GRUNGECAKE

Category: Festivals

  • Cardi B ignites the Global Citizen Festival, whilst expecting

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    On September 27, 2025, Cardi B took to the stage at the Global Citizen Festival, and she did so with both bold energy and her baby bump. The multi-platinum rapper, several months pregnant with her fourth child, delivered a performance that reminded fans why she commands attention—even when her roles triple.

    With DJ SpinKing of Power 105.1 spinning the tracks, Cardi opened the set with selections from her latest album ‘Am I The Drama?’, including standout tracks like ‘Outside’ and ‘ErrTime’. She also reached back to fan favourites—’I Like It’ and ‘Bodak Yellow’—mixing hits old and new to both satisfy long-time listeners and showcase her current creative pulse. Her stage presence was magnetic; she moved with dancers, energised the crowd, and carried a performance that felt fearless, despite being several months into pregnancy.

    [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0kg-VQjnBg&h=315]

    Cardi’s appearance came on short notice, too. She stepped in for The Weeknd announces 2026 tour dates, who had to withdraw from the festival due to “personal reasons”. The substitution may have been unexpected, but Cardi didn’t simply fill a slot—she owned it.

    Looking ahead, this set gives a strong preview of what fans can expect from her upcoming Little Miss Drama Tour, launching February 11 in Palm Desert, California. The tour’s itinerary will include many major US and Canadian cities, ending its US leg in Atlanta in mid-April.

    Cardi’s performance at Global Citizen reflected more than just showmanship: It was a celebration of resilience, artistry, and life in motion.

  • Gunna and Asake to headline Afro+ Fest in Washington, DC

    “This is the block party we’ve dreamed about for a decade.” — Michael Awosanya, Founder

    Afro+ Fest, the East Coast’s first large‑scale festival celebrating the full spectrum of global Black music and culture, will debut Sunday, August 31, 2025, at RFK Festival Grounds in Washington, DC. The inaugural lineup features superstar headliners Gunna and Asake, leading a cross‑continental roster of A‑list talent for an expected crowd of 20,000 fans.

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    Powered by the ethos “Africa, plus more”, Afro+ Fest offers a one‑day, all‑ages experience that honors both the future and the legacy of Black music—Hip‑Hop, Afrobeats, Soca, Dancehall, R&B and Amapiano—alongside immersive art installations, global cuisine, fashion activations and a marketplace of Black‑owned brands and local creators.

    2025 Lineup Highlights

    Gunna
    Asake (closing the festival)
    Gabzy
    DJ Tunez
    Foggie Raw
    Machel Montano
    Ricky Platinum
    Shatta Wale
    Shenseea
    TXC
    Uncle Waffles
    Wande Coal
    Special Guest: Shy Glizzy (D.C.’s own hometown hero)

    A founder’s vision

    “This is the block party we’ve dreamed about for a decade”, said founder and executive producer Michael Awosanya. “With the support of Mayor Muriel Bowser and Events DC, Afro+ Fest is bringing the full diaspora to RFK—music, food, culture—driven by the people and sounds that shape us.”
    What began as a college dream has grown into a cultural movement—created by and for the communities that have defined Black music worldwide. On August 31, Afro+ Fest is set to become Washington, DC’s boldest new tradition. “The festival’s impact will be felt not only through the music, but in the real opportunities it creates for local businesses and visionaries”, Awosanya added.

    Festival Details

    Date/Time: Sunday, August 31, 2025 | 12 PM – 11 PM
    Location: RFK Festival Grounds, 2500 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC

    About Afro+ Fest

    Afro+ Fest is the East Coast’s first large-scale festival dedicated to the full spectrum of global Black music and culture. Founded by DMV-area creatives and community leaders, Afro+ Fest aims to amplify Black sounds, unite the diaspora, and foster economic and creative opportunity through music, art, and entrepreneurship. It is a gathering where every member of the diaspora—and every ally who loves Black creativity—can come together in joyful celebration.

  • Denver’s Underground Music Showcase bows out “in its current form” after 25 years

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    Denver’s indie lifeblood is pulsing to its final beat this July. After a legendary twenty-five‑year run, the Underground Music Showcase—fondly known as UMS—is bowing out “in its current form”, with July 25–27 marking what organisers are calling a grand and necessary “blowout”. Since its scrappy DIY debut in 2001, born from the passion of Denver Post journalists Ricardo Baca and John Moore, UMS has grown from a handful of $5 shows into a sprawling celebration of local and touring talent—four outdoor stages, twelve venues, and over two-hundred bands this year alone. It’s the stage that propelled acts like DeVotchKa, Flobots, and Nathaniel Rateliff—but evolving realities have reshaped the landscape dramatically.

