Latest news with #Bicep
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Michael Kiwanuka pulls out of All Together Now and other summer gigs with 'continued illness'
Mercury Award-winning singer and musician Michael Kiwanuka has announced the cancellation of his summer dates, according to his social media on Monday evening. The news comes as Kiwanuka was among the topline attractions at All Together Now festival at Waterford's Curraghmore Estate on the August Bank Holiday weekend. "We are so sorry to announce that due to continued illness, and on the advice of doctors, Michael will sadly be unable to perform at the rest of his scheduled festival performances throughout the rest of the summer," read a statement on the singer's Instagram story. "We know that this is disappointing news to hear, and nobody is more disappointed and saddened than Michael to no longer be taking to the stage as planned." Aside from the European weekender festival circuit, Kiwanuka was due to undertake a headlining tour of North America, in support of 2024 album Small Changes. This year's instalment of All Together Now, set for the August Bank Holiday weekend, is sold out, featuring a mix of homegrown heroes like Fontaines DC, CMAT, Bicep and The Altered Hours, as well as international headliners like Wet Leg, Nelly Furtado and Primal Scream. Read More Forest Fest review: Peter Hook and Teenage Fanclub among highlights of Day 2
The Irish Sun
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Urgent warning issued to festival goers heading to All Together Now as ticket information and transport advice revealed
A MAJOR warning has been issued to concert goers attending All Together Now festival this August bank holiday. Crowds in their thousands are expected to descend upon Curraghmore Estate in Co wellness . Advertisement 3 All Together Now Festival takes place from July 31 to August 3 3 Headline acts at this year's festival include Fontaines D.C, Bicep and Nelly Furtado 3 Festival bosses have issued a warning to those attending the event The bumper-packed festival will take place from Thursday, July 31 to Sunday, August 3. A number of exciting Irish and international artists are set to hit the stage at All Together Now , including Noughties icon, Other huge acts include rock band Wet Leg, and iconic rockers Primal Scream, as well as over 50 extra performances across the weekend. Advertisement READ MORE IN MUSIC Ahead of the festival, organisers have issued important information for all ticket holders. Bosses have noted that every weekend pass purchased for All Together Now will now gain early entry on Thursday, July 31 with gates opening at 4pm. There will be no re-entry between the campsite and the car park after 2am each night for wristband holders and last entry is strictly 10pm. All Together Now is also strictly over 21s, however children between the ages of 12 and under can attend free of charge, accompanied by a parent with a family ticket. Advertisement MOST READ IN THE IRISH SUN The festival chiefs have also asked those travelling to the event "not to use Google Maps as "it will not get you all the way to the festival site". Instead, punters are asked to follow directions to the festival listed on their Dua Lipa 'splits the G' in popular Dublin pub The Carpark will open at 2pm on Thursday, July 31 and Campsites will open from 4pm, on Thursday, July 31. Travelling by road between 9 am - 1 pm is one of the quietest times to travel to the festival. Advertisement It has been stated that alcohol can be brought onto the site at the time of first entry only. There is no re-entry with alcohol once wristbanded. Each person on a weekend camping ticket is allowed to bring one of either 24 cans or 1 litre of Spirits OR 1.5 litre of Wine for personal consumption subject to initial entry only. STRICT SEARCHES No glass bottles are allowed. Those buying food or drink at the festival must be aware that the festival's bars and traders will be cashless and accept cards and contactless payments only. Advertisement There will be phone charging facilities on site, however festival-goers are advised to ensure their phones are fully charged before going the festival. For the safety and well-being of attendees, stringent searches will be conducted upon entry to the festival. Anyone found carrying illicit items will have them confiscated and may be removed from the festival and passed over to the Garda as a result. Prohibited items include; fireworks , chinese Lanterns, flares and high power torches. Advertisement Illicit drugs , glass bottles and knives or anything considered an offensive weapon is not allowed. Wax candles or any type of candles or incense are also prohibited, as well as BBQs and disposable vapes.
