Five Of The Best acts at Outlines Festival 2017

Image: Outlines Festival

2016 saw the inaugural Outlines Festival take place in Sheffield across multiple venues for a one-dayer event to offer up a smaller, winter equivalent to the increasingly popular Tramlines Festival.

For its first ever edition, the festival organisers managed to pull in some big name artists, perhaps not completely surprising given the headliners Tramlines attracts nowadays, with the likes of TOY, Roots Manuva and Loyle Carner all featuring. The Outlines festival 2017 line up has doubled in size from last year, with the event now taking place across Friday 3rd - Saturday 4th March, and has revealed a widely eclectic selection of artists that will bring the heat to the winter weekender. Ahead of the festival, we chose our top five acts.

Jagwar Ma

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The electronic Aussie three-piece brought out pulsating second album Every Now & Then last year where they channeled baggy Manchester to perfection and further distanced themselves from the psych rock stereotype created by some of their fellow countrymen. As a live outfit they deliver an immersive show, where eternally groovy basslines linger in your lungs along with impossibly hooky vocals from leader singer Gabriel Winterfield and an infectious rhythmic prowess that dares you into dancing.

Lady Leshurr

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If Stormzy's the king of grime, then Lady Leshurr is undoubtedly the queen - and she knows it as she gives a nod to the title in her 'Queen's Speech' freestyle tracks - the fourth installment of which went viral last year. Lady Leshurr is on the rise, as she's been back and forth between the US and UK meeting with the likes of Rihanna's producer and Timbaland. As any grime performer is, she's incredible to watch spit bars live and definitely worth catching in a relaxed festival environment. 

Lorna Gray

Clean Cut Kid

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Liverpool four-piece Clean Cut Kid sound exactly like a band on the cusp of crossing over. Whether they'll make the ascent is yet to be seen, but lead singer Mike Halls' vocals marry emotion to the group's gutsy guitars, managing to deliver that classic indie formula which has excited gig-goers for decades. 

Jimmy Coultas

The Orielles 

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Hope for sunny weather and an excuse to wear a Hawaiian shirt at this year's Outlines Festival, as listening to the dreamy surf-pop sound of The Orielles makes you imagine a faraway paradise, where wavy garage reverb dominates and chilled out vibes are a must. Having only been a band for three years, the young trio have already made their mark in cities across the UK and toured with The Parrots. Make sure you have a beer in hand for this one. 

LG 

The Selecter 

What better way to kick some life into your festival than with some up-tempo, classic 2 Tone led by iconic frontwoman Pauline Black. With tracks like Three Minute Hero and On my Radio at their disposal, the Selecter's headline slot at Plug on Saturday 4th March will be a vibrant affair, with undertones of rebellion driving their sound home. 

Tickets are no longer available for this event