User:Captaindoug/Geek Pop

Geek Pop, styled as the world's only sci-pop festival, is a free online music event featuring songs about science. The virtual festival brings together science-inspired artists from around the globe in a gleeful celebration of geek culture. It was started in 2008 and proved successful enough to return for a second year, this time to coinicde with the British Science and Engineering Festival. The first time around Festival-goers were able to download a free podcast full of sci-pop songs as part of a radio style festival report.

Virtual festival
Geek Pop is billed as a totally eco-friendly concept. Half of the acts playing in 2008 were from overseas, but no carbon was used to bring them to the UK. By virtue of it being an online festival site, Geek Pop does not fill a field with discarded plastic, cans and flyers, in 2008 the Null Hypothesis website played host, this year Geek Pop has its own website. Additionally, no tickets are printed and the entire marketing campaign is carried out via the web and with very small flyers in an attempt to save paper.

Song List

 * Amateur Transplants – Anaesthetist’s Hymn
 * Jonny Berliner – Dark Matter
 * Let’s Tea Party – Reptiles
 * Down with Gender – The Robot Island
 * Tales from the Birdbath – The Scientist
 * Logan Wright - Zero
 * Photomixers – Hotel Mauna Kea
 * Professor Science featuring Athena Currier – Sweet Home Apparatus
 * Emily Schulman – Dinosaur Extinction

Critical Reception
Geek Pop ’08 was mentioned during podcasts from the Guardian and Nature, receiving positive reviews from both – “There were many highlights, but [our] pick of the bunch [is] Dark Matter by science troubadour Johnny Berliner”, said Nature. Laboratory Talk said that, “this virtual festival has much to commend it… My personal highpoint was the aching rendition of Hotel Mauna Kea by the Photomixers, demonstrating simultaneously pathos, humour, and even a little musical talent.” They also said that Geek Pop 2009, “promises to be something of a hoot.” Since March 2008 it has also been featured on Australia’s Diffusion Science Radio’s 2008 Christmas Special as well as the Mr Science Show.

Geek Pop ‘09
Geek Pop ’09 will take place between 6–15 March and is sponsored by 7digital. Along side the two virtual stages from the previous year, the reproductive stage and the Tesla tent, the festival will introduce a new main stage which will be called the Tetrahedron stage (in homage to Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage). There will also be a green room, VIP area and videos as well as audio of the acts available.