Summercase

infobox music festival
music_festival_name = Summercase


location = Spain
*Madrid
*Barcelona
years_active= 2006 - present
dates = 14th & 15th July 2006 13th & 14th July 2007 18th & 19th July 2008
genre = Rock, Pop
website = http://www.summercase.com

Summercase is a two-day music festival held simultaneously in Barcelona and Madrid. The line up mainly consists of indie rock, electronic music and indie pop. Hence, the festival tries to blend indie pop, rock music and dance music into one. The first edition of the festival was organized in July 2006, with a total public of over 60,000, and the second edition was celebrated on 13 & 14 July 2007, attracting over 109,000. In only one year, the festival has become one of the most important ones of Europe and falls into the category of world famous music festivals such as the Denmark's Roskilde Festival, the Dutch Pinkpop, Ireland's Oxegen, the Spanish International Music Festival of Benicasim or the major festivals in the UK: T in the Park, Reading Festival, Leeds Festival, the V Festival and Glastonbury Festival and may be compared to California's Coachella Festival or Chicago's Lollapalooza.

2006 Line-up

Racist attack

On Saturday July 19 2008, following an incident at Summercase in Barcelona, Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke claimed that he was verbally insulted by Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon and physically attacked by his "entourage". [cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/news/bloc-party/38297|title="Bloc Party and Sex Pistols' John Lydon in 'racist attack'"|date=2008-07-21|accessdate=2008-07-24|publisher="NME"] Okereke said that he was "set upon" by three members of Lydon's crew after praising Lydon's musical past and inquiring on the future of Lydon's group Public Image Ltd.. One of Lydon's friends then told Okereke: "Your problem is your black attitude", and Lydon and members of his security detail attacked Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs and Yannis Philippakis of Foals when they attempted to aid Okereke. Philippakis informed the crowd at Latitude Festival the next day that the incident was so bad that he had been handcuffed and nearly didn't make it. [cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/news/foals/38295|title="Foals 'fight' Sex Pistols' John Lydon"|date=2008-07-21|accessdate=2008-07-28|publisher="NME"] Whilst the incident was witnessed by more than 50 people, including members of Mystery Jets, Kaiser Chiefs, Foals, Mogwai and The Raveonettes [cite web|url=http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=844&fid1=32614|title= Foals Say Bloc Party's Okereke Was Attacked By John Lydon|date=2008-07-25|accessdate=2008-07-27|publisher="Exclaim news"] [cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/neil-norman-lydon--a-loaded-pistol-with-his-sights-trained-on-humbug-878240.html|title= Lydon - a loaded Pistol with his sights trained on humbug|date=2008-07-26|accessdate=2008-07-27|publisher="The Gaurdian"] , Okereke's version of the events are disputed by Lydon. [cite web|url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/festivals/story/0,,2290581,00.html|title="Sex Pistols: Lydon denies racial abuse as singers clash"|date=2008-07-24|accessdate=2008-07-22|publisher="The Guardian"] However Neon Neon and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, who also witnessed the incident, backed Okereke, describing it as "horrific". Rhys stated Kele was "a very brave man" and told MTV News that "the statements Kele has said are absolutely true. What he said is exactly what happened." [cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/news/bloc-party/38378|title="'Kele Okereke was right about Sex Pistols racist attack'"|date=2008-07-23|accessdate=2008-07-24|publisher="NME"]

References