Summer Festival Guide

Liverpool International Music Festival announces its second wave of acts. Joining the already star studded LIMF Summer Jam line up will be Wretch 32, WSTRN, Clean Cut Kid, Craig Charles, Stealing Sheep, The Vyrll Society, Adele Roberts (BBC Radio 1), Greg Wilson, Ady Suleiman, the 20 acts that make up the LIMF Academy Class of 2016 and brand new LIMFxLaces Out! stage featuring a selection of Hip Hop DJs. 

Highlighting the festival's continued dedication to celebrating its rich musical pedigree and ever-evolving contemporary music culture will be the unmissable LIMF Presents series – seven artistically directed projects exploring the theme of 'Re-Definition' focusing on the music and movements that have redefined and are redefining popular music and culture. 'From The Soul' presented by Gilles Peterson will look at the evolution of British Soul over the past 30 years and will feature performances by Incognito, Omar, Carleen Anderson, Ady Suleiman, Swindle and Thris Tian not to mention Gilles himself. Liverpool's finest house music export, Yousef musically directs 'House Nation', a celebration of the international sounds of House Music, with a line up that includes Dennis Ferrer (Objektivity, NYC) from New York, Reboot from Frankfurt, HECTOR – VATOS LOCOS from Mexico City and rising luminary Lewis Boardman. Celebrating past and present of Liverpool music's counter-culture is '76-16: From Eric's To Evol' which will see incredible live performances from the Buzzcocks, Pete Wylie, CLINIC and many more. BBC Radio 1Xtra's Seani B directs a collaborative piece that sees British Reggae artists explore the redefining sounds of UK Reggae with 'Roots, Rock, Reggae'. Performers include Christopher Ellis, Carroll Thompson, Sweetie Irie and Kiko Bun. Whilst the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will be taking over Sefton Park on Friday evening with a spectacular performance of music from the movies, and orchestral versions of some of the most defining songs that came from the city with the most enviable musical output. Expect hits taken from Cilla Black to The Beatles to Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

LIMF 2016 is made up of LIMF Presents, the award-winning LIMF Academy and Europe's largest free music event, LIMF Summer Jam. Last year LIMF attracted over 160,000 music lovers, cementing Liverpool's reputation as a must-visit destination and establishing LIMF as the current voice of this global music city with an experimental but accessible programme for all.

Yaw Owusu, LIMF Music Curator comments, "I believe every year we continue to improve on our artistic ambition and articulation. 2016's programme showcases this better than ever. We are celebrating the fact that our city loves music – whether it's diverse, cultural, new or well-known. With a programme full of outdoor concerts, club nights, intimate showcases and exclusive after shows, we are authentically spanning the true breadth of musical genres and cultures. This is our USP and what makes LIMF inherently different from any other festival – reflecting this city's true and ever-changing musical DNA. At LIMF 2016, we very much plan to provide Liverpool residents and the festival's growing national and international visitors, an experience they will never forget."

LIMF SUMMER JAM: Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th July – Sefton Park – FREE
Thanks to its eclectic line-up and the fact that it's totally free, LIMF's Summer Jam is widely regarded as the leading festival of its kind, with a huge range of activities to delight everyone from families to the hardened party-goers. Taking place at Sefton Park it will mark the start of the summer and the culmination of a spectacular series of events as part of Liverpool International Music Festival. 

Joining the already immense line-up including the likes of Sigma, Lianne La Havas, The Wombats, Ms Dynamite is the North London UK Hip Hop don Wretch 32. Fresh from releasing his joint mixtape 'Young Fire, Old Flame' with Avelino to critical acclaim, as well as having his recent 1Xtra 'Fire In The Booth' being credited as the best the show he's ever had by presenter Charlie Sloth, Wretch is sure to set the crowd alight with his inimitable brand of urban vibes. Joining him will be young RnB upstarts WSTRN, riding high off the global success of the chart smash 'IN2' who will without doubt delight the LIMF Summer Jam crowds. More new artists now announced come in the shape of local legend and music aficionado Craig Charles, Ady Suleiman and Radio 1's Adele Roberts.

Other stages at the LIMF Summer Jam consist of the Its Liverpool stage featuring Liverpool's finest exports, headed up by John Power and Friends and Michael Head with Clean Cut Kid, Greg Wilson,Stealing Sheep, The Vryll Society and Cavalry amongst the new announcements. Further cementing LIMF's forward-thinking approach to programming will be the collaborations with Bido Lito! and the FROM LIVERPOOL WITH LOVE commemorating original Love guitarist Arthur Lee with a rare and special performance with Johnny Echols as well as a celebration of forgotten Merseybeat pioneers, Yes Indeed!.

