EDINBURGH’S new festival, Connect, has today announced exciting additions to the acclaimed line-up, including Lucia & The Best Boys, The Joy Hotel, CMAT, The Mysterines, and KILIMANJARO. Taking place 26th – 28th August at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre Showground, Connect is a new festival experience that will feature the best in up-and-coming talent and award-winning headliners. Music fans can secure their tickets here.
The weekend’s festivities will take place across 3 stages; The Grand Parade where guests can expect to get up close to the biggest names in music, Guitars & Other Machines which is a space for up-and-coming, grassroots artists and your favourites of the future, plus a few heroes in there too, and finally the Unknown Pleasures stage which invites fans to explore their adventurous side with a programme of electronic music.
Fresh off a support slot with indie rock legends, Wolf Alice, Lucia & The Best Boys, bring their quirky goth rock charm to the Connect Grand Parade stage, sure to wow audiences with their blend of brooding melancholia and glittery pop choruses. Joining them are acts including The Joy Hotel and The Mysterines. With the Liverpool four-piece recently achieving a Top 10 UK Albums Chart position for their debut album, ‘Reeling’, The Mysterines are tipped for greatness.n.
Rising country sensation, CMAT joins Connect while DJ KILIMANJARO will bring his Afro-centric rhythms and influences paired with the fast paced energies of the western electronic scene. Born in Southern Africa and raised in Scotland, he has cemented himself as an up-and-comer on the electronic music scene.
Over at the Speakeasy in association with The List, there will be a host of talent and conversation on show, from comedy acts sure to get the tent erupting in laughs, to artist Q&As with some of Scotland’s biggest and best talent. On Friday 26th August The List will present a lineup which includes rising star LVRA ‘in Conversation’ where you can hear about her journey to date from recording her debut album and winning the Sound of Young Scotland Award at the SAY Awards last year. Friday will see The List Presents Black Scot Pod making their appearance at Connect Music Festival, launched due to a lack of Black Scottish voices in mainstream media, Suzie and Shirley share their experiences of growing up in Scotland and discuss pop-culture, current events, and everything in-between with plenty of banter and laughs in the mix.
Fern Brady and Sean McLoughlin also join the comedy bill. Award-winning comic Katie Pritchard joins, after an electrifying few years which saw her shortlisted for the Chorts! Comedy Shorts and The Comedy Crowd TV 2020 showcase, described by ShortList as “an explosion of joyful lunacy” , her slot in the Speakeasy tent is not to be missed. Since winning the inaugural Scottish Comedian of the Year Award in 2006, just one year after his first-ever open-spot, Mark Nelson’s career has gone from strength-to-strength and he has established himself as one of the UK’s biggest comedy powerhouses, catch his set this August at Connect Music Festival.
On Saturday, The List presents a Q&A with Stuart Braithwaite and James Graham of The Twilight Sad and Mogwai fame who join Connect for an evening of conversation, detailing their fascinating careers so far. Leyla Josephine,Marjolein Robertson follow who are also part of the List’s curated programme of culture and conversation. Tom Cashman and Finlay Christie follow, along withJenny Bede, the acclaimed musical comedian. Getting her start on Youtube back in 2013 with her quick witted social commentary and music parodies – she is a triple threat, a comedian, musician and actor.
Sunday promises to be one to remember, seeing the likes of The List presents Darren McGarvey and Rebecca Vasmant in conversation alongside queer Latinx poet, Andres Ordorica who, through his work, documents what it means to be an LGBT+ immigrant in our society. Following them are Justin Moorhouse, Becky Lucas, Joe Wells and Troy Hawke, with Hawke, a character comedian hailing from Newcastle, bringing his award-winning routine to Connect.
Join as MCs Connor Burns, Brennan Reece and Jo Caufield host the weekend’s events, bringing their unique stylings to the busy tent.
Check out the full line-up below.
