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.