Galtres Festival

The Human League to headline Galtres Parklands Festival 2014

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The Human League, known best for their massive hits which include 'Don't You Want Me', 'Fascination' and 'Mirror Man', are credited with influencing artists ranging from Moby to the Pet Shop Boys with their unique and enduring brand of avant-garde electro-pop. The European tour arranged to mark their ninth studio album 'Credo' is described by the Daily Telegraph as "as a good a night's entertainment as you are likely to find anywhere on the planet".

In support will be contemporary electro act Public Service Broadcasting, currently away on a US tour, but bringing to Galtres their brilliantly innovative mix of archive footage and samples with live performance. “They blend the voices of the past with the music of the present to astounding effect” said the Independent on Sunday.

The Human League join Friday headliners Levellers and Bellowhead at the North Yorkshire festival's tenth birthday celebration, with Saturday's headliner's still to be announced. John Otway, Martin Stephenson,The Men They Couldn't Hang andChris Helme are among other acts playing in the spectacular North Yorkshire setting over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

"Finding the right acts for the Sunday top slots filled last year by The Stranglers and the Undertones was never going to be easy," said festival director James Houston. "But we think The Human League are an inspired choice and will be hugely popular with our audience. They stand out both for their impressive back catalogue and contemporary recordings, and are complemented wonderfully by Public Service Broadcasting who are the most exciting breakthrough electro act of 2014. It's going to be a fantastic festival finale and a stunning end to our anniversary weekend."

Bellowhead & Levellers to headline Galtres Festival 2014

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Bellowhead, "the greatest live act in Britain", are to join seminal festival band the Levellers at next year's Galtres Parklands Festival.

The acts will jointly headline the opening Friday, which celebrates the tenth birthday of the festival. Strong double-headliners will soon be revealed for the Saturday and Sunday, joining hundreds more of the best bands from Yorkshire and beyond.

Five-times winner of ‘Best Live Band’ at the Radio 2 Awards, Bellowhead (pictured above) have transported folk music into hitherto unknown territory and spearheaded the new folk boom. They were dubbed “the greatest live act in Britain” by BBC Radio 2’s Simon Mayo, and the hordes of fans that treat every gig as a party clearly agree. They share Galtres' birthday celebrations, with 2014 also being their tenth anniversary. > more about Bellowhead

Levellers return to Galtres by massive popular demand, following a storming headline performance in 2011. Soon after that the band released new studio album Static On The Airwaves, heralded as their most accomplished album to date. But their 25 years in the business are powerful proof of the power of the underground and the power of great live music. Renowned for their energetic live show, longevity has not diminished the Levellers’ ability to put in a performance and get everyone in a field dancing. 

Levellers

Their platinum-selling 1991 album 'Levelling The Land' is widely regarded as an absolute classic and the band celebrated the 20th anniversary of its release at Galtres Festival 2011, which featured hits including One Way, Riverflow, The Game, Far From Home and Liberty Song. >more about Levellers

"Since that amazing Levellers performance a few years back, our social media has been dominated by calls for their return," said festival director James Houston. "There's been a huge buzz around getting Levellers back, and I'm really excited that we've made it happen – and especially that they will join us for our big tenth birthday celebration next year. But having Bellowhead too is an incredible treat – what a line-up! They promise a spectacular and theatrical live show, which will form a fantastic opening night to the festival weekend. We just can't wait!"

James promised a strong supporting programme over the festival weekend, with acts such asThe Men They Couldn't Hang, Blackbeard's Tea Party, Aelfen and Three Sheets t'Wind among a cast of favoured contenders for prominent stage slots.

The Undertones added to Galtres Festival lineup

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Irish punk-poppers The Undertones will be playing this summer's Galtres Parklands Festival, joining The Stranglers on Sunday 25 August.

The band famous for 'Teenage Kicks', the song which reduced John Peel to tears, will also be playing gems such as, Jimmy Jimmy', 'My Perfect Cousin', and  'Here Comes The Summer' – and some of their equally excellent new material.

