BDO Sideshows announced forBilly Bragg and Dizzee Rascal

Wed 28th Nov, 2007 in Local News

The Old School meets the New School when UK icons Billy Bragg and Dizzee Rascal play back to back gigs at the Hotel Great Northern, Byron Bay this January in two exclusive Big Day Out sideshows.

Described by The Times newspaper as a ‘national treasure’, Billy Bragg’s career has spanned nearly 30 years and he kicks off the double header treat on Tuesday 22nd January.

Bragg has certainly made an indelible mark on the conscience of British music, commencing his musical journey in 1977 as a member of the punk rock band Riff Raff and in turn becoming perhaps the most stalwart guardian of the radical dissenting tradition that stretches back over centuries of the country’s political, cultural and social history.

An outspoken opponent of fascism, racism, bigotry and homophobia, the Bard of Barking will turn 50 before he reaches our shores this summer – but the fire burns more brightly than ever.

Last seen in Australia as part of the Falls Festival line up in 2004, Billy Bragg in Byron Bay will be an intimate show, not to be missed.

Going head to head on the following night with his blend of garage,MCing, rap and ragga is Britain’s favourite hip hop wizard Dizzee Rascal.

Rascal was raised by a single mother on a council estate in east London and as a teenager he was excluded from every class except music and expelled four times. He began rapping in the UK garage style – the style dominant on many inner city streets – and one teacher encouraged him to develop his musical talents.

Like thousands of teenagers across the UK, he began making music in his bedroom with friends, using whatever technology he could lay his hands on, which went on to inspire his eclectic style of hip hop.with synth lines, grime, samples and breakneck speed vocal delivery

Winning the prestigious UK Mercury Music Prize with his 2003 debut Boy in Da Corner, saw Dizzee Rascal triumph over nominees Coldplay, The Darkness and Radiohead to become an overnight sensation. This has since seen him produce 2 more inventive albums and feature on countless other albums as a collaborator with the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Basement Jaxx.

His thought-provoking lyrics, distinctively piercing and poignant delivery, and original production have made him one of the hottest stars of the urban scene, and yet one impossible to pigeonhole.

Billy Bragg (UK) and special guests
Tuesday January 22
Hotel Great Northern, Jonson St, Byron Bay
Advance tickets $55 plus bf

Buy online at www.oztix.com.au or PH: 1300 762 545 or purchase in person at Hotel Great Northern and Oztix outlets, Rockinghorse, Skinnys, Central Station, Butterbeats, Music Mania, Sunflower Music