RTÉ News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Everything you need to know about All Together Now 2025
The sixth chapter of All Together Now returns to the beautiful Curraghmore Estate in Waterford on the August bank holiday weekend and it's shaping up to be a good one. All Together Now, Ireland's largest independent festival, promises to be a bumper weekend of music, art, food and wellness. About 30,000 are revellers expected to descend on the Co Waterford estate for this year's festival - here's everything you need to know. When and where The festival takes place from Thursday 31 July, to Sunday, 3 August, at Curraghmore Estate in Co Waterford. Access to the campsite will be open from 4pm on Thursday. The last entry is at 10pm each night. Line-up Festival goers are set to be treated to a deliciously eclectic array of acts over the three nights of All Together Now. Grammy-nominated post-punk Irish rock band Fontaines D.C., Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, Belfast duo Bicep presenting their CHROMA AV DJ set and English indie pop band London Grammar are headlining the festival. Dublin superstar CMAT, London singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka, Isle of Wight indie rock band Wet Leg, iconic rockers Primal Scream, electronic legends Leftfield, acclaimed German DJ Ben Bohmer and English electronic star Bonobo are also among the high-profile acts set to perform over the weekend. Other acts taking to the stage include Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Le Boom, The Voidz, Buena Vista All Stars, Lisa O'Neill, Arc De Soleil, Darren Kiely, The Boomtown Rats, Infinity Song, John Grant and Shee. There will also be DJ sets from Flight Facilities and Groove Armada. Getting there It's recommended that festival goers use public transport or car share to All Together Now. Festival organisers previously advised people not to follow directions on Google Maps or a sat nav as they will not get you all the way to the festival site. For those driving - do not travel to the festival via Carrick-on-Suir. Bus Éireann's Expressway will run return bus services from Dublin, Cork and Waterford to the festival site. Irish Rail operates regular service to Waterford Plunkett Station. Waterford Plunkett Station is under 5 minutes walking distance to Bus Éireann Terminus, which will be running a regular festival shuttle to the festival. Festival opening and closing times Access to the campsite will be open from 4pm on Thursday, 31 July. Festival gates are open from 9am until 10pm each day. Can I still buy tickets? All Together Now 2025 is sold out. Festival goers are strongly advised to avoid buying tickets or campervan passes from unauthorised sellers. Those who missed out on tickets or campervan passes can register their interest here. Age restrictions You must be aged 21 or over to gain access to All Together Now with the exception of children aged 12 or below who must be accompanied by a paying adult. There is a maximum limit of two 12 and under children per adult. Those wishing to stay in designated family camping must have a Family Weekend ticket and be accompanied by their children aged 12 and under. Persons aged 13-20 are not allowed entry to the festival site. Festival check-list Entry Ticket and ID. Medication, if required. Please keep it in its original container. Clothing for all weather and comfortable footwear. Camping equipment including a sleeping bag and ground mat. An empty reusable bottle of any size. Refuse sacks for rubbish, recycling and any wet/dirty clothing. Alcohol: Each person on a weekend camping ticket is allowed to bring 24 cans OR 1 litre of spirits OR 1.5 litres of wine for personal consumption subject to initial entry only. These can be brought into the campsite and main arena. No glass bottles are allowed. Food: You can bring food provided that it is pre-packaged/precooked. You are not permitted to cook onsite or bring any BBQ or gas cookers. There will be a wide and varied selection of food stalls for festival goers. Phone Charging: There will be phone charging facilities on site. It would be wise to ensure phones are fully charged before going to the festival. Banned Items: Stringent searches will be conducted upon entry to the festival. Items not allowed include: fireworks, Chinese Lanterns, flares, high power torches, illicit drugs, glass, animals (except guide dogs), gas cylinders, petrol generators, BBQs, gazebos, flag poles, garden furniture, laser pens, professional photographic equipment, selfie sticks, drones, umbrellas, spray canisters, megaphones and high vis clothing. Toilets and Showers: Toilets will be located around the festival site. Showers will be available in the campsites. They will open at 7am - 2pm and 4pm - 7pm. Cashless Event: The festival's bars and traders will be cashless and accept cards and contactless payments only. Disabled Access: Everyone attending All Together Now Festival needs to purchase a general weekend camping ticket. Once you have purchased your weekend camping ticket, you will then need to apply for access/mobility impaired campsite and facilities on site.