Liverpool's iconic trainer festival, Laces Out! will curate their own area at this year's festival with the  sounds coming courtesy of some of the top Hip-Hop DJs in the North-West as well as some special guests yet to be announced whilst The Bandstand will see acoustic and mellow sounds from the funk, soul and blues spectrum. The LIMF Academy stage will feature all carefully selected 20 artists and bands, talented enough to make it through to be a part of the award winning LIMF Academy, and as always be the best place to see future stars in the making. In addition this year LIMF join forces with Liverpool Arab Arts Festival who will bring its popular Family Day to the Palm House in Sefton Park on Sunday 24 July, where internationally acclaimed acts will showcase the best in Arab music, including award-winning Swedish group Tarabband, boundary-breaking electronic, Dabke band 47SOUL, Yaz Fentazi Trio, and Whirling Durvish / Sufi Mahmoud Pharaoh.

LIMF Presents…'Re-Definition' – a showcase of artists, music and projects that have and are redefining music and culture

From The Soul, with Gilles Peterson – Thursday 21st July 
Curated by 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson, LIMF explores the redefining sounds of British soul music over the past 30 years. The event will feature a special house band collaborating with some of the most important names in British Soul, namely Incognito, Omar, Carleen Anderson and Ady Suleiman. The live event will be followed by an exclusive DJ led after party hosted and featuring sets by Gilles Peterson, Swindleand Thris Tian (Boiler Room / NTS), which will bring three decades of Soul to the dance floor.

Gilles Peterson comments, “I've tried to programme the music for the night in tribute to the last 3 decades of British soul music, an era when the British sound has really come of age and what we hope to be a fantastic addition to Liverpool International Music Festival's theme of Re-Definition.”

Music City: Reimagined – Friday 22nd July
Presented on LIMF Summer Jam's opening evening will be the spectacular Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performing a set entitled 'Music City: Reimagined', which will showcase many of the defining songs that came from the city of Liverpool and impacted the world. A fully orchestral set will feature music from Cilla Black to The Beatles to The Real Thing and will be a rare and unmissable night in the North West's summer calendar. 

Sandra Parr, Liverpool Philharmonic’s Artistic Planning Director said: 'We’ve been proud to perform at LIMF every year since it began and it’s been fantastic to see how quickly it's grown in scale, ambition and profile. Liverpool is one of the world’s great music cities, so our programme this year includes special orchestral arrangements of music by some of the many great artists our city has produced.”

House Nation in association with CIRCUS – Friday 22nd July
House music is truly a global phenomenon. In key cities around the world various dynamic producers are trailblazing a more progressive sound – redefining what you consider House  Music to be. LIMF showcases the House sound of four international music cities. Musically directed by Yousef the project will see the creation of some exclusive music reflecting the sounds of those different cities, which include New York, Mexico City, Frankfurt and of course Liverpool. The project will be documented, with both the music and shorts being released. It will culminate in a special live show, in association with CIRCUS, at LIMF 2016 featuring the incredible Dennis Ferrer (Objektivity, NYC), Reboot, HECTOR – VATOS LOCOS, Lewis Boardman and the founder of Circus, Yousef.

Yousef, House Nation artistic director comments, "It's been an honour to be asked to represent Liverpool and to connect our city's new world heritage music city status with other musically significant cities around the world. I've invited four of my good friends, colleagues and peers to join me from New York, Frankfurt, Mexico City and of course Liverpool; Dennis Ferrer, Reboot, Hector, Lewis Boardman and I are coming together to explore each of our city's musical histories. We've collaborated in the studio to produce music and behind the decks, looking ahead for an unmissable event in July."

76-16: From Eric’s To Evol (A celebration of Liverpool’s counter-culture) – Saturday 23rd July
For the last 40 years the punk-indie attitude has been prevalent in Liverpool and has led to the creation of some of the most influential cultural movements the city has ever seen. These are movements that have connected not just with the people of Liverpool but with the world. LIMF showcases those key venues, artists and scenes with live performances from the legendary Buzzcocks, Pete Wylie and CLINIC and more to be announced soon. This is the inter-generational story of Liverpool’s underground music scene and how it has  redefined itself in terms of music, fashion and popular culture over 40 years! 

