Our Top 10 Acts To Catch At Electric Paradise

The dancefloor is getting a serious glow-up as Electric Paradise makes its debut at Milton Keynes’ National Bowl on Saturday 8th August. Bringing together more than 45 acts across six dazzling stages, the inaugural festival promises a full day of disco balls, glitter, groove and hands-in-the-air moments, with space for up to 50,000 party people ready to lose themselves in the music.

Curated by JBM Music, Electric Paradise celebrates the sounds that have filled dancefloors for generations. Disco, funk, soul and house all take centre stage, creating a line-up that feels like the ultimate VIP party. Where else can you catch legends like Grace Jones and Candi Staton alongside Clockwork Orange favourites and the Data Transmission / Disco Infiltrators crew, all under one glittering sky?

The National Bowl has played host to some of the UK’s most unforgettable outdoor events over the years, and its iconic natural amphitheatre means every bassline, vocal and singalong rolls effortlessly across the crowd. Tickets start from just £59.50, so dust off the sequins, polish those dancing shoes and prepare to boogie. Here are ten acts you won’t want to miss.

Grace Jones

Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica in 1948, Grace Jones became a fixture at Studio 54 before signing to Island Records and building a catalogue that spans disco, reggae-inflected new wave and cinematic art-pop. Records like ‘Nightclubbing’ (1981) and ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ (1985) defined her commercial peak; roles in A View to a Kill and Conan the Destroyer extended her reach further. At 78, she remains one of the more uncompromising live performers in any genre. Electric Paradise is built around her. Of course, Grace is the headliner of all headliners…catch her (probably closing) the Main Stage!

Candi Staton

Alabama-born Candi Staton earned the title First Lady of Southern Soul with sixteen R&B hits for Rick Hall’s Fame Studios before pivoting to disco in 1976. ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, written by David Crawford about her experience of an abusive relationship, reached number two in the UK and number one on the US R&B chart. Its hold on dance floors has not faded; 1991’s ‘You Got the Love’ with The Source gave her a second generation of followers. She is now 86. She’ll be doing her thing on the Main Stage!

Todd Terry

Brooklyn-born Todd Terry started DJing hip-hop in the early 1980s before building the sampledelic New York house sound that would define the late decade. Operating across aliases including Royal House, Black Riot and the Todd Terry Project, he delivered acid house crossover ‘Can You Party’ (UK number 14, 1988) and produced two of the most significant remixes of the era: the Jungle Brothers’ ‘I’ll House You’ and Everything But the Girl’s ‘Missing’, the latter selling over three million copies. His tracks ‘Keep on Jumpin” and ‘Something Goin’ On’ were both UK top ten hits in the 1990s. See him on the Fool’s Paradise stage!

Armand Van Helden

Boston-raised Armand Van Helden came up through Strictly Rhythm in the early 1990s alongside Todd Terry and Roger Sanchez before breaking wide with his remix of Tori Amos’s ‘Professional Widow’ in 1996. ‘You Don’t Know Me’, ‘My My My’ and ‘Bonkers’ with Dizzee Rascal all reached number one on the UK Dance Chart. His Duck Sauce project with A-Trak produced ‘Barbra Streisand’, which topped charts in twelve countries. He was a pioneer of speed garage and has worked with Katy Perry, Daft Punk, Janet Jackson and Pharrell Williams among others. He’ll be centre stage at Glitterbox!

Mark Knight

Maidstone-born Mark Knight founded Toolroom Records out of his parents’ garden shed in 2003. The label grew into one of the UK’s principal house and tech-house imprints; Toolroom Radio now draws over sixteen million listeners a week. Knight’s remix of Laurent Garnier’s ‘Man with the Red Face’ became Beatport’s fastest-selling record of all time in 2008. He received a Grammy nomination for his work on the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘The E.N.D.’ He and Van Helden have collaborated on a series of records and appear together here. There’s only one place you’ll find him…the Fool’s Paradise stage!

Dimitri From Paris

Born in Istanbul to Greek parents and raised in France, Dimitri From Paris began playing house on Parisian radio in the late 1980s, becoming the first DJ to bring the genre to a national French audience via NRJ. His 1997 debut album ‘Sacrebleu’ sold over 300,000 copies and placed in Mixmag’s all-time top ten. He curated runway soundtracks for Chanel, Gaultier and Lagerfeld through the 1990s and remixed Björk, James Brown, New Order and Quincy Jones. The French government awarded him the rank of Knight of the Arts and Letters in 2005. He’ll be repping on the Glitterbox stage.

Lizzie Curious

Lizzie Curious is a Brighton-based producer, vocalist and DJ with two Billboard Dance number ones to her name. Her 2017 collaboration with Scotty Boy on ‘You’re Not Alone’ was the first; a follow-up, ‘Shine Your Love’, hit the same peak. Her label Curious Energy is an active imprint, and she holds a residency on Groove Cruise, the world’s largest floating dance festival. She has opened for both Fatboy Slim and Pete Tong at arena-scale shows. Mark Knight, Todd Terry and Sarah Story are among those supporting her music. This is a home stage: Electric Paradise is running the Data Transmission / Disco Infiltrators stage, and Lizzie is on it!

Kirollus

Brighton-based wax-only DJ and broadcaster Kirollus‘ sets draw from rare funk, boogie and soul. He honed his ear at Uptight Records, a specialist soul, funk and jazz shop, and built a following during the first lockdown through his ‘Forty Minutes Of Funk’ series and live streams. He now holds a monthly slot on Defected Broadcasting House and plays internationally. Rooted in hip-hop digging culture, he specialises in the obscure side of the 1980s boogie canon, exactly the kind of selector that works best when the sun is still high. Find him on the Glitterbox stage!

Andy Manston & Danny Clockwork

The two men behind Clockwork Orange, the party that dominated UK clubbing and Ibiza from the early 1990s. Andy Manston and Danny Gould (Danny Clockwork) took the brand to Es Paradís in Sant Antoni in 1994 and built a reputation around high-energy, eclectic lineups featuring the likes of Alex P, Brandon Block and Jeremy Healy. They stepped back in 2001 before a sold-out comeback in 2013. Electric Paradise features a dedicated Clockwork Orange stage, a direct nod to that heritage. Catch them on the Clockwork Orange stage!

Hobbs & Ron Mexico

Ron Mexico is Grahame Farmer, Data Transmission’s founder, whose involvement in UK rave culture dates to the mid-1990s, with an Ibiza trip in 1997 shaping everything that followed. Hobbs is a producer who broke through on Doorly’s Reptile Dysfunction label with ‘Game Plan’, supported by Jamie Jones and Marco Carola. Their 2020 collaborative EP ‘Scolarisé à Domicile’ produced ‘Good Times’, a filtered French house disco track that received its Radio 1 premiere via Danny Howard and was named Mistajam’s Future Anthem. As DT’s own stage act, they are a reason in themselves to spend time at the Bowl. Catch them on The Data Transmission / Disco Infiltrators stage!


Tickets for Electric Paradise are on sale now! If sunshine, disco, soul and heavyweight house sound like your kinda thing, this is your best summer move. Get tickets from here!