Home / Arts and Entertainment / Blackpool's Avant-Garde Festival: Kitsch Meets Chaos
Blackpool's Avant-Garde Festival: Kitsch Meets Chaos
29 Jun
Summary
- Festival blends high art with underground electronic music.
- Blackpool's faded glamour inspires experimental artistic expression.
- New festival successfully launched despite minor timing issues.
The Black Lights, a new experimental music festival in Blackpool, has concluded its debut three-day run. Curated by the team behind Manchester's White Hotel, the event celebrated a "disinclination to view art as 'high' or 'low'," blending diverse genres and artistic expressions.
Utilizing Blackpool's unique seaside atmosphere and faded glamour, the festival programmed acts from classical performances by the BBC Philharmonic to breakbeat techno by Afrodeutsche. Artists like The Caretaker, Klein, and Blackhaine delivered memorable sets in iconic locations such as the Blackpool Tower Ballroom and Winter Gardens.
Despite minor issues with punctuality, common to many first-year festivals, The Black Lights offered a much-needed iteration of experimental European festivals. It featured commissioned works, including an untitled orchestral piece by Mica Levi, and fostered a sense of escapism, mirroring the town's holiday spirit.