    UMS co‑manager Jami Duffy, who now steps in alongside Casey Berry under the Youth on Record umbrella, described the festival’s gamble with rising costs. From security, climate‑resilient infrastructure, and fentanyl safety measures to higher artist wages, accessibility standards, and mental‑health services, the bar has soared. Even sold‑out crowds don’t close the financial gap anymore.

    [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKBdpJYpH1Q&h=315]

    But this finale isn’t an ending—it’s an inflection point. Duffy emphasises that skipping this year would have robbed the community of a proper farewell. Instead, UMS is seizing this moment to spark dialogue during its Get Loud Music Summit—inviting artists, fans, venues, and funders to envision what comes next.

    Denver’s city budget woes—$250 million shortfall at one point—mirror the statewide and national strains on arts funding and public safety support. Still, Duffy remains hopeful. She challenges the community to build a coalition: venues, philanthropists, government, and fans alike. Maybe UMS morphs into something new—fragmented guerrilla gigs, tighter showcases, or a renewed DIY spark. She believes creativity thrives when the stakes are highest.

    This year, the festival will carry extra emotional weight. Legacy acts and rising voices will take the stage amid a vigilant audience aware they’re part of history in motion. As Duffy urges, “breathe in those moments…you can hug a little longer…play your asses off”.

    UMS may be ending, but its essence—the underground, the unexpected, the electric—lives on in Denver’s tenacious music scene.

    [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9womMYx3yw&h=315]

    Three years ago, the Financial Times released a twenty-minute documentary detailing the risks festival organisers face. In the United Kingdom, there were approximately six hundred festivals in 2019. As of 2023, there are fewer than five hundred. If you ever thought about being a festival organiser, I would recommend watching the video above. It could help you decide if it is worth it.

  • TikTok and Tomorrowland announce global partnership to bring best of Electronic music to global audiences

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    Yesterday, TikTok announces a new partnership deal with Tomorrowland (seventeen million followers), the world-famous Electronic Dance music festival, to deliver unprecedented digital festival experiences for global music fans. The new wide-ranging, year-long partnership will see TikTok serve as Tomorrowland’s Official Content Partner, offering 24/7 festival live streams, behind-the-scenes access, artist and creator collaborations, and interactive fan experiences that will bring music fans closer to the heart of the festival than ever before.

    Tomorrowland 2025, taking place over two weekends in July in Boom, Belgium, will feature a curated lineup of world-renowned DJs, visionary stage designs, and immersive storytelling. Through TikTok, users worldwide will be able to explore the magic of the festival with LIVE streams of headline acts, creator-led content, and a dedicated #Tomorrowland in-app hub which will act as a one-stop experience for fans all over the world to experience the festival for themselves. Additionally, CapCut and Tomorrowland will launch an official template for all users to spread the magic even further online.

    SoundOn, TikTok’s music distribution and promotion service, is partnering with Tomorrowland’s label Tomorrowland Music to host a songwriting camp ahead of the festival. Artists from both labels will collaborate, write and release original music to soundtrack the activities happening on and off the TikTok platform during both weekends. The songs will be performed live onstage at Tomorrowland, and released and distributed by SoundOn.

    A global phenomenon, #Tomorrowland is already hugely popular with the TikTok community. Posts using the #Tomorrowland hashtag have now been viewed over ten billion times—with creators using it as a chance to showcase their favourite #Festival content and performances from the two high energy weekends in Belgium—and TikTok’s Tomorrowland 2023 festival livestream was viewed by a record-breaking sixteen million people. The year-long partnership will also see TikTok exploring further opportunities with Tomorrowland’s slate of live music properties, which include Unity at Sphere, Tomorrowland Brasil, Tomorrowland Winter, and many more.