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Seeing climate change like this, it changes you': dance duo Bicep on making an album in Greenland
Russell glacier, at the edge of Greenland's vast ice sheet, sounds as if it's crying: moans emanate from deep within the slowly but inexorably melting ice. Andy Ferguson, one half of dance duo Bicep, walks around in its towering shadow recording these eerie sounds. 'Everyone comes back changed,' he says of Greenland. 'Seeing first-hand climate change happening like this.' It's April 2023 and, in the wake of Bicep's second album Isles cementing them as one of the leading electronic acts globally, Ferguson has travelled to Greenland as part of a project to collaborate with Indigenous musicians and bring the momentous struggle of this region – and even the planet – into focus. The project will take two years to come to fruition but next month sees the release of Bicep's first soundtrack and accompanying film Takkuuk, pronounced tuck-kook. It's an Inuktitut word that came from throat singing duo Silla, one of the Indigenous collaborators: 'It translates to literally 'look' but has the connotation that you're urging someone to look at something closely,' says Silla's Charlotte Qamaniq. 'The Arctic climate is changing rapidly so in the context of the project it's: 'look, the adverse effects of climate change are obvious.' But it's also: 'hey, look how cool Inuit culture is!'' I join Ferguson on this first trip along with representatives from EarthSonic, a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness about the climate crisis through art projects. Ferguson's Bicep partner Matt McBriar stays home ahead of the birth of his first child. When we land at Kangerlussuaq airport, first opened as a US airbase in the second world war, it's -10C, bright and crisp. Ferguson is staying with our driver Evald who, on learning that Ferguson and I are Man United fans, exclaims: 'Manchester United is my religion! Old Trafford is my church!' His home has a huge Lego model of the stadium. Across the next week we see the northern lights – in Inuit myth, it's dead souls playing ball with a walrus's head – and ride dogsleds and snowmobiles, but there's a sobering tone to the beauty and adventure. Russell glacier is a 20km journey by four-wheel drive on a rough dirt road. The ice sheet covers 80% of the country, but loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 90s due to climate change, and is the principal driver of rising sea levels. Scientists predict if the world continues on a course towards 2.5C heating it will take us beyond a tipping point for both ice sheets, resulting in a catastrophic sea level rise of 12 metres. Standing under a vast glacier that is hundreds of thousands of years old, but which could disappear within my daughters' lifetime, is discombobulating. Next morning it's on to Sisimiut for Arctic Sounds, a showcase for music from across the Arctic region and beyond. Sisimiut is Greenland's second city, home to 5,000, and a thriving metropolis compared with Kangerlussuaq. Rock and metal are the most popular music, alongside rap and other Indigenous music and the standout acts include an incendiary performance by Greenlandic rapper Tarrak. 'Seeing Tarrak perform was so powerful,' Ferguson says, with 'everyone chanting in this language I'd never heard before. It felt punk. It's rare to see that nowadays when everything is so homogenised.' The project is allowing Bicep to flex different musical muscles. Playing a simultaneously melancholic and euphoric style of tech-house and electronica, Bicep broke through in the mid-2010s. Their track Glue became a ubiquitous rave anthem among gen Z, and led to the success of Isles, which reached No 2 in the UK charts and earned them two Brit award nominations. Everything was rosy, but it was, in Ferguson's words, 'all sugar, no sour', so they created alter egos Chroma and Dove to show their harder, headier side. The Arctic was an opportunity to challenge themselves again. After Ferguson returned from Greenland, the first thing Bicep did was construct a drum kit from ice samples and other field recordings of local sounds including husky chains, then created demos, 'really just chord structures we know we can write around' and sent them to the Indigenous artists. They didn't expect to get almost full songs in return, but on hearing what came back, the duo realised 'we