Music festival brings ’love’ to city once again

Grab your most comfortable shoes, hat and sunglasses and get ready for the Efes Pilsen One Love Festival, which brings world-renowned stars and local performers together onstage at the same venue as last year’s inaugural event.

Once again, Bilgi University’s popular santralistanbul campus, located in the Silahtarağa area, will be home to the two-day summer festival, which will be held June 20 and 21, and once again, organizers hope attendees will have fun, dance and sing along to the songs. This year’s event will include not only music performances, but also side activities organized throughout the festival, according to Emre Topsakaloğlu, the corporate marketing and communications manager for the Efes Beer Group Turkey’s district management.

This year’s guests

This year’s lineup includes the British indie-rock/psychedelic-pop band Klaxons, household names in electronica Röyksopp, British pop/rock group Starsailor and the legendary trip-hopper Tricky. In addition to these famous stars, there will be performances by M83, Portecho, Ayça Şen, Yasemin Mori, Bora Uzer, DearHead, Jonny Rock, Batı Yakası and Style-ist, and other DJ sets will continue until the early morning light.

Expanding into a larger area this year, the festival will feature shows in Otto Santral and Tamirane, the two on-campus bars, in addition to the performances on the main stage. The two bars, which hold electronic-music performances throughout the year, will mostly host DJ sets that will start simultaneously with the stage performances. Aeroplane, which blends cosmic nu-disco, psychedelic and emo tunes, and electronic rockers Filthy Dukes will play at Otto Santral, while the Grammy-nominated British trip-hop duo Zero 7 will perform at Tamirane.

First-day performer Tricky is mostly known for his rapping with Massive Attack. The talented musician, 41, has also worked with many other acclaimed artists, such as Björk, Greg Cohen, Damon Albarn of Blur, Alison Goldfrapp, Alanis Morisette and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Another highly anticipated festival act, Klaxons, is expected to bring charisma and style to the stage in its Saturday set. The London-based band won a Nationwide Mercury Prize in 2007 with its debut album, "Myths of the Near Future." Starsailor, which only became known in Turkey long after achieving fame elsewhere with its song "Poor Misguided Fool," will perform Sunday, as will the Norwegian electronic-music duo Röyksopp. The recipient of many awards since entering the music scene, Röyksopp’s sound is recognizable from commercials and TV programs.

The festival area will also contain bars and food kiosks. Efes Pilsen is the main sponsor of the event, which is organized by Pozitif, a company operating in various parts of the music industry. Another addition to the event is a new stage for comedy performances, talk shows, karaoke and workshops.

Festival tickets are on sale at Biletix and Babylon kiosks. One-day tickets cost 25 Turkish Liras for students and 40 liras for all other attendees. Two-day tickets are 40 liras for students and 65 liras for regular admission.

June 20

Main Stage
4:15 p.m.  Ayça Şen
5:45 p.m.  Bora Uzer
7:15 p.m.  M83
9:00 p.m.  Tricky
10:45 p.m. Klaxons

Otto Santral
7:45 p.m. TAPE (DJ Set)
9:45 p.m. DearHead (DJ Set)
11:45 p.m. Zi Punt & Orange Delight
1:00 a.m. Filthy Dukes (DJ Set)

Tamirane
11:45 p.m. Zero 7 (DJ Set) & Ross Allen

June 21

Main stage
3:00 p.m. Batı Yakası
4:15 p.m. Yasemin Mori
5:45 p.m. Portecho
7:30 p.m. Starsailor
9:00 p.m. Röyksopp

Otto Santral
7:00 p.m. Style-ist (DJ Set)
9:15 p.m. Kim Ki O
10:30 p.m. Aeroplane (DJ Set)

Tamirane
10:00 p.m. Jonny Rock (DJ Set)