Music Director Marc Jones comments, “Liverpool has always had a small but very important underground music scene. In 1976 Eric’s opened its doors and punk exploded into life, thanks bands like the Clash, Ramones and Sex Pistols who all played Eric’s! In many ways Eric’s has been as influential to Liverpool as both the Cavern and Cream have been and out of this scene came a set of Liverpool bands that went on to dominate the 80’s…bands like Echo & the Bunnymen, Wah! Heat, Teardrop Explodes, OMD and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It’s a great tradition that has been continued by the likes of the Lomax, Zanzibar, Evol and the much missed Korova. It’s a great story and one we will be telling at this year's Liverpool International Music Festival through a unique live show demonstrating how it has redefined itself in terms of music, fashion and popular culture over 40 years!”

Roots, Rock, Reggae – Saturday 23rd July
It has been over 50 years since Millie Small reached number 1 in the UK with "My Boy Lollipop", and introduced Reggae to the British mainstream. Subsequently that first generation of settlers and their offspring carved out their own brand of reggae here in the UK and redefined the global image of the genre as a whole. From the birth of Lovers Rock, to the driving sound of roots reggae and the interpretation of vocal reggae, the British reggae sound added a considerable amount to the music scene.

This project will see award winning BBC Radio DJ Seani B (himself a Grammy nominated Reggae producer) curate a collaboration between British reggae artists Christopher Ellis, Carroll Thompson, Sweetie Irie and Kiko Bun.

BBC Radio 1's DJ Seani B comments, "I'm honoured to bring "Roots, Rock, Reggae" to such a prestigious festival as LIMF. Reggae has brought many amazing moments to the music scene in the UK, and continues to do so. I'm always amazed by the reaction it get on my weekly BBC Radio 1Xtra show every Thursday. I'm pleased that some of my talented illustrious friends who have helped shape that history of the genre will be joining me in Liverpool – from the son of an icon, Christopher Ellis, the queen of Lovers Rock, Carroll Thompson, to a man who has helped push the sound of reggae to bands such as Damon Albarn's Gorillaz, Sweetie Irie, and the sound of the new generation, Kiko Bun."

Yes Indeed!: A Celebration of Forgotten Merseybeat Pioneers – Saturday 23rd July
A uniquely curated live performance, where contemporary vocalists and musicians reimagine works by the forgotten pioneers of Merseybeat. Working with a range of emerging and established Liverpool artists, Yes Indeed! will reinterpret and update works by the Black pioneers of Merseybeat, celebrating and unearthing their legacy. 

The project will encourage cross-generational collaboration, bringing specially commissioned interpretations of these largely forgotten sounds to a new audience at LIMF’s “It’s Liverpool” stage on Saturday 23rd July. Helmed by the soul band The Equation, and featuring an enviable stable of vocalists, including XamVolo, Mersey Wylie, Levi Tafari, Edgar Summertyme, Amique, MiC LOWRY and Esco Williams, join us as we delve into Liverpool's untold musical past, channelled through its soul-infused artists of the present.

FROM LIVERPOOL WITH LOVE (Feat. Johnny Echols) – Sunday 24th July

Presented by Bido Lito! Magazine FROM LIVERPOOL WITH LOVE is a celebration of the music of Arthur Lee and Love and its connection to Liverpool, through the musicians and musical heritage of our city, a decade after Arthur Lee’s passing.  

Original Love guitarist – and Arthur Lee’s childhood friend – Johnny Echols makes the trip to Liverpool for a unique one-off performance, joined by a series of very special Liverpudlian guests. Musicians from some of our city’s most storied groups will join Johnny to play a show encompassing songs from Love’s three seminal LPs, including ‘Forever Changes’. This will be a once in a lifetime celebration of a very ‘Liverpool’ trans-Atlantic love affair.  

The FROM LIVERPOOL WITH LOVE performance with Johnny Echols takes place on the itsliverpool stage as part of LIMF Summer Jam at Sefton Park on Sunday 24th July 2016. The project will be launched a month earlier with a live Q&A between Johnny Echols and Bido Lito! Magazine’s Craig G Pennington on 25th June 2016. The Q&A will be hosted at A Small Cinema (Victoria Street, Liverpool) and will also feature a screening of ‘Love Story’, the 2008 documentary film about the group. Johnny Echols will also play a live show on the evening of 25th June with Baby Lemonade, as part of the Love Revisited tour, at Leaf Tea Shop (Bold Street).