needed to step back and not be the focal point'. A gig on a glacier had been one initial mooted idea, but the Greenland trip made it obvious such a gig would be 'tone deaf', says Ferguson. Through conversations with Indigenous artists, 'it became clear this needed to be us shining a light on them'. At times, progress seemed suitably glacial, but eventually a collection of Indigenous artists from Greenland and the wider Arctic region recorded their contributions at Iceland Airwaves festival in Reykjavík in November 2023, where many of them were in town performing, including Tarrak, Silla, vocalist Katarina Barruk and more. When I catch up with Ferguson and meet his Bicep-mate McBriar in late 2024, they're buzzing about the results, and by late May, I'm finally able to hear the full thing in their Shoreditch studio. From the first bars of opener Sikorsuit, featuring Greenlandic indie band Nuija, it's clear the duo have managed to pull myriad styles and dialect into a cohesive whole. 'It doesn't sound anything like us – and it doesn't sound like them,' McBriar says. 'That's what you hope to achieve from a collaboration.' Tarrak collaboration Taarsitillugu opens with a sparse breakbeat and becomes a full-on rave banger, while on her track Dárbbuo, Barruk sings in Ume Sámi, an endangered Uralic language spoken by fewer than 20 people. 'I went in to the studio and just poured my heart out because of the tragic state the world is in,' she says, 'then Matt and Andy worked their magic.' There was synchronicity, despite different languages. 'It shows a strong connection between us Indigenous sister and brothers,' explains Barruk, who is Swedish. 'Without me knowing takkuuk means look, I created lyrics which ask the other person to vuöjnniet, to see, so one doesn't need to feel so alone. Alone in the fight for our lands, our ways of living, our language, culture and taking care of the Earth.' As the project developed it was clear it needed context, so Bicep asked Zak Norman, who designs their brilliant on-stage visuals, to create an immersive installation. Norman worked with Charlie Miller, a documentary film-maker who went on the original Greenland trip, on a film that introduces the artists and explores the displacement and marginalisation of their communities, cultures and language. Norman used adapted infrared cameras to give the footage otherworldly pink and purple hues, reminiscent of Richard Mosse's 2013 video artwork The Enclave. The film is a series of vignettes for each track, and it certainly deepens the music, with eerie landscapes layered with interviews. The work will premiere on the giant wraparound screens at London's Outernet next month, before touring venues and festivals across the world. The project has taken on yet another hue in the wake of Donald Trump's recent expansionist proclamations. 'It's a circus,' says Tarrak. 'The first time Trump asked to buy Greenland [during his first. term as president] we took it as a joke. Now I can see there's some seriousness – but it's still just weird, in 2025, to try and buy a country. I know they're more interested in what's under the ground than the people, but we have to be smart about it as Greenlanders, stick together and be aware of people trying to divide us.' Bicep experienced their own existential crisis when McBriar had to have surgery for a large tumour on his brain's pituitary gland last year, from which he's thankfully made a good recovery. They're now deep into their third album proper, though it won't see daylight from their basement studio for at least another year. 'We wrote [Isles] pre-pandemic so it's a complete different world now. With Chroma we wanted to get that aggression out and cleanse ourselves of what we wanted to do, just straight club tracks. Now I think we're coming full circle.' How will you judge the success of Takkuuk, I ask. 'You can't quantify awareness,' says Ferguson. 'If it starts people on a journey to learn more about Greenland then it's achieved something. 'It's easy to switch off with climate change, I switch off myself sometimes,' he continues. 'But if you start telling the story in different ways, different narratives, ways people can visualise it, at least it's a start. Because for the next generation it's going to be the focal part of their life.' Takkuuk premieres at Outernet, London, 3 July, then tours. The soundtrack Takkuuk is released by Ninja Tune on 25 July
