The Leftfield

Who's Performing?

Among the line up this year are The Beat, Back to the Planet, Lethal Bizzle, Billy Bragg, Jim Bob, The Mentalists, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, and The Noisettes. As well as two secret guest slots you won’t want to miss. Plus, if you fancy having a stab at playing the Left Field stage yourself, there are open-mic slots each day.

Comedy comes from Mark Steel, Shazia Mirza and Marcus Brigstocke, while political father of Glastonbury Tony Benn returns for his 5th Glasto in the Left Field, having packed the tent out in 2005.

All the acts are playing the Left Field for free, in support of a wide bunch of campaigns - this year including Anti-Slavery, Shelter, Love Music Hate Racism, Polish workers rights and Youth Music.

About the bands

  • Joss Stone

    Joss Stone is an English soul singer whose throaty style of singing was influenced by early motown singers. Stone is also known for performing barefoot.

    Her debut album, The Soul Sessions, consists of classic soul tracks by Betty Wright, Franklin, Laura Lee and Bettye Swann and was released in late 2003. It reached the top 5 in the UK albums chart, and also made the top forty of the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart.

    http://www.myspace.com/jossstone

  • Billy Bragg

    Stephen William Bragg, known as Billy Bragg, is a British musician known for his blend of folk, punk-rock, and protest music. He has been active for over 20 years since his early career as a regular contributor to anarchic UK live rock show The Tube.

    His music is a combination of poetry and political comment, with a dash of romance. He has collaborated with many other musicians, including Johnny Marr of The Smiths, protest folk singer Leon Rosselson, R.E.M., Less Than Jake, Kirsty MacColl, and Wilco. Bragg was influenced by his brief experience in the British Army as a trooper in the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps.

    He, along with Paul Weller and others, was a leading member of UK left-wing musicians pressure group Red Wedge in the Thatcher-dominated 80s.

    http://www.myspace.com/billybragg

  • Lethal Bizzle

    Lethal Bizzle (also known as Lethal B) is one of the fastest growing East London Grime artists. In December, 2004 he released "Pow (Forward)", also known as "Forward Riddim", which was banned from airplay by some mainstream stations; it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 in the first chart of 2005.

    Lethal Bizzle has signed up with V2 Records to bring out his new album Against All Odds which was released on 15th August. He has also released a second single "Uh Oh! (I'm Back)" in the same month, it debuted at number 47 in the UK Singles Charts.

    http://www.myspace.com/lethalbizzlemusic

  • The Thirst

    Meet brothers Mensah and Kwame Cofi-Agyeman. Teenage tearaways growing up in Brixton, south London. Younger brother Mensah finds escape from the temptations of city life by experimenting. But while his peers experiment with drugs, gang culture and petty crime, he finds inspiration a cheap electric guitar bought for him by his parents. His brother borrows some cash and buys a bass, and the core of The Thirst is born. Completing the line up are primary school friend and rhythm guitarist Mark Lenihan, and cheeky drummer Marcus Harris.

    The band took what instruments they could to find a sound. They were influenced by both their parents' old punk records and Hendrix, but also the drum n' bass and hip hop coming out of Brixton.

    http://www.myspace.com/thethirstrockband

  • Ned's Atomic Dustbin

    Ned's Atomic Dustbin is a British Grebo rock band that formed in Stourbridge in West Midlands, England in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of The Goon Show.

    http://www.myspace.com/nedsatomicdustbin

  • CUD

    CUD are the most underrated band from the British music scene in the last 20 years. Sexy rhythms and memorable sparky lyrics. The music press hated them, the fans couldn't get enough of them.

    They also had the infamous 'Drummer from Cud' Steve Goodwin. The Keith Moon of the 1980's Indie Scene.

    http://www.myspace.com/cudband

  • Neck

    London-Irish band NECK's irrepressible 'Psycho-Ceilídh' sound has matured over six years of furious global gigging. The 6-piece band juxtaposes, perfectly, the swirling, spiritual abandon of Traditional Irish music featuring fiddle, whistle, banjo and Irish (Uilleann) bag-pipes, with the rip-roaring, electric energy of a full-on Punk band.

    This is all topped-off with the raucous, passionate vocals of song-smith Leeson O'Keeffe - a man with an undeniable pedigree - formerly of Shane MacGowan's Popes, guest banjo-player with The Alabama 3, from the same Irish enclave of North London (County Holloway!) that spawned Johnny Rotten and with family roots in the same Dublin neighbourhood as Flogging Molly's Dave King.

    http://www.myspace.com/neckireland

  • Back to the Planet

    Back To The Planet (BTTP) formed while squatting together in Peckham, south east London in 1989, and attracted a dedicated following throughout the early nineties. They played four consecutive Glastonbury festivals and played many free festivals, including the Deptford Urban Free Festival and the infamous Castlemorton Common Festival in 1992. BTTP were vociferous in their resistance to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.Their music blended elements of ska, dub, punk, and dance music.

    http://www.myspace.com/backtotheplanet

  • Akala

    Akala is a British rap and grime artist. He is the brother of the famous Ms. Dynamite, who has proved to be much more successful than him since, as yet, none of his singles have reached the Top 40 of the Official UK Singles Chart.

