Coachella and Lollapalooza might have multiple stages, but the Red Bull Music Academy Festival has the whole of New York City as its podium/playground. The eclectic East Coast tradition has just announced its 2017 lineup. As anticipated, it’s just as great as we’ve come to expect from the festival that brought us an FKA twigs twist on Cirque du Soleil in a deep Brooklyn warehouse, and a Larry Levan block party that drew thousands to a West Side street corner in tribute to the legendary DJ of Paradise Garage.
This year’s headliners will be drawing music fans to equally disparate locations across the city. A Seat at the Table mastermind Solange has created a multimedia dance performance exclusively for the Guggenheim. Gucci Mane and Zaytoven will expand upon their too-brief Tiny Desk series for an Atlanta rap-flavored grand piano performance. Second-wave Detroit house legend and Prince superfan Moodymann — who literally transformed his Michigan home into a gargantuan shrine to the Purple One — will play a special tribute set to the late icon who so heavily inspired him.
The festival’s less extravagant performances are certainly no less exciting. NYC will be turned into a Brazilian “proibidão” street party soundtracked by MC Bin Laden, MC Carol, Venus X and Asmara — the two friends recently dropped the scorching collab mixtape Putaria Maxima — plus a showcase of the minimal lo-fi South African house music known as GQOM. Over in Bed Stuy, Juliana Huxtable, Tygapaw, Bearcat, and Papi Juice will celebrate the ‘hood’s electronic hotbed status with a daytime dance party. Visionary jazz pianist Alice Coltrane will get a posthumous 80th birthday party at the Knockdown Center, while a showcase of gay underground club scenes will bring together collectives from across the country. Summer festivals probably get the most buzz, but we’re pretty stoked for spring.
Tickets go on sale today, Wednesday March 22 at 11am EST. Check out the full lineup here.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Instagram