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Seeing climate change like this, it changes you': dance duo Bicep on making an album in Greenland
Russell glacier, at the edge of Greenland's vast ice sheet, sounds as if it's crying: moans emanate from deep within the slowly but inexorably melting ice. Andy Ferguson, one half of dance duo Bicep, walks around in its towering shadow recording these eerie sounds. 'Everyone comes back changed,' he says of Greenland. 'Seeing first-hand climate change happening like this.' It's April 2023 and, in the wake of Bicep's second album Isles cementing them as one of the leading electronic acts globally, Ferguson has travelled to Greenland as part of a project to collaborate with Indigenous musicians and bring the momentous struggle of this region – and even the planet – into focus. The project will take two years to come to fruition but next month sees the release of Bicep's first soundtrack and accompanying film Takkuuk, pronounced tuck-kook. It's an Inuktitut word that came from throat singing duo Silla, one of the Indigenous collaborators: 'It translates to literally 'look' but has the connotation that you're urging someone to look at something closely,' says Silla's Charlotte Qamaniq. 'The Arctic climate is changing rapidly so in the context of the project it's: 'look, the adverse effects of climate change are obvious.' But it's also: 'hey, look how cool Inuit culture is!'' I join Ferguson on this first trip along with representatives from EarthSonic, a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness about the climate crisis through art projects. Ferguson's Bicep partner Matt McBriar stays home ahead of the birth of his first child. When we land at Kangerlussuaq airport, first opened as a US airbase in the second world war, it's -10C, bright and crisp. Ferguson is staying with our driver Evald who, on learning that Ferguson and I are Man United fans, exclaims: 'Manchester United is my religion! Old Trafford is my church!' His home has a huge Lego model of the stadium. Across the next week we see the northern lights – in Inuit myth, it's dead souls playing ball with a walrus's head – and ride dogsleds and snowmobiles, but there's a sobering tone to the beauty and adventure. Russell glacier is a 20km journey by four-wheel drive on a rough dirt road. The ice sheet covers 80% of the country, but loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 90s due to climate change, and is the principal driver of rising sea levels. Scientists predict if the world continues on a course towards 2.5C heating it will take us beyond a tipping point for both ice sheets, resulting in a catastrophic sea level rise of 12 metres. Standing under a vast glacier that is hundreds of thousands of years old, but which could disappear within my daughters' lifetime, is discombobulating. Next morning it's on to Sisimiut for Arctic Sounds, a showcase for music from across the Arctic region and beyond. Sisimiut is Greenland's second city, home to 5,000, and a thriving metropolis compared with Kangerlussuaq. Rock and metal are the most popular music, alongside rap and other Indigenous music and the standout acts include an incendiary performance by Greenlandic rapper Tarrak. 'Seeing Tarrak perform was so powerful,' Ferguson says, with 'everyone chanting in this language I'd never heard before. It felt punk. It's rare to see that nowadays when everything is so homogenised.' The project is allowing Bicep to flex different musical muscles. Playing a simultaneously melancholic and euphoric style of tech-house and electronica, Bicep broke through in the mid-2010s. Their track Glue became a ubiquitous rave anthem among gen Z, and led to the success of Isles, which reached No 2 in the UK charts and earned them two Brit award nominations. Everything was rosy, but it was, in Ferguson's words, 'all sugar, no sour', so they created alter egos Chroma and Dove to show their harder, headier side. The Arctic was an opportunity to challenge themselves again. After Ferguson returned from Greenland, the first thing Bicep did was construct a drum kit from ice samples and other field recordings of local sounds including husky chains, then created demos, 'really just chord structures we know we can write around' and sent them to the Indigenous artists. They didn't expect to get almost full songs in return, but on hearing what came back, the duo realised 'we