Having left my techno shoes at the door back in 2008, this DJs inclusion may raise a couple of eyebrows. However he is undeniably a showstopper on his day and has a penchant for dropping a crowd pleasing anthem towards the end of his driving sets of electronic techno. I imagine he will be on around 4am which with a German crowd should be one hell of a close to whatever night he plays!
It was a tough decision selecting a Future Garage/UK Funky stalwart from the line up to include, Addison Groove is in my list ahead of Doc Daneeka and Benjamin Damage primarily because of the Jimmy Mack bootleg he has recently made and been hammering, I love a bit of Martha! Addison’s DJ set is one of my most eagerly anticipated DJ sets by far.
Festivals are about fun right? Well not many people bring the party like Rusko, expect all the dubstep hits and get ready to wobble! The ultimate party dubstep DJ with the energy behind the decks to match, I would be very surprised if a DJ set at the festival goes off as much as this is destined to. Riot.
I have referred to Chase & Status as my generation’s The Prodigy after both the previous times I have been enjoyed their live show (they were easily one of the Bestival highlights), with an abundance of anthems and a variety in sounds all of which are represent the current trends in UK dance music our generation finally has a dance band capable of smashing it up as a festival headliner. With Plan B in Germany also at Melt! A cheeky cameo to perform Pieces and End Credits would certainly make the Chase & Status live show a highlight.
I remember when Oliver Koletzki was making swashbuckling electro, he appears to have matured his sound and while his house music does have elements of the electro edge in there it is a lot more subtle now. He brings his live show to Melt! And with a massive German following his live performance should attract a big and receptive crowd. I cannot wait to hear the stunning Hypnotized performed live.
SBTRKT is another person who was definitely one of the highlights of Bestival, absolutely destroying the Bollywood tent. I have been eagerly awaiting his new album which drops a couple of weeks before his live show at Melt! The live show from the bits I have caught on radio and TV looks superb and features the soulful tones of the man Sampha and occasionally the stunning voice of Miss Jessie Ware, whom I hope will be in tow at Melt! Little Dragon also features on the album and is at Melt! So who knows a cheeky cameo could be in the offing, SBTRKT is going to explode this year – with Drake picking up on one of his tracks - so I cannot wait to catch him to say I was there at the start!
I was late getting onto Metronomy, even then it took me a while to fully appreciate their talents. I am now however a full convert and have been championing a fair few of their tracks at recent Lovely Jobs. They are brilliant live and incredibly good fun pop music with an electronic edge, I really enjoyed their recent Jools Holland performance. Their 2011 album currently gets regular plays and Nights On/Off is one of my most played albums of the last 6 months. I included Metronomy ahead of Everything Everything and The Naked & Famous as I am yet to see them, however the two aforementioned bands are high on the agenda as they too are both excellent live acts.
It still saddens me to the day that I was slow on the uptake with The Streets, initially unable to see the genius behind Original Pirate Material and as a result missing the initial tour. It is quite criminal that Mike Skinner has eluded my gig career to date so his addition to Melt! was met with great delight. I hope to hear mainly older material although I did quite like the most recent album Computer and Blues. Hearing Blinded By The Light on the main stage of a beautiful festival is certainly going to be a ‘moment’.
It may be a cliché but Jarvis Cocker has got 'it', what exactly 'it' is, is quite hard to quantify or describe but whatever it is, Jarvis Cocker has it in abundance. Afer witnessing Pulp at Melt! there is a serious chance that I will be witnessing the performance of the most charasmatic front man that I have seen to date. A huge array of hits, this has the potential of being a very special headline performance.
It was only in January that on this blog I was championing Mr Woon, in the months that have since past his album has surpassed James Blake's in the TRM long player of 2011 stakes. I am so excited for seeing him live, expecting it to be an early evening affair, though with the Berlin heat the only chills will be coming from the haunting melodies of his musical offerings. Lets see if he can surpass Mr Blake on the live stakes too.
