some of it was true!

The risks of holding a winter festival were last week proved by Disco Not Disco, whose five-day stay at the Legion coincided with freezing temperatures, snow and sapping morale.  In such weather, 50-50s become 40-60s and a five-minute walk from the tube station takes on the aura of a trek to Everest Base Camp.  These are the same risks being boldly run by Next Big Thing, an HMV-led event planned for February – normally the scene of Britain’s worst climes, and a tiger compared to December’s pussycat.

 
Nevertheless, Next Big Thing sounds pretty exciting.  It will feature up to 50 acts over ten days (5-14 February) across six distinct venues -  Borderline, Heaven, Barfly, Relentless Garage, the Jazz Cafe and ULU.  The line-up pledges to be equally diverse, and so far includes Ou Est Le Swimming Pool?,  Mystery Jets, The Low Anthem and Two Door Cinema Club (below).  Each venue will host three acts per night, for a total of £10, whatever the line-up – definitely something of a snip.  Confirmed dates, and tickets, are here.  More info also here on Spoonfed.

HMV has said it hopes NBT will be viewed as the official start of the festival calendar, providing a chance to see much-hyped bands in the flesh, when often you have to wait until the long days of summer.  They could well be onto something; whether the festival takes off does seem to depend largely on the meterological gods, though.  If they avoid being seemingly climactically cursed like Field Day and luck out with some relatively mild days, Next Big Thing may just become as anticipated as Stag & Dagger, it’s closest festival relative.

MP3: Ou Est Le Swimming Pool? – Dance The Way I Feel
MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work Out