needed to step back and not be the focal point'. A gig on a glacier had been one initial mooted idea, but the Greenland trip made it obvious such a gig would be 'tone deaf', says Ferguson. Through conversations with Indigenous artists, 'it became clear this needed to be us shining a light on them'. At times, progress seemed suitably glacial, but eventually a collection of Indigenous artists from Greenland and the wider Arctic region recorded their contributions at Iceland Airwaves festival in Reykjavík in November 2023, where many of them were in town performing, including Tarrak, Silla, vocalist Katarina Barruk and more. When I catch up with Ferguson and meet his Bicep-mate McBriar in late 2024, they're buzzing about the results, and by late May, I'm finally able to hear the full thing in their Shoreditch studio. From the first bars of opener Sikorsuit, featuring Greenlandic indie band Nuija, it's clear the duo have managed to pull myriad styles and dialect into a cohesive whole. 'It doesn't sound anything like us – and it doesn't sound like them,' McBriar says. 'That's what you hope to achieve from a collaboration.' Tarrak collaboration Taarsitillugu opens with a sparse breakbeat and becomes a full-on rave banger, while on her track Dárbbuo, Barruk sings in Ume Sámi, an endangered Uralic language spoken by fewer than 20 people. 'I went in to the studio and just poured my heart out because of the tragic state the world is in,' she says, 'then Matt and Andy worked their magic.' There was synchronicity, despite different languages. 'It shows a strong connection between us Indigenous sister and brothers,' explains Barruk, who is Swedish. 'Without me knowing takkuuk means look, I created lyrics which ask the other person to vuöjnniet, to see, so one doesn't need to feel so alone. Alone in the fight for our lands, our ways of living, our language, culture and taking care of the Earth.' As the project developed it was clear it needed context, so Bicep asked Zak Norman, who designs their brilliant on-stage visuals, to create an immersive installation. Norman worked with Charlie Miller, a documentary film-maker who went on the original Greenland trip, on a film that introduces the artists and explores the displacement and marginalisation of their communities, cultures and language. Norman used adapted infrared cameras to give the footage otherworldly pink and purple hues, reminiscent of Richard Mosse's 2013 video artwork The Enclave. The film is a series of vignettes for each track, and it certainly deepens the music, with eerie landscapes layered with interviews. The work will premiere on the giant wraparound screens at London's Outernet next month, before touring venues and festivals across the world. The project has taken on yet another hue in the wake of Donald Trump's recent expansionist proclamations. 'It's a circus,' says Tarrak. 'The first time Trump asked to buy Greenland [during his first. term as president] we took it as a joke. Now I can see there's some seriousness – but it's still just weird, in 2025, to try and buy a country. I know they're more interested in what's under the ground than the people, but we have to be smart about it as Greenlanders, stick together and be aware of people trying to divide us.' Bicep experienced their own existential crisis when McBriar had to have surgery for a large tumour on his brain's pituitary gland last year, from which he's thankfully made a good recovery. They're now deep into their third album proper, though it won't see daylight from their basement studio for at least another year. 'We wrote [Isles] pre-pandemic so it's a complete different world now. With Chroma we wanted to get that aggression out and cleanse ourselves of what we wanted to do, just straight club tracks. Now I think we're coming full circle.' How will you judge the success of Takkuuk, I ask. 'You can't quantify awareness,' says Ferguson. 'If it starts people on a journey to learn more about Greenland then it's achieved something. 'It's easy to switch off with climate change, I switch off myself sometimes,' he continues. 'But if you start telling the story in different ways, different narratives, ways people can visualise it, at least it's a start. Because for the next generation it's going to be the focal part of their life.' Takkuuk premieres at Outernet, London, 3 July, then tours. The soundtrack Takkuuk is released by Ninja Tune on 25 July
