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Skepta is a man of many talents. Most people know him as a rapper. He also recently dipped his foot into DJing, playing sets at Circoloco in Ibiza, and has released a new record label with a focus on house music. He’s turned his hand to painting, and in September, he debuted his first catwalk fashion show.
That doesn’t seem to be enough for him, though – because he’s just announced the inaugural edition of his one-day music festival taking place in Crystal Palace Park next summer.
Big Smoke festival will take place on Saturday, July 6 and will feature a line-up across two stages curated by Skepta himself. One stage will be hosted by his record label Más Tiempo, showcasing dance artists, and Skepta himself will be performing in what is set to be his only UK performance of 2024.
Revealing the news on Instagram live, Skepta said: ‘I’m gassed to finally announce that Big Smoke Festival is official... I’m so excited, it’s been a wild one to do this. I just want to say thank you to all the supporters, it’s been a couple years that you didn’t see me on a stage... I know a lot of people have been wondering when they’ll see Skepta at a festival and I really wanted to save all that energy and put it into something that was for us, by us.’
He continued: ‘There’s going to be a live stage with all your favourite acts – anyone you know that’s affiliated with Skepta. There’ll be a live stage on one side and the Más Tiempo stage which will also be a full lineup. I might bust up one stage, fly over to the other one and link with Jammer. It’s gonna be crazy.’
The rest of the line-up will be announced in due course. Tickets will go on sale on Friday, December 1 and are available here.
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