British Indie fans trapped in the distant North American outpost of Boston have a pretty good fall to look forward to, as the autum concert calendar is highlighted by appearances by Lush (September 15 at Royale), Kula Shaker (September 26 at Brighton Music Hall), and Ash (October 3 at the Middle East). But holy mother of Brett Anderson, the biggest Britpop party of the year goes down in November in Southwest England, and it’s worth puddle-jumping across the Atlantic for.
It’s billed as the Shiiine On Weekender, and it goes down November 11 to 14 at Butlin’s Minehead Arena in Somerset. The lineup is fucking bonkers, especially for those of us here in the States who were raised on exorbitant import CD prices and the glossy pages of Select magazine.
“Shiiine On Weekender is a celebration of indie and dance from the late ’80s, ’90s and beyond,” the fest writes online. “We bring you the artists that soundtracked the golden period in popular culture when clubbers and gig goers came together in what seemed like a glorious decade long party.”
Headlining the weekend are Echo & The Bunnymen (who play Boston’s House of Blues on September 8, by the way), Shed Seven, Cast, The Wonder Stuff, Black Grape, and Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll.
But the undercard is where the real juice lives, especially for the Britpop child who never grew up: The Bluetones, Marion, Echobelly, Ride’s Mark Gardener, Dodgy, Northern Uproar, Hurricane #1, Saffron from Republica, EMF’s James Atkin (go tell him how “Girl Of An Age” is the most underrated song of the ’90s yeah), a Happy Mondays’ DJ set, and a fucking pool party hosted by Bez.
We repeat: THERE IS A BEZ POOL PARTY.
There’s even a section for “New Bands” (down there, under “New Bands”), the involvement of a bunch of indie club nights (RIP The Pill at Great Scott), and a bunch of tribute acts with top-shelf monikers, like The Clone Roses, Oasis UK, The Smyths, and True Order.
Fucking hell. Here’s the full lineup:
Made it all the way toward the end yeah? Good on ya my old fine china, now watch the highlight video below!