Out of Town festivals | Festivals 2009

August 2010 - a bumper month for live music and festivals

Strawberry Fields Festival 28th August 2010

Full report on the festival up now

Summer Sundae festial 2010 - report up now

Saturday 4th September

LEICESTER PRIDE 2010

See glam rockers The Vinyl Throwbacks live on the main stage 2.20 p.m.

Lee Bennett live at 4 p.m.

Sean Rumsey at 5 p.m.

Nikk Mager (X factor) at 5.30 p.m.

Top Leicester Djs in the dance tent

Main stage, drinks bar, food area, Health and Well Being Roadshow, VK bus, market stalls

Parade from Humberstone Gate at 12 noon to Victoria Park

and lots of people in costumes you would not believe!

Victoria Park

12 noon to 8 p.m.

Free entry

web site

Saturday 7th August

Caribbean Carnival

Now in its 25th year, the Caribbean Carnival was, as always, a great crowd puller. The people of Leicester turned out in their thousands to enjoy this wonderful celebration of culture, music and dance.

The parade set off from Victoria Park just after one o'clock and it took thirty minutes for the procession of floats and dancers to squeeze their way out of the park into Granville Road. Music is a big part of the Carnival with each of the 21 floats having its its own sound system and troupe of dancers following behind.

This was a bumper year for the amazing costumes, huge, brightly coloured structures that must have taken many hours to make. The procession's theme this year was "Celebrating our Caribbean Heritage" and Float 20 was particularly good. The exotic colours, styles and designs were richly redolent of the Caribbean and conjured up all the the vibrancy and magic of the islands.

The dancing groups included many children, some quite young but all of them keeping in time with the rhythm and clearly enjoying being part of this exciting event. People from all over the UK had come to Leicester to join the parade and a great many of them had spent a great many hours making costumes and learning dance routines.

Some of the costumes were so massive, they needed wheeled frames to support them. In fact, it is possible to join costume-making workshops, to learn how these intricate structures are put together and decorated. Costume design is definitely an art-form and many of those seen today demonstrate considerable creativity and imagination.

Several floats had banners on them acknowledging the funding sources, such as The Lottery or commercial sponsors. Creating these costumes costs a lot of money and the whole event cost a lot to put on. Carnival organisers have been appealing for donations as they have made a loss this year, given that public finance has been in such short supply.

Carnival is a great asset to Leicester, bringing thousands of people here from all over the country and offering one of the top tourist attractions of the year.

Carnival attracts people of all ages and some of the floats had been organised by youth groups and clubs. This year the weather was kind to carnival with only one brief shower of rain; otherwise the sky was mainly dry.

On Victoria park, there was a plentiful supply of stalls offering tasty Caribbean cuisine and quite a few stalls with cultural crafts and, of course, the main stage where the crowd could enjoy a variety of musical acts and dancers.

See the Leicester Caribbean Carnival web site. To find out more about African and Caribbean arts visit the LACAF web site.

The Summer Sundae Fringe - launches Friday 6th August

The Phoenix digital media centre is the venue for the launch of the Fringe which runs up to the time of the main festival

Summer Sundae Music festival - 13 - 14 -15 August

Over 8 top Leicester bands ion national artists at the De Mont Montfort Hall and Victoria Park site.

Glastonblaby - Saturday 7th August

Charity fund raiser in Blaby with local bands playing in Northfield Park.

Cosby Big Love - 7th August

Another batch of local bands and national level acts head for the countryside.

Rock on the Rec - 12th August

Market Harborough is the location for this celebration of local young people including several of Leicestershire's young bands.

Festivals that include music

Caribbean Carnival - 7th August

Leicester Caribbean Carnival celebrates its 25th anniversary this year with Carnival Day activities at Victoria Park after the colourful parade of dancers and floats has wound its way through the city.

Strawberry Fields - 28th August

See Leicester acts: Charlie & The Martyrs, Jersey Budd, Neon Sarcastic and Chezza

Main Stage: Example, The Holloways, Jersey Budd, No Fixed Abode, Charlie And The Martyrs, Superevolver, Henry's Children, The Naked Lights, and James Summerfield.
Risque Dance Arena (DJs): Micky Slim, Nic Corelli (M.Y.N.C), Jimmy Kennedy, Danny Nightingale, Jay Farina, Matt Bennett, Dan Thomas, Spodzilla, Drive & Hedgehog, and percussion: Dave Abbott, Live Pa By Mab.

Lose your Cool - Friday 27th - 29th August

'Lose Your Cool' is a brand new Leicester festival being held at Firebug.  Organised by Leicester club nights Lava Lounge and Biff Bang Pow we aim to bring some great new bands to Leicester and provide a great soundtrack to your Bank Holiday

Details on our gigs listings

Gay Pride 2010 - 4th September

Join the fun as this year's Lesbian and Gay celebration returns to Victoria Park on 4th September.

