The full line up for the Beck’s Fusions event at Manchester’s Castlefield Arena has been announced with an international twist.
Alongside a spectacular fusion performance from Massive Attack and United Visual Artists (UVA), the three day art and music event will now include performances from up-and-coming New York disco revivalists Hercules and Love Affair and fellow New Yorker Santogold, along with antipodean talent from The Presets and Midnight Juggernauts, Das Pop (Belgium), Sonny J (Liverpool) and Manchester’s own Elektrons. Saturday will also see a special appearance from infamous, international street artist Zevs.
FULL BECK’S FUSIONS 2008 BAND LINE UP:
FRIDAY 5 SEPTEMBER Hercules And Love Affair The Presets Sonny J Live Cicada Elektrons Tokyoblu Mechanical Owl
SATURDAY 6th SEPTEMBER Massive Attack VERY SPECIAL GUESTS Santogold Midnight Juggernauts Das Pop Phantom Limb.
Each day bands will be collaborating with visual artists to create one-off performances exclusively for Beck’s Fusions. A wider arts programme will also run across each day of the event featuring work from artists such as Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich with their Love Parade performance and Nottingham’s Mark Gubb. The Beck’s Fusions arts programme has been curated in collaboration with the Contemporary Arts Society (CAS).
FULL BECK’S FUSIONS 2008 ARTIST LINE UP: FRIDAY 5 SEPTEMBER Michael Mayhew Juneau Projects Plus many more TBC
SATURDAY 6th SEPTEMBER United Visual Artists (UVA) Zevs Plus many more TBC
Tickets for Friday and Saturday will be given to lucky competition winners. Fans can apply for tickets via becks.co.uk where a weekly ballot will determine which lucky few will be in with a chance of seeing these amazing performances. The competition is now open and the final ballot will be drawn on Wednesday 20 August.
Audiences can also head along to Castlefield Arena on Thursday 4 September to interact with multiple art installations while enjoying a short film programme, DJs, food and drink and some very special entertainment to be announced. Entry to the arena on Thursday is FREE NON-TICKETED.
Speaking on the UVA vs Massive Attack performance Keri Elmsly from UVA said: "Lots of our work involves bringing art and music together and as a collective we're firm believers in the intrinsic relationship the two have. This project is great because it really recognises this and offers us the opportunity to present something really new and build on our collaborative relationship with Massive Attack."  Beck’s have chosen Manchester as the location for Fusions in 2008 to celebrate its place as one of Britain’s top cultural destinations. The inaugural year of the Manchester International Festival in 2007 signalled Manchester as the obvious choice to host this celebration of art and music. A previous home to Dpercussion and Britain’s first urban heritage park, Castlefield Arena will offer an atmospheric backdrop for this unique event.