I will be very honest and admit that none of the new names made me jump for particular joy, but then again, one of the very first things I learned during my working career, and perhaps still the most important one, is that life is not a cookie factory. I also assume that there are people who will be delighted by these new names, so this post is dedicated to the happiness of their souls.

First up is Rita Ora, who from my point of view is a young lady in underwear I saw way too many times in shop windows. Also, a low cost Rihanna. I cannot remember any of her songs, though I am sure I heard them, if only when I entered that store I mentioned above. I found nothing of particular interest and promptly left, but that is probably not Rita’s fault in all honesty. Wiz Khalifa is one of those phenomena I can pin down even less than Rita, and the also seems to be awfully fond of always collaborating with a wide array of people. We live in pretty codependent world, after all, but we’re left with the question of just how entertaining will Wiz be when left to his own devices.

There are a couple of names up more indie alleys as well, such as The Vaccines. I’ve spent a good ten minutes pondering whether I’ve seen them before or not, concision being that I am afraid I have, and this does not reflect too well on The Vaccines, but then maybe they do deserve a second chance. As for The Courteneers, last year when The Lumineers were announced, I kept confusing the two, and now I finally get the chance to compare them. Whatever the benefits of that might be. Also, if you listen to any of these two bands, Youtube will invariably throw a band called The Strumbellas at you, and for a long while I thought I had dreamt up their name. But no, they do exist, and as things are going, might just end up in A38 one of these days.

Alex Clare being on the list makes me feel at peace with myself over missing his club concert, Her (the band) leave me a little nonplussed, but at least now I know they are not H.E.R (the singer), whereas Dimension apparently comes from the world of drum’n bass, and I will leave it at that. I’ll also bravely admit that I assumed Paul van Dyk to be Dutch, but, as I was googling that one song of his which became ridiculously popular, I also discovered him to be German. This does not change the fact that he’ll be playing the Arena, and so will be Bassjackers who are, sweet victory, Dutch. You can therefore imagine the music, but, as I said,  someone must love them too.

You can read about the previous announcements here, here, and also here plus I’ve also tested unknown material, given that it’s both fun and useful. Speaking of useful things, I’ll leave you with a nice alphabetical list of everyone announced so far, just in case brevity is your best friend.

Alex Clare/ Alt-J/ Andy C/ Anne-Marie/ Bad Religion/ Bassjackers/ Bear’s Den/ Billy Talent/ Cashmere Cat/ Charli XCX/ Chef’Special/ Clean Bandit/ The Courteneers/ Crystal Fighters/ Danny Brown/ De Staat/ Dimenson/ Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike/ DJ Shadow/ Dubioza Kollektiv/ Flume/ Fritz Kalkbrenner/ George Ezra/ GTA/ GusGus/ H.E.R./ Interpol/ Jagwar Ma/ Jamie Cullum/ Kasabian/ Kensington/ The Kills/ Leningrad/ León/ Mac Demarco/ Major Lazer/ Mando Diao/ Maurice West/ Metronomy/ The Naked and Famous/ Nervo/ Nothing but Thieves/ OH Wonder/ Oliver Heldens/ Paul Van Dyk/ PJ Harvey/ The Pretty Reckless/ Rita Ora/ Rone/ Rudimental live/ Steve Aoki/  The Strypes/ Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano/ Tom Odell/ Two Door Cinema Club/ The Vaccines/ Valentino Khan/ Vince Staples/ W&W/  Watsky/ Weval/ White Lies/ Wiz Khalifa.