Hip hop star Missy Elliott heading for Parklife music festival

MISSY Elliott, Groove Armada and The Dandy Warhols are among the big names set for this year's Parklife.

Missy Elliott is headed Down Under for Parklife. Picture: File

MISSY Elliott, Groove Armada, The Dandy Warhols and Cut Copy are among the big names set to get festival feet jumping at this year's Parklife.

The five-date festival tour has unveiled its most diverse line-up to date as an influx of overseas bands nudge their way onto a bill usually dominated by dance music.

Organisers say the line up is one of the strongest yet and claim the inclusion of indie rock acts like The Dandy Warhols and The Wombats reflects the changing face of music.

"They may be guitar bands but they're acts that people can dance to," said Ming Gan, co-director of Fuzzy and the man charged with booking the acts for Parklife.

"All the barriers between genres have disappeared and nowadays the same people who listen to The Dandy Warhols will listen to a dance act like Soulwax.

"I like to say every year that we've got the best line up ever but this one is definitely the most varied."

The inclusion of Bloc Party's Kele is further proof of music's shifting parameters, the singer having ditched the band's jittery rock sound for cosy dance beats on his recent solo album.

But the biggest cross over star on Parklife's stellar bill is undoubtedly Missy Elliot, who helped define female-fronted hip-hip after bursting onto the scene in the mid 1990s.

The US star is returning to Australia for the first time since 2004 and is promising to bring an entourage of 35 crew, many of whom will be joining her on stage.

"It was very hard to get her," admitted Mr Gan. "She's been off the road for three years but we heard rumblings she was coming back.

"It's certainly a complex touring party compared to the rest. It's going to be crazy but we're really excited about it."

Set to attract 140,000 fans nationwide the festival will see Melbourne trio Cut Copy playing their first shows in two years with Australian acts Midnight Juggernauts and Bag Raiders also featuring.

But the line up is predominantly packed with overseas artists, including heavily hyped newcomers like Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Darwin Deez and Memory Tapes.

"We're always looking to booking acts who are about to break and that's really important to us," said Mr Gan.

"We first came across Darwin Deez on his MySpace and we were one of the first festivals ever to contact his agent. Now everyone's talking about him.

Parkflife kicks off at Gold Coast Parklands on September 25, then Perth Wellington Square (26), Melbourne Sidney Myer Music Bowl and Kings Domain (October 2), Sydney Moore Park (3) and Adelaide Botanic Gardens (4).

The line up includes: Groove Armada, Missy Elliott, Soulwax, Holy Ghost!, The Dandy Warhols, Kele, Busy P, Memory Tapes, Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, Uffie, Classixx, The Wombats, Dan Black, Jack Beats, Delorean, Darwin Deez, Chiddy Bang, The Glitch Mob, New Young Pony Club, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Mix Master Mike, Brodinski, The Swiss, Wolf Gang, Sinden, DJ Mehdi, Jesse Rose, Washington, Bag Raiders, AC Slater, Grum