Greenland Street 12 am - 10pm Both Days Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th May
Fourth year and Counting, We’re back! We’re beautiful! We’re bolder! We’re better! (hold on that’s not possible)
Trying to better last year’s artistic carnage and chaos was going to be tricky but we’re giving it a good go. New location, but with the same blind faith in alternative creativity. Alongside old favourites such as pop-up life drawing, poetry, performance art pieces, spoken word and impromptu theatre we have some fabulous new performances. The highlight of which is…..
Eric’s Classical ; Eric’s is quite simply one of the most iconic venues of all time, without it many of Liverpool’s most successful bands might never have been. But it’s influence went much further. Without Eric’s there might not have been Factory Records, without Factory, no Hacienda, no Stone Roses, no Oasis, no British House scene and possibly no Cream. Not bad for a little club on Mathew Street, possibly, dare I say it, more influential than its earlier neighbour. We’ve put together, with our classical musical director Jamie Clauge,an ensemble of young local musicians who are going to be performing the hits of Eric’s finest as you’ve never heard them before, it’s going to be brilliant. And as part of this homage to Eric’s we have the cultural legend that is Jayne Casey In Conservation with friends talking about the club’s history, legacy and the current importance of independent venues and artistic spaces.
Other highlights not to miss include;
World’s Smallest Festival Stage; what can we say, it’s going to be like the Pyramid Stage, but smaller and more mobile and with better performers.
8PM SATURDAY NIGHT - The world premier of ‘The Shaft Funk and Disco Interactive Sing and Dance Along Club Night’; it’s exactly as it sounds, join us on Saturday night, it’s going to be a blast.
Tracky; Ghetto blaster pop, he’s great, we love him, you will too! He’s going to be huge so come and see him as part of our Saturday night club night.
Francesca Georgia; a Yorkshire girl, adopted by Liverpool, she writes and performs pieces about sex, love and mental health with dark humour, raw honesty and uncensored enthusiasm. Winner of Best New Writing for ‘The Plumbing’ at Liverpool Fringe 2018.
Chris Young and the Ever Diminishing Ego; this man will awaken your senses and re-align your soul with its primordial state prior to our identification with mind, through music and spoken word! Which is surely worth the price of a wrist band.
Paddy Clarke and the Fancy Rats; this lot are a bummer-indie-rock/folk-punk band and poetry act!! They write lyric-orientated songs exploring themes of existentialism, black-humour, toxic masculinity and Jeff Goldblum. It might be easier just to come and see them.
Faniel Dord; King of madcap cabaret, see him at your peril!
All this magnificence is going to be filmed for a documentary about Liverpool’s alternative culture by the young documentary film maker Leonie Adisgold-Rayner. Leonie has been studying film making for nearly ten years. She is passionate about independent artists, poets and musicians and uses her skills and equipment to bring professional video and post production techniques to artists who would not be able to afford to engage a studio. So come and meet her and get on film.
As well as the usual collectrion of great poets performing their work this year we have a show case set by Beckie ‘1 cool poet’ is a Liverpool based artist who has been writing and performing her blend of spoken word and beats for just over two years. She believes she speaks for people who feel like they don't have a voice. Her work has been described as gritty and inspiring. She speaks about social issues and how she sees them. She hopes to encourage people to open up and bring people together. "The world can seem a dark place sometimes, but it's not, it's beautiful. There's so much love and kindness I want people to see that through my work. I want to help people"
Other performers who deserve a mention as without whom we wouldn’t exist are ; Jimmy Bongo, Rare Tribe of Poets, Al ‘The Bluesman’ Peters, Ruthie Adamson, The Bodacious Balalaika Band, Aaron Murdoch, Flloyd Kennedy, Lucy Pickavance and more. They’re all great, come and see them.
Oh, and while we remember we’ve got a mermaid from Los Angeles!