UK: 51st State – the festival dedicated to soulful dance music – has revealed the line-up for its second edition at London’s Trent Park on August 6.
Presented by Found Series, the line-up features tastemakers, trail-blazers and seminal figures from house, garage, soul, funk, dub, dancehall and disco with Kings Of House, Soul II Soul, Body & Soul, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry, Dimitri From Paris, Crystal Waters, The Basement Boys, Barbara Tucker, Matt Jam Lemont, Mr Vegas, The Heatwave, Jazzy B, Joey Negro, Horse Meat Disco, Marshall Jefferson and many more set to perform at the leafy North London location.
With six stages playing music all day long, highlights include Main Stage headliners Kings Of House, made up from three of the genre’s most legendary figures: Louie Vega, Tony Humphries and David Morales. Grammy Award winning Soul II Soul will also play a set from the open-air stage. A who’s who of house music heroes follows on as Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry, Marshall Jefferson and Mike Dunn all take to the stage hosted by iconic soul singer Barbara Tucker.
Other festival highlights include the Groove Odyssey arena with performances from Body & Soul lynchpins Francois K, Joe Claussell and Danny Krivit as well as The Basement Boys: Spen, Karizma and Teddy Douglas. Crowds at Groove Odyssey will also enjoy live sets from stage hosts Adeva and Monique Bingham.
A festival favourite in 2015, BackTo95 have assembled an extensive line-up with arena hosts Crystal Waters celebrating 25 years of their smash-hit single Gypsy Woman, and a troupe of revered garage personalities including Todd Edwards, Artful Dodger, Matt Jam Lamont, Spoony & Mikee B and Norris De Boss Windross.
Elsewhere legendary jazz and funk composer Roy Ayers Ubiquity will headline We Love Soul. He will be joined by Jazzie B and Paul Trouble Anderson with a very special live set from The System’s Mic Murphy performing ‘You’re In My System’, ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’, ‘This For You’ and ‘It’s Passion’.
Bringing Caribbean carnival vibes to 51st State Festival, Hot Wuk welcomes Dancehall superstar Mr Vegas to headline their arena. Tippa Irie will play an exclusive vintage ’80s dancehall set and Dawn Penn brings a live PA to the arena. Legendary soundsystem Channel One and Found Series favourites The Heatwave will also be performing at Hot Wuk.
For those seeking extra luxuries, the Studio 51 VIP arena returns for 2016 offering a chill-out seating area, exclusive bar, posh loos and fast-track entry, as well as an additional stage of music with Joey Negro, John Morales, Horse Meat Disco and more.
Found Series has partnered with mental health charity Mind for its 2016 festival series.
