Just Jam at the Barbican is Finally Going To Happen

Last year, we got pretty hyped about a Just Jam event at the Barbican which promised a bill of everyone we care about in grime as well as rare outings for some of the most exciting performers and producers on the planet. If you read Noisey, you know what happened next. The City Of London police inexplicably shut the thing down. The event lived on via a livestream but there were so many questions over why the decision was made, we made a whole documenetary about the relationship between grime and the police.

But now, six months after the original event was cancelled, we can announce the Just Jam at the Barbican is finally going to happen.

Like the originally planned event, the show will feature Just Jam favourites alongside some of the most exciting artists from across the world.

Line-up announcements to date include:

• Omar Souleyman

• JME & Big Narstie ft Preditah

• Mumdance + Novelist

• Traxman + Litebulb

The event takes place 13 December 2014 with ticket prices between £12.50 and £15. They'll be plenty more info on Noisey over the coming months but for now we wanted to chat to Tim of Tim and Barry fame and find out what's different this time round.

Noisey: So it’s finally happening. Are you looking forward to it?

Tim: Yeah we spent three months preparing for the last show, so obviously when it got pulled, it was really difficult. We now have a chance to put that show on with the added bonus of some time to prepare some new elements. So yeah it should be live.

In all the furore, the last event was a bit mischaracterised as a grime thing, when it was actually bringing loads of different musical worlds together. How are you doing that this time?

The thing is we came from Grime so it was natural to have that as part of the show, but over the years we have been into and documented loads of different scenes from bassline through to footwork so we tried to make it into a celebration of what we are into past, present and future, the new show will reflect that too.

Some names have been already announced, but what else can we expect from the line-up?

Well we are booking a bunch of people from the last event and a bunch of new people to keep it fresh, it's nine months later and the lineup will reflect that. To be honest last time we were just as exited to put on emerging acts like Marfox and Nadus (a lot of people were like "who?") as we were to bring RP Boo to the UK for the first time or put Big Narstie on the concert hall stage. So, yeah, expect that kind of thing.

And what’s going to be going on with Just Jam/Don’t Watch That between now and the event?

A bunch of stuff we have mixes from Larry B and Paul Johnson, a few Beat This episodes including a banger from Inkke, but we are mainly focussing on our first feature length documentary, "I'm Tryna Tell Ya" it's on footwork and we shot it in Chicago in 2012, it's been a lot of work but we are really happy with it.

Obviously so much has been made of the decisions behind the cancellation of the last event. We made a whole documentary about it. Now that a bit of time has passed, what’s your take on what happened?

To be honest, I'm still a bit confused, like i said before we put in a lot of work- and not just us - our team, the Barbican team, the performers and also the visual artists who made 3 hours of incredible, bespoke visuals. But now we are just excited to get on with the show.

And is anything going to be different this time?

IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!

You can check out more from Tim and Barry here:

http://www.timandbarry.com/
http://dontwatchthat.tv
http://dontwatchthat.tv/just-jam/

And the Noisey film, The Police vs Grime Music, here: