New Weekender music bash casts a steely eye at developers
IT'S a full-time job keeping up with Liverpool’s festivals these days, and now yet another three-day bash has arrived to make the task even trickier.
The Baltic Weekender is a brand new event that brings a bunch of underground and electronic DJs and artists to the city over the first weekend in June. The line-up includes Swedish house DJ Axel Boman, Gerd Janson from Germany, and long-standing techno veteran Move D, together with plenty more names representing the twists and turns of dance music and club culture.
According to festival organisers, the event is “a celebration of the continued diversity of the richly vibrant music culture that has driven the Baltic Triangle’s development”.
As well as giving city party-goers yet another opportunity to gurn themselves into the ground, the festival aims to be a call to arms for those who value the district’s independent spirit and the opportunities it offers for creative freedom.
Referring to the property development that potentially threatens venues such as 24 Kitchen Street, Constellations and the Great Baltic Warehouse, organisers intend to celebrate the “grassroots-led fightback which has already garnered national attention”.
They add that the public has “realised the danger of threatening the foundations of what has made the area such a focus for music, arts and creativity”.
The project is a collaboration between 24 Kitchen Street and city club promoters Abandon Silence, although they say “it will also unite many other local promoters and venues in a show of unity to celebrate the city’s continued growth and recognition as a revered electronic music hotspot, whilst seeking to preserve its future.”
Kicking off at 2pm on 2 June, the festival runs through the afternoon and deep into the night on both Friday and Saturday, culminating in an “intimate” closing party on Sunday 4 June.
24 Kitchen Street’s flagship nights Wonder Pot and Hot Plate will be hosting stages, and the Abandon Silence crew will be celebrating their seventh birthday at the event with “the finest in house, techno and disco”.
Participating venues include the various spaces in Constellations, the New Bird Street Warehouse, the Great Baltic Warehouse and Botanical Garden.
With the Positive Vibration reggae festival following hard on its heels the weekend after – bringing a bass-heavy boom to the Baltic Triangle with the likes of Jah Shaka, Scientist and The Selecter – the district looks set to have its hands in the air like it just doesn’t care for a good chunk of the summer.
Time to sort out your party priorities perhaps and get those recovery Mondays booked off work while you still can.
The Baltic Weekender runs 2-4 June at various venues in the Baltic Triangle. Find them on Facebook, or book tickets here.
Current line-up: Axel Boman, Gerd Janson, Move D, Ghetts, Stefflon Don, Flava D, P Money, Elijah and Skilliam, Rude Kid, Swing Ting, Denis Sulta, DVS1, Mele, Big Miz, Moses Boyd (Solo X), Moxie, Chaos in the CBD, Route 8, Asquith, Asok, Deep Sea Frequency, Andrew Hill, Aystar, Macca, No Fakin’, Ste Hodge, Suede Brown and more to be revealed
