A Fistful Of Fandango
31st July 2007
A Fistful Of Fandango is an event which takes place at 229 on Great Portland Street during first week of September (5th to the 8th). Associated curators for the event are BBC 6 Music, BMI, fierce panda and Diesel, with indiestore.com as our official download partners.
Here are some vital stats:
There are two rooms: one big, one smaller. There will be six bands a night - three in the big room and three in small room so as one band finishes the next one starts in the other room. The venue is a bit like ULU but without the getting lost as it has its own entrance.
The whole thing is stealthily growing into a beast and is turning into a really colourful and eclectic week of music showcasing the best new music with a few special guest and comperes thrown in for good measure.
The 229 venue is smack bang opposite Great Portland Street tube station. Formerly known as the International Students House, this student-friendly venue is currently putting on lowkey test events and A Fistful Of Fandango is seen as an integral part of bringing the 229 name to the masses.
Why do this now? Well, cos we can. And the timing just seemed right: way back in January 1999 the people behind fierce panda records and Pointy Records (who went on to 'form' this Fandango thing you know and 'love') were hosting Club Panda at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town when they decided to foolishly promote the first ever week-long Pandamonium event. And so it was that fifteen eager new bands played over five consecutive New Yearly nights of terrific indiepop fun. Some bunch of chancers called Coldplay were the opening band on the opening night, if addled memory serves us correctly. So we're doing it again.
You probably want to know who's playing, and we can tell you that some of them are:
MAPS
SHITDISCO
ELECTRIC SOFT PARADE [pictured]
MISTY'S BIG ADVENTURE
FRIENDLY FIRES
SO SO MODERN
OPERATOR PLEASE
and some special guests we're not allowed to mention yet (no, not Coldplay, although if they wanna drop us a bell I'm sure we can accommodate them)
In addition to all this excitement, the 229 sandwich is complemented by a warm-up at our flagship night at the Dublin Castle on Sep 4th, and a warm-down at the Constitution in Camden on Sep 9th, in association with Tapestry and featuring some great singer songwriters, a great beer garden and a great BBQ.
Counting on our fingers, we make that six nights in a row with most of the nights having six bands, in our sixth Fandango year of existence. How poetic.
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