That’s the question on the chapped lips of Londoners at the moment, and it’s so urgent an issue than SOIWT is going to address it right bloody now.
Y’see, once upon a time Lovebox was a Victoria Park festival one relied on for chart-friendly dance music (Mylo), middling indie bands whose better days had long passed (Super Furry Animals), and ageing soul legends with just one, achingly annoying hit-song (Candi Staton). While the musicians were present were generally good – not least founders and every-yearers Groove Armada – none were especially controversial or, well, interesting.
And the crowd? Like, please. This was the London festival when everyone got to pretend they were down with the East London kids: cue an invasion of “Vicky Park” by the sandals-and-sunnies brigade, glass of wine in hand, handbag on arm, and Sunday Times being obediently lugged by t-shirted boyf. These were the ominous portents of Shoreditch’s subsequent westernisation, a troop of boutiquey bores who heralded the boom in bottled ciders and exulted in a weekend ’festival’ where you didn’t have to camp, or anything unnatural like that.
But last year, the times, as Bob Dylan sort of said, were a-changing. The line-up assumed an air of daring: N.E.R.D., Diplo, Gang of Four, Noah & The Whale (hardly barnstorming danceness), Nextmen, Fenech Soler… Even Florence & The Machine was vaguely unknown when the names were first broadcast, if you can remember those empty pre-Flo days. Holy Smoky Robinson and the Bandits said Batman lovers to each other, this is almost exciting.
And what of this year? Well, the line-up’s just out and guess what? It’s more o’ the same. Ok, so there’s Grace Jones and Mark Ronson, but shuffle past that and the bill’s eclecticism positively leaps out and ruffles your side parting: Chromeo, Crookers, Ellie Goulding, Empire of the Sun, Hurts, Joy Orbison and Wild Beasts, to name a few. None of these are as unlikely as, say, Afrikan Boy, would be, but still there is a notably cool, undiscovered kinda vibe going on, one more in keeping with the traditional East London ethos. (SOIWT also applauds the appearance of the coolest ‘old band’ around, Roxy Music, pretty much guaranteeing a rendition of Shameless, the new Groove Armada track featuring Bryan Ferry.)
So did Lovebox get cool? Maybe not quite yet – but definitely cooler. It’s trendier, too – these days its hepcats feature in the pages of Vogue, bedecked in a charity shop, ethnic-style garb with a firm boho vibe. It’ll never be a down-and-dirty do without the overnight element, but there’s a more than a little untidiness to be found at today’s Lovebox. And untidiness is good.
Tickets here if you’re not too daunted.
MP3: Groove Armada – Shameless (Feat. Bryan Ferry)