  • Rod Stewart to perform at Glastonbury Festival, after cancelling several gigs due to flu

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    Ahead of his upcoming Glastonbury Festival performance, Rod Stewart has announced the release of a “legendary” once-in-a-lifetime project — a limited collector’s item of 1,500 bottles — available for just one hour, shipping to the United Kingdom. It has been more than two decades since the British singer-songwriter from Highgate, London, graced the legendary stage in Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, England. The eighty-year-old singer hasn’t dished any more details regarding his return to his highly-anticipated appearance this weekend, but he does seem to be in great spirits.

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    If you are an American travelling to the multi-day music festival, you may want to know where Stewart stands on what’s happening in America. Three days ago, The Independent reported that Rod Stewart said he could no longer consider President Trump a friend.

    “He became another guy. Somebody I don’t know.”

    Rod Stewart will headline the festival on Sunday, June 29.

  • Bonnaroo shares complete 2025 performance schedule: See the lineup

    Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival has unveiled the complete schedule for this year’s edition of the internationally acclaimed camping festival, taking place June 12-15, 2025 on the Bonnaroo Farm, located just sixty miles southeast of Nashville in Manchester, Tennessee.

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    Bonnaroo 2025 will boast a spectacular assortment of can’t-miss highlights over four unforgettable nights, with bonus fun starting Wednesday in the campgrounds. Spanning multiple main stage performances on Thursday, June 12 (including a headline set by Luke Combs, Bonnaroo’s first-ever country headliner), three completely unique sets across various stages from the one and only King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, an array of appearances by John Summit (including a Friday, June 13 performance on the main WHAT Stage), and of course, Bonnaroo’s world-famous SuperJam, this year hosted and curated by Remi Wolf and set for the THIS Tent on Saturday, June 14 at 8:45 PM, along with many more unforgettable performances.

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    The upcoming Bonnaroo will also feature more opportunities to dance the night away than ever before, with a star-studded After Hours lineup featuring late-night live performances from Dom Dolla, Glass Animals, Justice, Insane Clown Posse, Megadeth, Arcade Fire Presents ‘Santa Pirata’, JPEGMAFIA, and an epic sunrise set from Gorgon City, along with pop-up parties, surprises, and shenanigans – including the hugely popular Frick Frack Blackjack and the Super Queer Ultra Gay Pride Party (presented by House of Yes with Boyyyish)—guaranteed to keep the action going around the farm long after midnight and into the early hours of the morning.
     
    Late nights will also be lit up by this year’s debut of “The Infinity Stage”, a brand-new, one-of-a-kind venue – presented in partnership with Polygon Live—boasting spatial sound, synchronised lights, and an unprecedented three-dome, open-air design to create the world’s largest, most immersive, 360° spatial audio experience. This year will further see a special lineup of undiscovered artists and rising stars performing on the influential WHO Stage, now located at Outeroo’s Plaza 7.

  • Rock the Bells Cruise announces first wave of artists

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    Rock the Bells, the global platform dedicated to elevating Hip-Hop culture founded by LL Cool J, has announced the first wave of talent joining the 2025 “Rock the Bells Cruise: A Hip-Hop Experience” cruise, which is returning for its third annual sailing on October 27, 2025 for another four days of non-stop Hip-Hop. This experience is inspired by classic Hip-Hop for Hip-Hop heads. This cruise has sold out within a week in the previous two years and has accumulated a waitlist of over 20,000 cruisers.

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    The initial wave of talent includes The LOX, Da Brat, GZA, Lupe Fiasco, MC Lyte, Fabolous, Xzibit, Dead Prez, The Pharcyde, Paul Wall, Buckshot & Smif-N-Wessun, Onyx, Nappy Roots, Kool G Rap, MC Sha-Rock and Ed Lover with a cast of DJs that set the tone for the cruise, including DJ Jazzy Jeff, Mannie Fresh, DJ Paul, J Period, DJ Evil Dee, DJ Kool, DJ R-Tistic and Rock the Bells Radio’s own DJ Scratch, Technician the DJ, DJ Chuck Chillout, and DJ Epps.

    This cruise will also feature an epic lineup of comedians including Affion Crockett, Guy Torry, Tony Roberts, and Lance Woods.

    “Rock The Bells Cruise” is in partnership with Sixthman, the industry leader in unforgettable music and lifestyle festivals at sea. Setting sail from Miami to Bimini on October 27-October 31, 2025. The “Rock The Bells Cruise: A Hip-Hop Experience” is a one-of-a-kind experience, offering an immersive Hip-Hop experience aboard Norwegian Jewel.