    His name is a Buddhist term meaning immovable. He released his first album, It's Not A Rumour on May 1, 2006. In September, 2006, he won a Mobo Award for best hip-hop artist.

    http://www.myspace.com/akalamusic

  • Slovo

    Slovo began in the mind and then the South London studio of Faithless guitarist Dave Randall. In 2002 he brought together Iceland's Emiliana Torrini, West Africa's Maezah, England's Kirsty Hawkshaw, the urban poems of AD, the drums of Max Roach, the voice of Charlie Chaplin and the words of Woody Guthrie. Entitled 'nommo', Slovo's debut album raised questions about the world and was in the words of The Sunday Times, 'a wonderful album that is both stridently polemical and determinedly celebratory.'

    http://www.myspace.com/4slovo

  • Don Letts & Dub Cartel

    Don Letts' reputation has been firmly established in both the film and music world by a substantial body of work from the late 70's through the 80's, 90's and well into the millennium. His work has been exhibited in The Kitchen N.Y.C, The Institute of Contemporary Art, The N.F.T in London and was honored at Brooklyn's BAM festival. In March 2003 he won a Grammy for his documentary 'Westway To The World'.

    He came to notoriety in the late 70's as the DJ that single handedly turned a whole generation of punks onto reggae. It was whilst as a d.j at the first punk club 'The Roxy' in 1977, that Don adopted the punk D.I.Y ethic and begun to make his first film 'The Punk Rock Movie'. Shot on Super-8mm it is the only documentary on the U.K punk scene w/ Sex Pistols-The Clash and many others. This led to a period directing over 300 music videos for a diverse range of artists.

    http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm

  • The Hours

    The Hours were formed in 2004 by Antony Genn and Martin Slattery, formerly of Joe Strummer's backing group, The Mescaleros. Their sound has been described as a cross between Elbow and Bloc Party. They released their first single, "Ali In The Jungle," in November 2006 and their debut album, Narcissus Road, two months later.

    Genn played briefly with Elastica and Pulp before the Mescaleros; he has also worked as a producer, most notably for electronic act UNKLE's Never Never Land album. Slattery is an accomplished keyboard player who previously toured with Shaun Ryder's mid-90s group Black Grape.

    The band is managed by Jeanette Lee, who runs Rough Trade with Geoff Travis and former Pulp bassist Steve Mackey. They have received vocal support from Radio One DJ Zane Lowe and Jarvis Cocker.

    http://www.myspace.com/thehours

  • Republic of Loose

    Republic of Loose are a Dublin based band that have broken the seal of the usual run-of-the-mill Irish singer/songwriter.

    Blasting onto the the music scene through the help Phantom FM with Hold Up!, The Loose gained the foundation of a firm fanbase.With the gospel like vocals and back to basics funk, the lads sell out venues such as The Ambassador, The Village and The Stables.

    With the recent release of Aaagh!, the group have gained a larger fanbase and regular airplay on national radio in Ireland.

    http://www.myspace.com/republicofloose

  • The Noisettes

    The Noisettes are an indie rock trio from London, England and started in 2003 when Shingai Shoniwa and Dan Smith (formerly of the band SonarFly) began writing, playing and hanging out more intensely than before. They met drummer Jamie Morrison in December 2003 and went straight into the studio to record their 4 track debut "Three Moods of the Noisettes" which was released on Side Salad Records.

    Eventually signing to Universal, they've since released four singles - Iwe, Scratch Your Name, Don't Give Up, Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit). Their debut album What's The Time Mr Wolf? was released Feb 5, 2007 supported by a UK tour. A US tour will be starting in March.

    http://www.myspace.com/noisettesuk

  • Get Cape Wear Cape Fly

    One-man band Sam Duckworth, from Southend, Essex, UK, writes socially-motivated acoustic songs, set to a background of scatty electronic beats running from his laptop; what you might call "folktronica". Influences include Roni Size, Athlete, Gomez, Elbow, The Streets and Rival Schools.

    Having released one EP and two splits (one CD, one 10") through Big Scary Monsters, Sam signed to Atlantic records in March 2006.

    http://www.myspace.com/getcapewearcapefly

  • Neville Staples

    Best known for his work writing & composing, the lead singer from The Specials, and as one of the founding members of Fun Boy 3, Neville Staple is credited with changing the face of pop music not only once but twice.

    Neville's biography and past projects read like a who's who of rock. He has worked with such legends as Elvis Costello (The Specials 1979 Chrysalis Records), David Byrne (Fun Boy 3 Waiting 1983 Chrysalis Records), and Ali Campbell (Today's Specials 1996 Kuff Records/Virgin), to name only a few.

    http://www.myspace.com/nevillestaplefromthespecials

  • Jim Bob

    Jim Bob currently tours as a solo artist playing both Carter songs and his solo material. His Goodnight Jim Bob - On The Road With Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine autobiography was published by Cherry Red Books in May 2004 to critical acclaim. Jim Bob's new album Angelstrike, was released on November 22, 2004. He is currently writing his second book in between touring commitments. He is also currently recording his latest solo album, entitled School, due for release in 2006.

    http://www.myspace.com/jimbobm