Forever Now festival to be ‘decade defining moment’ for acts and fans at National Bowl

More than a dozen acts spanning post-punk and its adjacent genres will head to the iconic venue in Milton Keynes in June.

Headlined by Kraftwerk, there will also be performances by The The, Billy Idol, Death Cult and many more.

Speaking at a Q&A hosted by author and musician John Robb at the Sanctum Hotel in Soho, London, last week, Brandon – who will be performing on the day – said: “A lot of these bands, we’ve all seen them, but when you put this lot together, it’s an incredible line-up.

“You probably won’t see a line-up like that ever again to be honest.

“Individually, yes, you’ll go and see The Psychedelic Furs, the Chameleons – they’re always on tour.

“However, I think it’ll be a defining moment in this decade for a genre of music that’s almost indefinable. Post punk, electronic, punk, whatever you want to call it.

“I think it will be a defining moment. I was talking to someone the other day and he said it will be one of those festivals where you say, ‘I was there’, and it will mean something.”

Other acts due to perform on the day include Johnny Marr, Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Happy Mondays, The Damned, Public Image Ltd, Berlin, She Wants Revenge, The Motels and UK Decay.

The Echo Chamber stage, curated by John Robb and Eugene Butcher, will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with some of the acts playing.

During last week’s Q&A, John Robb and Kirk Brandon were also joined by Steve Abbott from UK Decay.

As well as looking ahead to the festival, the trio discussed the original post-punk movement which emerged in the UK during the late 1970s.

John Robb said: “When AEG originally put up the poster for the festival, you looked at it and thought no way are all those bands going to be on the same bill. It’s going to be insane backstage.

“It’s a selection of some of the greatest bands of that period and the Bowl is an iconic venue, it’s a killer line up, it’s ticking a lot of boxes really isn’t it.”

Talking about his involvement in the festival and The Echo Chamber stage, he added: “When you’re at a festival all day, no matter how many good bands are on, sometimes you need to sit down and not have your ears battered, the ‘in conversation’ will be a good place to hear people recounting their stories.”

Rat Scabies from The Damned, Martha Davis from The Motels, Mark Burgess from The Chameleons, Terri Nunn from Berlin and Richard Jobson from The Skids are all expected to feature on the stage.

While Forever Now has a very British flavour to its line-up, it will be headlined by legendary German act Kraftwerk.

Still led by original member Ralf Hütter, Kraftwerk - who formed in the early 1970s - pioneered electronic music and krautrock.

Forever Now takes place on Sunday, June 22.

Tickets cost from £95 before fees and are available via AXS and Ticketmaster.

VIP packages, hotel and coach travel options are also available.

For more information, visit www.forevernowfestival.co.uk