    Rock the Bells elevates Hip-Hop’s legacy through music, fashion, art, and community engagement. The brand honors the genre’s history and highlights its impact on culture, from the streets to the global stage. The Rock the Bells Cruise connects fans, artists, creators, and tastemakers, building a space where the authenticity of Hip-Hop thrives and its stories are told.

    The week-long cruise will sail from Miami and make one stop in the Bahamas at Bimini.

    “Rock the Bells is back on the water, bringing the energy, the music, and the culture to new places. This cruise is more than an experience—it’s a movement. And trust me, we’re just getting started.” – LL Cool J, Founder of Rock the Bells

    “The Rock the Bells Cruise is all about celebrating the culture with icons that have not only laid the foundation throughout the past 50+ years but continue to push it forward. This event is for the community, and we are happy to help put together. If you are a Hip-Hop head then you can’t miss this ship because Nappy Roots said it best “We’re gonna have a good day!” – Jeff Cuellar CEO of Sixthman

  • Drake to headline all three nights of Wireless Festival 2025 in London’s Finsbury Park

    PARYTNEXTDOOR, Summer Walker, Burna Boy, and Vybz Kartel have been announced as special guests.

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    In the morning, we received an email sharing the exciting news about Drake’s unprecedented headlining shows spanning three days in London at Wireless Festival’s twentieth-anniversary edition. The global superstar will perform three different set lists to give proper attention to his vast catalogue of genre-blending chart-topping hits! We haven’t been to a music festival all year, but we feel this one would be the one to go down in the books. When’s the last time you’ve seen something like this happen? Never, and that’s why it’s exhilarating in concept.

    If you are a fan of Big Boy’s Neighborhood show, you’ve probably heard about Tariq Cheriff’s interview. During the interview, the festival co-owner discussed wanting to book Drake as a headliner for Rolling Loud for many years without success. Surprisingly, Cheriff explained that he wanted to do something similar for Drake (like this Wireless Festival deal), but allegedly it wasn’t enticing enough according to his team. Explicitly, the founder shared that a European festival may steal the

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    “They were like, ‘You need to make it special.’ Well, alright, [let’s do] three nights of Drake. You [can] be the headliner for three nights”, Cherif said to Big Boy.

    “I heard a certain festival in Europe is about to steal our idea.”

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    Before then, Cheriff said, “I feel like Drake’s ducking us. I got no beef with Drake. I like Drake. I think he’s a great artist… We’ve been trying to book Drake forever. We even offered Drake three nights of Drake once.”

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  • American global icon Mariah Carey to headline this year’s Brighton Pride festival, after COVID-19 cancellation in 2020

    “It’s going to be a scorcher.”

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    According to the BBC, American global icon Mariah Carey will headline this year’s Brighton Pride Festival in the Summertime at Preston Park on August 2, 2025. The singer, with nineteen number-one singles, will take to the stage. It will be the singing diva’s first time live in the United Kingdom since a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019.

    Paul Kemp, the Brighton Pride Managing Director, said, “We were so excited to have her join us in 2020 and absolutely gutted the show couldn’t go ahead due to pandemic restrictions that Summer.”

    Kemp continued, “Pride is always an amazing weekend of celebration and inclusiveness of our city, and this year is going to be incredibly momentous.”

    Carey’s appearance is a due-over linked to the cancellation of the festival in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tickets go on sale on February 20. You may want to get yours soon since approximately 300,000 people attend every year.

  • PsychoYP announced as official artist for SXSW 2025

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    Nigerian Hip-Hop sensation PsychoYP has been officially announced as a showcasing artist for the 2025 South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival, set to take place in Austin, Texas, from March 10 to 15. This inclusion highlights PsychoYP’s rising influence in the global music scene and offers him a platform to reach a broader international audience. PsychoYP, known for his dynamic style and innovative approach to Hip-Hop, has been instrumental in shaping the sounds of various artists, including collaborations with Ghanaian producer Yung D3mz. His participation in SXSW 2025 underscores the festival’s commitment to featuring diverse and emerging talents from around the world.

    The SXSW Music Festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of artists and serves as a significant springboard for musicians aiming to expand their reach. PsychoYP’s performance is highly anticipated and is expected to be a highlight of the festival, further solidifying his position in the international music industry.

    PsychoYP’s track ‘Violation’ was added to the festival’s official playlist on Spotify.