"The Undertones still belt out fantastic songs," said Galtres festival director James Houston. "Reviews of recent gigs are raving – this lot are as energetic and brilliant as they were back in the late 70s when Teenage Kicks blasted them into stardom. We're really excited to have them, and along with The Stranglers it will make a superb double billing to end the festival on the Sunday night."

With Maximo Park topping the bill on the Saturday, Friday's big headliner still to be announced, and 100 more bands to be slotted into the 7-stage programme, which runs over the August Bank Holiday weekend at Duncombe Park, Helmsley, this the ninth Galtres Festival is shaping up to be the best yet.

The Stranglers are confirmed to headline Galtres Festival

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Scoring 24 UK top 40 singles and 18 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning four decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most continuously successful band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s. Their legendary smash hits include Peaches, No More Heroes, Five Minutes, Duchess, Something Better Change, Always The Sun, Golden Brown, Strange Little Girl and Skin Deep amongst many, many others.

Festival director James Houston said: "This is a major coup for us. The Stranglers have stood the test of time brilliantly, with outstanding recent festival performances and a new album building on their extraordinary success over four decades. They are legends, we've always dreamed of booking them, and now they are coming. It will be a fabulous end to this year's festival at our spectacular new home."

The Stranglers occupy the big Sunday night spot occupied at Galtres by the Levellers, The Beat and Adam Ant in recent years. "Our event always ends on a big high," said James. "This year, as the sun sets over the North Yorkshire Moors, it will be a golden brown high!"

Known for their aura of danger and cool, the Stranglers begin their 2013 live campaign today in Scotland with an extensive 25 date UK tour, and concluding at Duncombe Park in August. The band, whose hits include 'Duchess', will play Galtres Festival's fittingly-named Duke Stage, overlooking the stately home.
In 1977 the Stranglers released their extraordinary debut album, Rattus Norvegicus and firmly established themselves as progressive punk outlaws.

The Stranglers first new album for six years, Giants was released in March 2012.  The record was critically acclaimed and saw the band complete another hugely successful UK tour, quickly followed by 23 dates in Europe.

Last summer the band played V Festivals, Hop Farm and Isle of Wight in the UK. They also played Germany’s major festival, Rock Am Ring & Rock Im Park and shows in Estonia, France, Belgium and Turkey.

Galtres Festival 2012

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Widely regarded as the UK’s foremost folk singer songwriter, Mercury Prize nominee, Seth Lakeman is Sunday co-headliner, alongside Adam Ant, Billy Bragg and The Men They Couldn’t Hang. Friday night delights include Buzzcocks, and an acoustic set from Ocean Colour Scene and we are thrilled that BRIT Award nominated indie rock band Guillemots headline on Saturday.

The ‘local’ talent in support of our headliners this year is amazing, and we are lucky to have Leeds guitar maestro Jon Gomm hosting a master class – Jon’s talent was recently ‘endorsed’ by Stephen Fry on twitter, causing a media frenzy! – Ellen And The Escapades are topping a Leeds stage, The Talks headlining the Hull stage and York’s Chris Helme, Littlemores and the inspired Arts Barge Project make a welcome return.

This year, sees another first: Galtres Festival falls on the final weekend of the York Mystery Plays, and we have got together with Script Yorkshire and the York Settlement Players to bring modern versions of the plays to the festival. 

Continuing the festival’s medieval theme of Dragons & Knights, there will be jousting, archery and a whole range of creative family activities centered upon a medieval village, including falconry and a Dragon Ball!

As ever, dozens of workshops and activities will hopefully keep families and children happy and within the festival is a Yorkshire beer and cider showcase with more than 100 different varieties – from Ampleforth Abbey Cider to Black Sheep Ale.

Galtres is a festival with admirable environmental and conservation policies that continues to pride itself as among the greenest, run by volunteers and raising money for local charities, it appears to have found the perfect balance featuring major headliners and making room for local artists – never too big for its boots and unlikely to sell-out to the music promotion equivalent of Tescos.