Skepta announces new London event, Big Smoke Festival
The Skepta-curated festival is set to be his only live UK show of the year
Skepta has announced his very own festival, Big Smoke Festival.
Launching next year with Festival Republic, the one-day event at Crystal Palace Park on July 6 will consist of two stages both curated by the man himself.
The current Mixmag cover star will bring his dance music label Más Tiempo to one stage with a b2b DJ set between co-founders Skepta and Jammer.
Read this next: Más Tiempo: Why Skepta and Jammer are embracing house music
Over on the other stage, Skepta will be returning to the mic after a short hiatus from performing live, for a performance which will mark the only opportunity to see him rap in the UK in 2024.
More names are set to join the line-up, all hand-picked by the Mercury prize-winner Skepta.
Announcing the festival live on Instagram he said: “I’m gassed to finally announce that Big Smoke Festival is official..I’m so excited, it's been a wild one to do this. I just want to say thank you to all the supporters, it's been a couple years that you didn’t see me on a stage..I know a lot of people have been wondering when they’ll see Skepta at a festival and I really wanted to save all that energy and put it into something that was for us, by us.”
He continues: “There's going to be a live stage all your favourite acts - anyone you know that’s affiliated with Skepta. There’ll be a live stage on one side and the Más Tiempo stage which will also be a full lineup. I might bust up one stage, fly over to the other one and link with Jammer. It’s gonna be crazy.”
Read this next: Skepta on DJing in Ibiza: "I felt Virgil's Energy in the booth"
Recently, Skepta performed alongside Jammer in Mixmag’s The Lab LDN as part of them starring on the latest digital cover. Watch the full set here.
Last week he released his latest EP ‘48 Hours’ with production from Hull-based 19-year-old newcomer Ryder.
The five-track EP features vocals from Skepta protégé Dré Six, with Ryder sharing that the opportunity to produce it came after he shared on socials an ambient remix ‘#skeptacore pt.3’ using Skepta’s vocals from ‘Text Me Back’.
Big Smoke Festival will run at Crystal Palace Park on July 6 2024. Tickets go on sale at 10:AM on December 1 here.
Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Multimedia Editor, follow her on Twitter
Mixmag will use the information you provide to send you the Mixmag newsletter using Mailchimp as our marketing platform. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us. By clicking sign me up you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.
