Providing a platform for youth countercultures and nightlife workers, Tour de Moon is the first of its kind. The unique, immersive and free festival will launch in Leicester in May.
Free tickets are available now.
Bringing together talks, cinema, music and games all under one cosmic theme – Tour de Moon is truly a festival like no other. Tour de Moon celebrates the relationship between the earth and the moon with a number of thought-provoking, exciting and original experiences; with a special focus on nightlife, creativity and culture. The festival will prompt visitors to ask ‘Why can’t we imagine a new way of thinking?’ – highlighting the need for radical imagination in the current global climate as well as encouraging alternative futures.
Tour de Moon will arrive in Leicester on 13th May before stopping in Newcastle and Southampton later in the month. Four days of interactive events will be taking place in each city, appealing to everyone from amateur sports teams to die-hard clubbers. Events will be taking place in various venues across the city including Highcross Shopping Centre, Morningside Arena, Hansom Hall, 2Funky Music Café, African Caribbean Centre and Bishop Street Church. Visitors will also be able to experience the Moon Convoy as it arrives on Humberstone Gate.
Leicester was selected as the first city to host the Tour de Moon Festival in celebration of the city’s diversity and movement in the urban arts industry. It is also intended to offer additional support to the city’s nightlife sector in recognition of the fact that Leicester was kept under lockdown restrictions longer than anywhere else in the UK during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The programme will come to life through performances from local Leicester based artists. Channelling music, words and visuals, Mellow Baku will be appearing in the Moon Talks programme, whilst Jada O’Neill will bring her Bajan inspired soulful melodies to Moon Music at 2Funky Music Cafe. Leicester born Tayo will be drawing on his main influence of 00s indie, and he’ll be joined by spontaneous musician, rapper and songwriter, Marik, for a set of epic live performance. The full line-up will be available from www.tourdemoon.com before the event.
2Funky Music Cafe owner, Vijay Mistry, commented, ‘‘We are very excited to be the first festival stop on TOUR DE MOON’s journey across the country! This new festival is truly unique and we are glad for the opportunity to showcase an eclectic source of new music which we will be programming. Expect live bands, DJs and a not-to-be-missed afterparty, all at 2Funky Music Café!’”
As well as the programme of events, Leicester will also celebrate the arrival of Moon Convoy on Humberstone Gate, featuring huge floats and interactive elements starting with a large rotating moon that appears and disappears at night with further interactive and ultra-violet experiences – expect cosmic transformations through live music and DJ sets, a full size replica of nine metre-long Archie The Squid who resides at The Natural History Museum, talks, film screenings, an inflatable game designed with the help of scientists at NASA SSERVI and the SETI Institute, a 9 piece Arkestra and a larger than life red phone through which visitors can talk to the Moon. Moon Convoy will also visit Bletchley, Wolverhampton, Grimsby, Huddersfield, Blackburn, Barrow-in-Furness, Plymouth, Farnborough and Crawley, concluding at Hackney’s Pedro Youth Club – one of the oldest youth organisations in the UK.
Tour de Moon’s creator is the creative director, artist and filmmaker Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun of Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios. Nelly is the founder of NASA’s International Space Orchestra and the tuition-free University of the Underground. Her large-scale projects have included collaborations with Noam Chomsky, Pussy Riot, Massive Attack and Kid Cudi to name but a few. She is known for challenging institutions from within through events, and she has done so at the United Nations, NASA and the International Astronautical Federation. Nelly’s fellow directors at Tour de Moon include Magid Magid, former Lord Mayor of Sheffield and founder of Union of Justice, Natasha Patterson, head coach at Pedro Youth Club, Dr Franck Marchis, chair of the exoplanet group at the SETI Institute, Damian Bradfield, President of WeTransfer and Adam Teskey, Manufacturing Director at The Vinyl Factory Plant.
Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun says “Our main objective at Tour de Moon is to prompt radical imagination, support pluralistic thinking so to offer alternative futures developed by and with youths. With this festival we decided to redistribute our funding and to use our platform to celebrate the nightlife sector and young adults – demographics which have been hit especially hard by the impacts of Covid and funding cuts over the last few years.” “Tour de Moon travels with the night, seeking new beginnings to empower others to create, initiate and innovate with new thinking and pluralistic practices so that history does not repeat itself on and beyond Earth.”
PROGRAMME
Moon Experiences (Friday to Monday 15.00-23.00) – Highcross Shopping Centre (Best Entrance: Bath House Lane): 5 Shires Lane, Leicester, LE1 4AN
Moon Games (10.00-16.00) – Morningside Arena
Moon Talks (Saturday 15.00-18.00) – African Caribbean Centre
Moon Talks (Friday 15.00-18.00) – Bishop St Church
Moon Talks (Friday and Saturday, 19.30-23.00) – Hansom Hall
Moon Talks (Sunday 19-30-23.00 and Monday 19.30-23.00) – 2Funky Music Café
Moon Music (Friday and Saturday 19.00-00.00) – 2Funky Music Cafe
Tour de Moon Afterparty (Saturday only, 23.00-04.00) – 2Funky Music Cafe
Moon Convoy (Friday -Monday 15.00 – 21.00) – Humberstone Gate
Moon Convoy Parade (Saturday 13.30) – Humberstone Gate
Tour de Moon arrives in Leicester from 13 – 16 May and all events are free. Register your free tickets now.