CITADEL 2017 PREVIEW

It’s that time of year again when one-day festivals appear all over London. Taking over Victoria Park – the same place that hosts Field Day, Lovebox and more – Citadel returns for its third year, attempting to further establish itself ‘the ultimate summer Sunday’. 2015 saw Bombay Bicycle Club and Ben Howard play, while last year featured Icelandic heroes Sigur Ros.

This year the headliner is Foals in a UK festival exclusive. The Oxford band will be ably supported by Wild Beasts, Laura Marling and Michael Kiwanuka but there’s much more to the festival than the big guns. Here’s five lesser-known acts to try and catch.

Nadine Shah

We tipped Nadine Shah way back as one of our top tips for 2013 and since then the north-easterner has released two well-received albums and toured around the UK and Europe. Her latest track ‘Holiday Destination’ sounds ace too, so make a beeline to see her on the Communion stage.

Ardyn

We really liked brother-and-sister duo Ardyn’s ‘mature and developed dark indie pop’ when we first heard them. I’ve seen them a couple of times recently and they sound really good live – they’ll be on the Clash & Last.fm stage.

Jake Isaac

Also on at that stage is soulful Londoner Jake Isaac who has been going from strength to strength since we tipped him three years ago. He’s still only a ridiculously young 19 years old but has already played with Elton John and Paloma Faith and is one to keep an eye on.

Stevie Parker

We described Stevie Parker as a ‘slice of thoughtful pop gold’ and compared her to London Grammar and The Japanese House last year. Tough standards you might think, but debut album The Cure has gone down a treat with The Guardian describing it as ‘one of those idiosyncratic British heartbreak albums that has the potential to go far’. Catch her at the DIY stage.

Tamu Massif

And finally, someone we tipped just over a year ago. We reckoned fans of Ben Howard and James Blake would like Tamu Massif – named after the world’s largest volcano – who is also appearing at the DIY stage.

Words by Tom Worley