Abbey Park Bonfire & Firework Display - 6th November

Hopefully this year we will see another Leicester band playing.

Black History Season October - November 2010

Black History month

This year's festivals.

Glastonbudget live music festival

Our coverage of the 2010 festival in Wymeswold.

Glastonbudget official website

Our feature page about Glastonbudget

White Noise - 27th - 29th May

Annual celebration of Leicester's Music scene.

Leicester Early Music Festival

Took place 23rd May - 12th June Leicester

website

The Spark Children's Arts Festival

Took place 31st May - 13th June Leicester

website

Leicester Riverside Festival

Took place 5th - 6th June Bede Park Leicester

The Big Session Festival Leicester De Montfort Hall

Took palce4 18th - 20th June

Leicester International Music Festival

16th - 19th September

Diwali Lights Switch On - 24th October

The people of Leicester gather to celebrate the Indian festival of light

Out of town festivals

Download festival, Castle Donnington

Photo credit: Paul Harries
The iconic Download Dog celebrates in style the announcement of AC/DC as headliners for this year's Download Festival, as he cosies up to dancers from London ' s Spearmint Rhino club.

The Download Festival takes place 11-13 June in Donington Park

After many rumours, gossip and speculation DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL organisers have today confirmed that the world's greatest rock band AC/DC will be one of the headliners for this year's festival, taking place at Donington Park 11-13 June.

There is no better band to help celebrate 30 years at Donington than AC/DC, who with all guns blazing (not to mention bells!) will be appearing at Donington for the fourth time. AC/DC first appeared at the second Monsters of Rock concert in 1981, and then 1984 and 1991. 2010 will mark three decades of AC/DC at Donington Park – and their debut Download performance.

Festival organisers have also announced that they are increasing the arena capacity this year to accommodate even more fans keen to experience Download at Donington Park and celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Monsters of Rock. Last year's event sold out at 85,000 per day – the increased arena size this year will make Download the biggest UK music festival after Glastonbury. Established in 1980 by promoter Paul Loasby and the late Maurice Jones who died last year, the event was originally created as a day-long Summer festival dedicated to rock and heavy metal bands. Over the years it was quickly established as the annual event for the UK hard rock fraternity. It was destined to become a British music tradition - 30 years on and Download Festival has become the premiere rock festival.

Andy Copping, Download festival Promoter, commented, “Download 2010 will be one for the history books. It will see the return of the world's greatest rock band to the most legendary and spiritual home of rock. We have been pushing for this moment for many years, but for this to become reality alongside the likes of Them Crooked Vultures, Motörhead and Megadeth is the best 30th Anniversary of the site we could have dreamed of , it's also going to be a fantastic tribute to Maurice Jones who started this all off back in 1980 .”

John Probyn, COO Live Nation explained, “The Donington site and its continuing flexibility should take some of the credit for the longevity and success of both Monsters of Rock and Download Festival. We are thrilled that our 30-year association with the site will be marked not only with a superb line-up, but also by the expansion of Download 2010 to accommodate more festival-goers than ever.”

Joining AC/DC and following two incredible sold out shows at Hammersmith Apollo before Christmas, are supergroup THEM CROOKED VULTURES featuring rock legends Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. Incredibly none of the band have ever played at Donington before either – making this Download performance even more exclusive.

Also confirmed will be reformed grunge-rock heroes STONE TEMPLE PILOTS , for their first UK show since getting back together for a massive North American tour in 2008. The band have NEVER played at Donington or Download before, although striking frontman Scott Weiland has of course performed twice, with previous band Velvet Revolver.

One of the ‘Big Four' bands of thrash metal, MEGADETH , will be back at Donington for the fourth time, having played Monsters of Rock in 1988, and then two Download Festivals (2005 and 2007), alongside metal behemoths MOTÖRHEAD , also making their fourth appearance with one Monsters of Rock (1986) and two Download's under their studded belts (2005 and 2008).

Returning for the third time will be Sacremento heavy rockers DEFTONES , with a new album slated for April. With an incredible four Download performances already – and with each year moving further and further up the bill – Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE return in 2010 bringing circle pits-a-plenty – lock up your daughters. WOLFMOTHER – also confirmed for London's Hard Rock Calling – will be bringing their Australian rock to the Download stage for the second time and finally, making their second Download appearance will be Danish rockabillies VOLBEAT .

Weekend tickets for Download 2010 go on sale 9am Friday 29 January. http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk

Other pages you might like

Leicester bands at the Surface Unsigned festival

The Glastonbudget festival

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