least £100 million a year.
With its mixture of scenes, from family-friendly events to parades with costumes that take on a sexy twist on “Adult Day”, with a mixture of floats ranging from masquerade to steel drums to calypso and SOCA, the musical clashes end up sounding like a mashup of calypso vs. drum ‘n’ bass and dancehall vs. disco.
There’s also a bunch of street vendors along the route, selling jerk chicken and other typical Caribbean dishes in between the music and dancing.
August 25 – September 1, 2014 Black Rock Desert, Nevada, United States
The Burning Man Project takes place in the middle of the Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, USA. For 7 days, Black Rock City is a place of community, art, self-expression and self-reliance, where the people are guided by ten principles that echo the cultural spirit of the event: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, immediacy.
It is a place built by the participants from scratch and where everything is set on fire at the end, to leave without a trace. The burning of the large wooden effigy (the burning man) ritually takes place on the Saturday night. Within the city are innovative sculptures, installations, performances, theme camps, art cars, and all-flower costumes. The temperature drops below 0 degrees C at night and soars to 45 degrees C during the day.
“The Picnic is, in short, a picnic, a feast for the intellect, aesthetic and all the senses via its music, art and narrative.” – 300fest.
Electric Picnic is a quirky and weird boutique festival held in the green Irish countryside.
Aside from its eclectic line-up that includes Foals, Paolo Nutini, Chic ft. Nile Rodgers, Lilly Allen, Flume, Clean Bandit, James Vincent McMorrow, SBTRKT, London Grammar, Metronomy… It has a Body & Soul stage made from fallen trees, a collection of creative art installations, with trails that meander “under circus top tents, through fairy-tale forests and past psychedelic installations”. It also has a Trailer Park, in which you may find a jumble of painting, graffiti, installations, electronica, performance art, public theatre, restaurants, mini music venues, carnivals, and a bunch of caravans.
What’s more, there is a Comedy Tent that showcases great Irish comedy, which is considered one of the most important events of the Picnic and is an integral part of the whole Electric Picnic experience. There is also a Spoken Word area that seeks to carry on the Irish storytelling tradition, with talks that range from love to loss to TED-style talks, on subjects ranging from pop culture to academia. Plus, there is an area dedicated to oral performance in Gaelic.
August 29 – 31, 2014 Randall’s Island Park, NYC, United States
Electric Zoo Festival, held annually over Labour Day weekend, is an electric music festival that gathers top international DJ’s and live acts on New York City’s Randall Island. Since it first began in 2009, the festival has received International Dance Music Award nominations for Best Music Event in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. In 2013, Electric Zoo announced that it would expand and launch the first edition of Electric Zoo in Mexico City in May 2014.
Due to a tragic incident at last year’s festival, where two members of the Electric Zoo family were lost to a drug overdose, Electric Zoo has released a statement that reads: “Our hearts are heavy, by our resolve is firm. Drugs have no place in this celebration.” This year, festival goers are expected to come together and enjoy the music, while they dance without Molly.
This year’s line-up includes David Guetta, Nicky Romero, Dubfire, Jamie XX, Laidback Luke, Sub Focus, Kaskade, Chase & Status, Netsky, and the list goes on!
August 30 – September 01, 2014 Seattle, Washington, United States
Bumbershoot is not just a festival, it’s many festivals in one, over the course of three days. Bumbershoot is a music festival, as well as a comedy, literature, theatre, film, visual arts, history, pop culture festival… with some much more to offer than the latter.
With it’s amazing line-up, over 100 film screenings, mini intimate venues, artisan chocolate markets and, believe it or not, scheduled zombie walks, Bumbershoot sounds like a place full of fun!
It’s also family-friendly, with free access passes for kids and a Youngershoot within the festival confines, where kids can act, paint, sing dance, and basically have as much fun as their parents, if not more!
International journalist, author and television reporter Julio Muñoz is the editor-in-chief of the official website of Spain’s national football team (Real Federación Española de Fútbol) and has also published three top-selling novels. Before focusing his professional career on reporting sports news and disclosing the scoop on elite Spanish sportsmen, Muñoz worked as a reporter for several of the most popular television channels in Spain, including Canal Sur, Antena 3 and La Sexta.
He has chosen some awesome music videos for this week’s Sunday Sessions playlist.
San Fermin – Renaissance! – Audiotree Live
“I chose thing song because I was listening to it on repeat while I was answering Creation 5’s interview questions!”
Volcano Choir Performs “Comrade” – City of Music
“Volcano Choir is the sister band of Bon Iver’s, whom I love. Bon Iver has a story behind it that deserves to be investigated and told…”
Sigur Rós – Fjögur píanó [Official Music Video]
“This song is gorgeous. The video clip is an unofficial proposal, and it’s awesome.”
