Nordic Giants to headline Theatre Stage at next year's Portals Festival

Nordic Giants abstract image 2022 — (Image credit: Neal Grundy)

Mysterious post-rock duo Nordic Giants have been conformed as as the Theatre Stage headliners of Portals Festival, closing the Saturday night of the the experimental and alternative music festival.

“Nordic Giants are a band we’ve been trying to book for many years, and actually did in 2020 before the festival was rescheduled," says Festival Director Asher Kenton. "We’re delighted to finally have them perform on the Portals stage this year, alongside some of our favourite bands at our new and larger venue EartH in Hackney.”

Also added to the bill are Swedish post-rockers Ef, who play their first UK show in almost nine years, with the release of their first album in six years, and post-metal/blackgaze rising stars Svalbard.

Also announced is the psych/stoner-rock of Elephant Tree, mini-orchestra Human Pyramids, Big Lad, the chaotic alt-rockers The Guru Guru, math-rock band Axes, alt/math-rockers Bicurious, modern progressive rockers of Seims, and the psychedelic act Memory Of Elephants.

They join a bill that already features Northern Ireland post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar, Korean experimental/post-rock innovators Jambinai (playing their first UK show since 2019), London-based ambient post-rock outfit VLMV, USA math rockers Shy, Low and Lakes.

“Nordic Giants are a band we’ve been trying to book for many years, and actually did in 2020 before the festival was rescheduled. We’re delighted to finally have them perform on the Portals stage this year, alongside some of our favourite bands at our new and larger venue EartH in Hackney.”

This year's event takes place at the multi-stage venue EartH in Hackney from May 27 and 28.

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Portals Festival — (Image credit: Press)

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.