Currently in Australia on a whistlestop tour to promote the forthcoming release of his highly anticipated sophomore album Overgrown, British post-dubstep performer/producer James Blake has been telling pretty much any Australian music press who’ll listen that he’s coming back in July for Splendour In The Grass 2013.
Ahead of playing his second and final show tomorrow night at Verbrugghen Hall, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Blake hinted that he’d be returning to Australia soon enough when he showcased new material to a heaving audience at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel last Tuesday night.
As our Tone Deaf reviewer noted, Blake botched the opening of new track ‘Digital Lion’ a number of times, “noting that he’d “fucked up… Next time I come back I’ll have it down,” he jests, before revealing that it was the first time they’d played the song live.”
Blake has been far more blatant about his planned return in his promotional duties, telling InTheMix that he was definitely booked for the July music festival, while The Music report that when questioned about whether fans would see him at Splendour “Blake responded with an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’.”James Blake has been telling pretty much any Australian music press who’ll listen that he’s coming back in July for Splendour
He was a little more coy with FasterLouder however, when asked why he chose to return on the back off the three-day highlight on the winter music calendar, Blake replied: “Am I doing that? Ok. Well because I was booked to do it. I was always going to come back to Australia, I want to play here. It’s just a matter of what I play and where.”
James Blake’s forthcoming second album Overgrown is already set as one of the year’s most anticipated, and early tastes of the album have been entirely promising. Including emotive lead single ‘Retrograde‘, with the album also featuring collaborations with Brian Eno and the low-slung rhymes of Wu-Ta Clan’s RZA on ‘Take A Fall For Me’.
Our reviewer at Blake’s sold-out Corner show also noted how great the material sounded live, calling the show “unforgettable and most certainly another reason to anticipate his sophomore release,” and now, his return for Splendour In The Grass it would seem.
Further solidifying Blake’s slip-up is the fact that his current two-date Aussie tour is promoted by Secret Sounds, who regularly book acts for the Splendour lineup.
On top of the poorly kept secret of James Blake returning for Splendour In The Grass 2013, there’s a number of other names that are heavily rumoured to bea lock-in for the July festival, which recently announced its official dates and return to a permanent home to its site in North Byron.
Celebrated English four-piece Alt-J(∆) are headed back to Australia for their third visit within a year, playing three dates that line up suspiciously well with Splendour’s newly announced July dates.
Aside form the Leeds quartet, there’s Icelandic folk collective Of Monsters And Men, with singer Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir already confirming an Australian tour for later this year, insinuating the possibility of a Splendour presence: “We’re gonna come back here in the winter time for you guys,” says Hilmarsdóttir. Further solidifying Blake’s slip-up is the fact that his current two-date Aussie tour is promoted by Secret Sounds, who regularly book acts for the Splendour lineup.
The group are blindingly popular in Australia, having scored the penultimate spot on Triple J’s Hottest 100 this year, scored a #1 ARIA album charts position with their debut My Head Is An Animal, and even wowed audiences with their appearance on the Laneway Festival this past February (*phew*). In fact Of Monsters And Men made their debut Australian visit with last year’s Splendour In The Grass and a 2013 appearance would make it two for two for the nu-folkies.
Of Monsters And Men were also named as part of the immense lineup for Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, and given previous year’s lineups have often overlapped with Splendour’s, there’s plenty of juicy names to draw on for an Australian visit for some of its lineup come July. While the likes of Nine Inch Nails are out of the picture, other Fuji Rock acts like Björk and the XX are still a possibility.
San Diego surf-wave kings Wavves are curiously absent from the Japanese festivities, having already tweeted that they’d be visiting Japan and Australia in 2013, which also puts them in the Splendour rumour mill.
In fact, twitter has been a treasure trove of possible bean-spilling, with Big Boi (the active half of Outkast) tweeting he’ll be in the country in July off the back of his latest album Dangerous Lies & Vicious Rumours, while The Polyphonic Spree’s Tim DeLaughter confirming the cult-sized psychedelic pop ensemble would be heading to Australia for Splendour this July. Then there’s the juicy – but iffy – rumour that Bob Dylan could be headlining the festival. (seems highly unlikely, but still…)
Jake Bugg’s name has also been thrown into the mix after his track ‘Lightning Bolt’ was used as the soundtrack in a recent trailer announcing Splendour’s official dates and return to the North Byron Parklands site for 2013. Merely coincidence that his surname was a nice little tie-in to the bee floating about in the teaser video, or a blatant hint?
Either way, as we roll closer to mid-year, there’s bound to be an ace selection of acts helping Splendour christen their site with a brilliant musical homecoming.
You can read the review of James Blake’s Melbourne show here and view the Splendour dates below.
Splendour In The Grass 2013 Dates & Location
Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 July
North Byron Parklands
