WESTFIELD Street Music Festival returns today after a stellar inaugural event last year.

Taking place on Sunday, June 7, between noon and 6pm, the festival is expected to draw around 3,000 people to the bars of Westfield Street for a day of music and entertainment.

More venues have signed up for the festival this year, including The Citadel Arts Centre, as organisers seek to build on the success of last year’s showstopper.

A family hub will offer free family music activities throughout the day at The Citadel.

There will also be a larger number of acts at this year’s festival, including a Tim Burgess (of The Charlatans) DJ set at the Imperial Bar and Dancefloor.

Celebrating the best musical talent across the region, last year’s inaugural event attracted thousands of music lovers and saw comedy star Johnny Vegas lend his support for a day packed with entertainment.

Paul Griffiths, owner of festival venue The Zoo Bar and one of the co-organisers, said: “Last year’s Westfield Street Music Festival was beyond our wildest dreams.

“We are not going to reinvent the wheel – we will look at what made last year such a hit and build from there.

“We have more bars involved than last year – the number has risen from 11 to 14.

“It all helps build community spirit on the day and pulls in a lot of people from outside the town.”

Matt Williams, manager at The Sefton, said: “We are looking to grow on what we achieved last time, and want to provide a good day for the town and raise a lot of money for charity.

“There will be a lot of local musical talent on offer, including The Central.

“Some of the young bands from last year have gone on to have regular gigs in the town and further afield.”

Brass and electronica marching band Harlequin Dynamite will perform their widely lauded colourful, vibrant and tribal ‘Hex’ street show to open the festival at noon.

Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band are an oddball collective of musicians, writers, artists and performers from Merseyside with a burgeoning national

reputation, so it’s a great chance to catch some cutting-edge music – they performed Hex at Liverpool’s LightNight in May, and it was met with fantastic reviews.

The festival also offers a great opportunity to see local arts initiative Heart of Glass in action.

Heart of Glass is St Helens’ ambitious response to Arts Council England’s (ACE) Creative Places and People Programme (CPP).

The Heart of Glass vision is to create a robust and vibrant arts sector that is valued by the community.

Therefore, the team was asked to devise a programme of family friendly activities that would support the growth of the festival and align its ambitions with a more family orientated audience, distinguishing this event from other, purely alcohol-led, initiatives.

As a result, Heart of Glass has financially supported the development of The Citadel as a family-friendly hub for the festival, organising its hugely successful Family Art Club format within the venue and offering a range of free family friendly activities over the course of the day.

So make sure you are around Westfield Street on Sunday, June 7 – it’s going to be big, busy and loud!

Message from the organisers: Children when accompanied by a responsible adult are welcome in most pubs and bars until 6pm.
Alcohol in any kind of container is NOT allowed on the street.


St Helens Star:

Some of the acts in this year's music festival line-up:

 

BAR FORTY FOUR

 

12.30pm           ANDY WOOD

2pm                  THE CENTRAL

3.30pm             TITORS INSIGNIA

5.30pm             STILLIA

7.30pm             THE AVENUE

 

BAR JAVA

 

12.30pm          BONSAI BIGFOOT

1.45pm             BANDIT AND BUTLER

3pm                  AIMEE

3.40pm             ROULETTE

4.50pm             SERRATONE

6pm                  PINK STEEL

7.15pm             THE LOCKSTOCKS

8.30pm             WEEKEND WARS

CITADEL ARTS CENTRE

Noon to 4pm      FAMILY CHILL OUT ZONE 

Noon to 4pm      FAMILY ARTS HUB

4pm to 6pm       URBANISATION MUSIC SHOW - headlined by THE AMBITION

St Helens Star:

COCO’S

 

DJ GARY PLAYING MOTOWN AND SOUL

 

DREEM

 

PERFORMANCE BY LEE DAVIDGE

 

IMPERIAL BAR AND DANCEFLOOR

 

4pm to 9pm   TIM BURGESS SET (THE CHARLATANS)

 

INSOMNIA

 

4pm                  WILD CANNON

 

LILLIE’S BAR

 

2pm to 5pm        THE RIVERMEN

5pm to 10pm     MOGGY AND THE IRISH ROVER

10am until late   MATTY AND THE FIDDLEZ

 

REHAB

 

1pm                  KYLE CROSBIE

3pm                  PUBLIC UNDERGROUND

 

RENSHAWS

 

PERFORMANCES BY POLKER DICE AND DANIEL McCAFFERY

 

THE SEFTON

 

1pm                  JACKIE BOND BAND

2.15pm             BECKI LEIGH

3pm                  THE SWIFTYS

4pm                  JOHN HUNTINGDON

4.45pm             THE BINGO BROTHERS

6pm                  KINDEST OF THIEVES

7pm                  MODIFICATION

8pm                  JAMES IRLAM

9pm                  THE PRETTY PENNYS

 

TANK BAR

 

12.30pm          BAILEY AND PHIL

1.30pm             STU OGDEN

2.30pm             OLD FARTS AT PLAY

3.30pm             PAUL KAPPA

5pm                  THE SWAMPSTOMPERS

6pm                  SHAUN O’NEILL

 

WESTFIELDS

 

1pm                  SCHO

2pm                  EVIL PICCOLO

3pm                  JOE HILL

4pm                  ROBBIE CAVANAGH

5pm                  THE PHONICS

 

THE WHEATSHEAF

 

12pm                PANIC

1.30pm             SHEILA

3pm                  DIAMOND

4pm                  RIVER CITY

 

THE ZOO BAR

 

12.30pm          THE MAC BROS

2pm                  THE LOUNGS

3.30pm             JERAMIAH FERRARI

5pm                  THE GRACE