Tour De Moon - a free, immersive festival celebrating the best of nightlife and counterculture from the UK and beyond - has been making its way around the country over the past few weeks. The final four-day celebration is heading to Southampton from June 10-13, and there's still time to grab tickets.
Founded by Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun (who also founded musical astronaut ensemble International Space Orchestra and the free University of the Underground), the festival aims to challenge the idea that we can't come up with a new way of living, by encouraging the use of our imaginations to create alternative visions of the future. Committed to social and racial justice, solidarity, and equity, the team behind Tour De Moon has drawn on the lunar theme to promote a fresh, blank canvas.
The programme includes a wide array of events, drawn together by Moon Convoy - a sustainable collection of vehicles that has been worming its way across the UK since mid-May - and Moon Live, a performance-based TV Show that brings together everything from dance to debate against a green screen backdrop that allows attendees to be part of the set.
Elsewhere, there's Moon Cinema, which offers a collection of original short films about the festival's key themes, and Moon Games, which grants access to a massive inflatable playground developed in collaboration with sports groups and astrophysicists. Moon Experiences reimagines empty city-centre buildings as new theatrical spaces. Filled with a two-hour set by some of the most exciting experimental composers out there, the immersive experience aims to create the surreal within the city centre.
Throughout the course of the festival, you'll also find AI-powered therapy line Moon Hotline, and Moon Music, an afterparty running all night featuring more emerging musical talent. To learn more and find out what you've missed so far, check out the Tour de Moon YouTube channel or head to the official website.
Tour De Moon has been running since May 11, but you can grab tickets to the Southampton Festival right here (via DICE), where it'll stay from June 10-13, before making its way to Farnborough on June 14, Crawley on June 15, and finally Hackney on June 16 for a closing street party on Rushmore Road.
Tour De Moon is part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, a collection of 10 major creative projects taking place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales throughout 2022.
