Block9 returns to the Festival after a three-year wait with NYC Downlow, Genosys Sound System tribute to DIY rave counterculture, the epic IICON and a brand new collaboration with Notting Hill Carnival
Block9 has unveiled details of its exciting return to Glastonbury Festival in 2022, with a range of acts including Todd Edwards, Floating Points, Honey Dijon, Hot Chip (DJ Set) and more.
Announcing the news this morning via social media, Glastonbury officials shared the line-up poster (seen below) accompanied by the message: “The incredible Block9 are back at Glastonbury 2022 with highlights including the queer nightlife institution that is NYC Downlow, Genosys Sound System paying tribute to DIY rave counterculture, the epic IICON and a brand new collaboration with Notting Hill Carnival.”
Previously described by Glasto as “a 24-hour wonderland of heavyweight sound systems, underground nightclubs, huge artworks and extremely alternative performance,” Block9 returns to the Festival after a three-year wait due to the forced cancellation of the Festival in 2020 and 2021, due to COVID.
The initial poster, seen below, features a platter of names which will be joining the ever-growing Festival line-up for 2022 and will be followed by the Block9 individual venue lineups in the coming days.
Since 2019, the Block9 area comprises two adjacent fields – Block9 East and Block9 West. In 2022 Block9 East will host IICON (which debuted in 2019 and can be seen in the video below), billed this year as “an epic monument to our digital, post-truth age” and a brand new collaboration with Notting Hill Carnival. Meanwhile, Block9 West will host the popular NYC Downlow venue, Meat Rack and Genosys Soundsystem.
Carnival processions will be seen throughout the Festival site with their main base being at the Block9 East Field, in addition to The Mangrove Steelband, DJs, and an eco-friendly carnival float among the festivities.
Glastonbury organiser, Emily Eavis said: “I’ve always loved Notting Hill Carnival, especially during my years living round the corner in West London, and there have been so many connections with Glastonbury over the years. It’s a dream to finally bring some of the very fine crew here to the Festival and I’m sure they will bring so much creativity, energy and insanely good music with their electric carnival procession, workshops and sound system base at Block9.”
Notting Hill Carnival CEO Matthew Phillip also spoke about the collaboration: “This is a collaboration we have been working on for a while now and are delighted to finally be making it happen. The heritage and history of Notting Hill Carnival is hugely important to the British cultural landscape in many of the same ways as Glastonbury Festival is, and they hold many of the same beliefs and represent the country on a global scale. Block9’s vision to make this possible is incredible – they are famed for creating grand and unique experiences that I see are akin to many of the performers of Carnival in their scale and ambition. It’s going to be great”.
Block9 co-founders Gideon Berger and Stephen Gallagher said: “This year, Block9 is paying homage to the philosophy and spirit of [1992’s] Castlemorton [rave]. Thirty years on, we continue to fight for the utopian dream Castlemorton represented. A dream of music, community, and progressive inclusivity free from state control and corporate profiteering.
“Block9 is a direct descendant of the Castlemorton epoch and retains direct links to the people, DJs and crews behind the era-defining rave itself. Today, Block9 provides a festival platform for a new generation of artists and DJs upholding the very same political principles at the core of dance music both in 1992 and 2022.”
Recap:
Glastonbury’s individual area announcements have been coming in thick and fast for the last couple of months now.
With Block9 being the seventeenth and most recent area to announce its individual line-up poster (on the 27th of May) for this year’s Festival, we are now expecting at least one more area announcement still to come in the form of Pilton Palais.
That said, Babylon Uprising might also drop its dedicated poster prior to the full Festival line-up plus times is released around June time.
Cineramageddon announced its individual line-up poster two days ago on the 25th of May, while West Holts revealed its lineup poster on the 24th of May – and Unfairground theirs on the 20th of May, just one day after The Park area which came on the 19th of May.
The Kidzfield revelation came on the 16th of May, just three days after Croissant Neuf‘s on the 13th, and followed announcements from Acoustic Stage and The Glade – on the 12th and the 11th of the month, respectively.
Late-night areas The Common and – Shangri-La also released their line-ups, on the 6th and the 4th of May, respectively. In addition to the Left Field line-up that was revealed on Tuesday morning, the 3rd of May.
Other key stories from last month’s string of announcements included confirmation that Arcadia’s iconic fire-breathing Spider will be returning to the Festival in 2022 – following planning issues with the Pangea crane, which had replaced the Spider in 2019 but will not be featured at this year’s event.
The Arcadia news came bundled with its own line-up poster, after posters from Theatre & Circus Fields, Glasto Latino, and former Dance Village Silver Haye had also been revealed earlier that week.
And finally, Field of Avalon was the first area to announce its dedicated line-up poster for 2022 on Tuesday, the 12th of April.
2022 will be the first year to see Glastonbury take place since 2019, after two consecutive cancellations due to the coronavirus crisis – both in 2020 and 2021.
Meanwhile, the first main line-up announcement poster revelation, shown below, dropped in March of this year.
As seen in the poster above, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar will be joining previously announced headliner Billie Eilish to top the bill at this year’s event.
Eilish will be playing the Pyramid Stage on the Friday night – and by doing so make history as the youngest ever solo artist to headline the Festival at only 20-years-old.
Another historic moment will occur when Sir Paul McCartney takes to the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday night – which will subsequently make him the oldest Glastonbury headliner at 80-years-old.
Diana Ross will likewise be performing on the Pyramid Stage for the Sunday Teatime Legends Slot, while Lamar will be headlining the same stage later that evening.
A platter of performers and attractions which have yet to be announced are still waiting in the pipeline to be revealed before the full line-up + times should finally drop around June time – as recently confirmed on Twitter by Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis.
That said, there are many artists who confirm themselves prior to the official announcements by divulging the news during interviews, via social media, or website listings.
Some of the artists to self-confirm for Glastonubry 2022 include Go-A, Fatboy Slim, Chris Difford, Carl Cox, Haim, Courtney Barnett, Glastonbury-staple Craig Charles and Black Dyke Band – who said they will be opening the Pyramid Stage on Sunday morning (26 June).
Other acts who have been rumoured to make an appearance at this year’s event include Candi Stanton, Brass Against, The Chemical Brothers, Basil Brush, The 1975, Harry Styles and The Lathums.
To view our full constantly updated list of all the latest line-up announcements and rumours, click here.
Another exciting announcement of sorts which was revealed earlier this month included the new Glastonbury 2022 map, which featured lots of interesting changes and improvements to the site grounds ahead of the Festival this June.
Glastonbury 2022 is set to take place at its natural home in Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, from Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June.
Although tickets for the 2022 Festival have now completely sold out, there are still ways to go to Glasto this summer – with one of them being entering competitions.
To view our consolidated list of all the currently running competitions for the chance of winning tickets to this year’s Glastonbury Festival, click here.
DON’T BE FOOLED:
Glastonbury Festival would very much like fans to be aware that there are people out there who will try and sell fake Glastonbury tickets to unsuspecting, willing and innocent potential purchasers.
Although Glasto-veterans who have been going to the Festival for quite some time may recognise these scams for what they are, newcomers to the Festival might not know that tickets are only sold on one site which is: glastonbury.seetickets.com – and any other site claiming to sell tickets for the Festival are not authentic.
