Apple Music Festival Bringing Pharrell, One Direction, and More to London

Apple today announced its 2015 Apple Music Festival lineup for next month, a free concert series that will bring Pharrell, One Direction, Florence + The Machine, and more to London's Roundhouse. A revamped version of the previous iTunes Festival, the 2015 version will see a scaled-down lineup with ten dates from September 19–28, down from the usual 30 nights extending throughout the month.

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Apple will broadcast performances to music fans around the world for free, which can be viewed live and on-demand on Apple Music. The Apple Music Festival lets fans get even closer to their favorite performers with coverage on Beats 1℠ alongside backstage news and footage straight from the artists on Apple Music Connect.

“We wanted to do something really special for music fans this year,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The Apple Music Festival is a greatest hits set of ten unbelievable nights featuring some of the best performers on the planet appearing live and interacting directly with their fans on Connect and Beats 1.”

With only a handful of artists announced so far, the remainder of the concert schedule will be filled out in the coming weeks. MacRumors has heard Take That will be part of the lineup, but Apple did not include the band in its initial round of announcements.

Admission for all concerts is free, but only UK residents can apply to win tickets with additional passes being made available through media partner giveaways.

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Top Rated Comments

Speedy Dingo Avatar
131 months ago
Apple MUSIC Festival - so why is 1 Direction there?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mums Avatar
131 months ago
Pop music has gotten so bad and lame that it has finally lost my interest.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oldmacs Avatar
131 months ago
She is never good live. Cannot hold a tune to save her life. Rarely "feels it", apparently. Best enjoyed on recorded media.
Not sure what planet you're living on. Florence Welch is amazing live.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OllyW Avatar
131 months ago
The bands announced so far seem to be very mainstream. :(

I tried following the links to explore the festival to have a look if there are any more interesting bands scheduled to appear but got this error message in iTunes...

Which is interesting as I am running iTunes 12.2 or later...

I'm not signed up to an Apple Music membership though. Are Apple restricting ticket applications to Apple Music members?

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Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
byke Avatar
131 months ago
Take that have lost some of its members, One direction has lost some of its members, iTunes Festival has lost more of its credibility.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Winni Avatar
131 months ago
I must be getting old: I don't know any of these kids. Never heard of them, never seen their faces and most likely never even heard their music (or whatever it is they do). I'm definitely not the kind of customer that Apple Music is trying to attract.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)