Sound Tracks Festival, 17th September
Oh East London Line, is there anything you can't do? Two east London music promoters have created the Sound Tracks Festival that will play across Cafe Oto in Dalston; Concrete in Shoreditch and the Amersham Arms in New Cross, linked by the East London Line, with live music played on the connecting trains.
Headline acts include abstract dance music innovator Fantastic Mr. Fox, rhythmic jazz quartet Shabaka & The Sons of Kemet, and energetic garage punk frontwoman Marina Gasolina, formerly of Baile Funk band Bonde do Role, who will be playing in New Cross. The promoters have secured the permission of TfL to bring the gigs in to the carriages and the New Cross Inn will also be supporting.
Promoter Amanda Lwin explains:
My colleague Carolina is based in Hoxton and I live in Dalston. Deptford and New Cross have a lively cultural scene but people perceive Dalston and New Cross to be worlds away - when in fact they're only 22 mins on the East London Line. Part of the reason of putting on the festival is to connect these places and communities.
For project management reasons, the acoustic sessions on the East London Line will run from New Cross to Dalston Junction, and from Surrey Quays to Dalston Junction (for trains heading up from West Croydon / Crystal Palace). This is the first year we've done this (and the first time that TfL / LOROL have put on something like this) so we need to make it as manageable as possible. We're not allowed to say exactly what time specific acts will be performing, to avoid overcrowding.
This year was about creating something interesting and manageable - but we have a million ideas of how to grow the festival in future. We'd love to expand its reach other places on the Overground network in the coming years.
