DURAN DURAN
N.E.R.D featuring PHARRELL WILLIAMS
GROOVE ARMADA
FRIENDLY FIRES, FLORENCE & THE MACHINE, SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO
LADYHAWKE, FAT FREDDYS DROP + MANY MORE
London’s favourite festival – The Lovebox Weekender has announced that pop legends Duran Duran and hip hop collective N.E.R.D featuring Pharrell Williams will be joining festival founders Groove Armada as headline acts for the 2009 festival which will take place across the weekend of Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July at London’s Victoria Park.
Headlining one of the festival’s most eclectic and adventurous line ups to date, Duran Duran will be playing their only UK festival gig of 2009 on the Saturday night supported by rock/rap crossover collective N.E.R.D featuring Pharrell Williams. Lovebox will also be showcasing the very best in new and emerging talent with the hotly tipped Florence & The Machine, joining Friendly Fires and Fat Freddys Drop also confirmed for the Saturday night bill.
Sunday night will be headlined by Lovebox founders and sure-fire party starters Groove Armada who will be premiering a brand new live show featuring material from their forthcoming album that promises to set Victoria Park alight, and will be their only 2009 festival appearance. The band will be joined by Simian Mobile Disco and further acts to be confirmed shortly.
Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran said: “We are thrilled to be headlining Saturday night at Lovebox for what will be our only UK show this year. The band are big fans of the festival and we were delighted to be asked by Tom and Andy (Groove Armada) to take part. We were on the road for the whole of 2008 and are now back in the studio working on new music. Playing at Lovebox in the summer will be a real highlight for us.”
Andy Cato and Tom Findlay, the dance gurus behind Groove Armada and Lovebox said: “We bumped into Simon Le Bon when playing some tunes at a beach party in Ibiza last year. He had Sienna Miller on one side and a naked fire eater on the other. We had a chat and mentioned that if he fancied playing at Lovebox, it would be an absolute pleasure. And now it’s official – the biggest London gig of the summer is on. Lovebox bring legends to your local park.”
In addition to the stellar musical line up, London’s most electric and eclectic show-stopping festival has expanded for 2009 with an even bigger 40 acre site that will once again be bursting at the seams with the best new acts, performers, stage sets and special effects from all over the world for what promises to be a carnival of anarchic entertainment.
This year’s festival will witness the debut of Container Arcadia – this year’s principal soundsystem. This eerie labyrinth of sky-high shipping containers promises to create a monolithic, fire-breathing dockyard featuring Lovebox’s usual top-notch selection of DJs and electronic music acts such as the mighty Horse Meat Disco and Secretsundaze.
Further features include the Gaymers Stage – featuring London’s largest purpose-built tree house for those wanting a bird’s eye view of the festival. The stage will play host to a selection of live performances in an intimate setting.
For those in need of a spot of outdoor pampering, Lovebox will again boast the largest farmer’s market of any UK festival – the very best of Borough’s stalwarts all wrapped up within thelondonpaper Sourced Market. A new addition for 2009 is Heavenly Healing, a fully comprehensive tented village of massage and complimentary therapies to kick off your weekend in style.
Lovebox have also expanded their family stage this year into an entire field of family-friendly stage shows, sideshows and freak shows – all inspired, programmed and produced by some of London’s most thrilling theatre and production outfits. From barn-storming hoedowns to gypsy steam punk, take off your shoes and lose yourself in a wonderland of weirdness as Lovebox presents this year’s dose of carnival chaos in an epic spectacle charged with musical excess and theatrical abundance.
Further acts & stages to be announced…
