Brandon Flowers
The Eden Project celebrates ten years of Sessions concerts this year with one of its strongest line-ups yet.
The project will hit another musical landmark too, as the Fleet Foxes gig on July 1 will be the 50th Eden Session.
Each date on the Sessions calendar sees a full day of festival-style live music and events take over the Eden gardens. The top headliners and special guests on the main stage in the evening are complemented by two smaller stages featuring some of the best up-and-coming acts playing throughout the day.
The confirmed acts so far for 2011 are Primal Scream and The Horrors (June 23), Pendulum and special guests to be announced (June 25), The Flaming Lips, The Go! Team and OK Go (June 30), Fleet Foxes, Villagers and The Bees (July 1) and Brandon Flowers and Mystery Jets (July 12).
The Eden Sessions kicked off in 2002 when Jarvis Cocker’s Pulp became the first band to grace the Eden stage.
Since then PJ Harvey, Supergrass, Keane, Editors, Muse, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Hot Chip, The Verve, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Paul Weller, Florence and the Machine, Jack Johnson, Mumford & Sons and many more have played at Eden.
Oasis played one of their final gigs at the project in 2009, both Doves and Badly Drawn Boy have played twice and Primal Scream will be returning for their second headline turn this summer.
Highlights over the years include Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs jumping into the crowd in the middle of a number, Noel Gallagher’s stab at a Cornish accent and Rufus Wainwright’s encore while dressed in drag.
Eden also hosted Live8 Africa Calling in 2005 which saw the Cornish project join the likes of London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo and Johannesburg in one of the biggest global music events ever. Live8 aimed to make poverty history and an estimated 3 billion people watched the shows.
John Empson, Eden’s Director of Music, said: "The beauty of the Eden Sessions is that they inspire the unexpected. We celebrate diversity in culture and over the last ten years are proud to have delivered some landmark moments from Jarvis Cocker encoring Common People in front of the Biomes, Jack White's improvised guitar solos, Amy Winehouse's prickly performance, Polly Harvey's majesty and Muse and Oasis squeezing stadium sets into the clay pit.
"We've had early support shows by the likes of Florence and the Machine, Mumford & Sons, Editors and Elbow. We've had legends - Weller, Brian Wilson and Jack Johnson all commanding inspired performances in the best and most unique venue in the UK.
"There will be some magic moments on the way in 2011 - Pendulum warming up for their Beyonce support at Glastonbury, the Flaming Lips zorb and confetti party, Screamadelica Live!, Fleet Foxes's sun-drenched harmonies and Killers frontman Brandon Flowers's UK exclusive headline show. Here's to the next ten years Eden!"
This year, the Sessions will be more like one-day festivals than ever before. Starting from midday on each date, Eden’s stages will play host to some of the best up-and-coming acts around, as well as poetry, story-telling and debates.
The daytime programme will be split between the Stage Right Stage, situated next to the main arena, and the Biotik stage, which is in the Mediterranean Biome. Biotik is the result of a long-term collaboration between the Eden Project and Cape Farewell, a creative project that brings artists, scientists and communicators together to engage people in the subject of climate change.
The line-ups include:
June 23 (Primal Scream headlining)
A programme of events curated by insect-themed arts festival Pestival will headline the Biotik stage while Stage Right will feature Quails, The Last Detail, Riff Raff, She Keeps Bees and Fangs.
June 25 (Pendulum headlining)
Stage Right will see Gary and the Minefield, Kazuki, Auction for the Promise Club, Personal Space Invaders, Sandfire Siren and The Sum Of with the Biotik line-up still to be confirmed.
June 30 (The Flaming Lips headlining)
Biotik plays host to artists affiliated with the Manchester Aid to Kosovo charity, including Liam Frost and The Travelling Band. The stage will also host conversations and debates about sustainability. Stage Right will feature Dark Moon, Louise and Pins, Hiss Golden Messenger, Thomas J. Speight, Exelby and Louis Eliot and the Embers.
July 1 (Fleet Foxes headlining)
Composer Tim Sutton will lead an interactive music piece with the Biotik audience. Various poets, including Southbank Associate Artist Lemn Sissay, will also perform. Stage Right will see Under the Driftwood Tree, Kola, Winter Mountain Band and Grey Dog.
July 12 (Brandon Flowers headlining)
Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock will curate a collection of folk artists on the Biotik stage, including Martyn Carthy, Green Gartside and Kathryn Williams. Nimmo, Brothers and Bones, Ruarri Joseph, Spree, Crowns and Ben Montague will play Stage Right.
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