Beverley can already justifiably claim to be the festivals capital of East Yorkshire; now a new three-day event has been launched with the aim of drawing visitors to the town in winter.
Stage 4 Beverley was launched this week and is being hailed as “Beverley’s Winter Music Celebration”. The inaugural event will be held from 17th to 19th February next year and promises a celebration of music featuring folk to blues, jazz to classical, Americana to world music and more.
The main venue will be the town’s East Riding Theatre and artists already booked include Scotland’s finest singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean, performance poet and comedian John Hegley and the New York Brass Band but as Chris Wade, one of the organisers, explained “there will be much more to come”.
Chris, one of the original founding members of the Beverley Folk Festival more than 30 years ago and a partner in one of the UK’s leading agencies for folk, roots, world and acoustic music, said: “Beverley’s support for Hull being the UK City of Culture in 2017 and the desire to bring events to the town inspired us to launch Stage 4 Beverley.
“I’m excited to be part of the team launching this exciting new initiative and our aim is to complement existing festivals that already make Beverley such an exciting place to visit. We’ve looked for a gap in the market and believe we’ve picked a time to make the maximum impact and extend Beverley’s cultural calendar to cover the whole year.
She said it was possible Stage 4 Beverley would be the first major event to be held in Beverley during the 2017 City of Culture and was looking forward to an exciting year in prospect.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council is a major partner of 2017Hull and has already pledged a £1 million package of funding and support.
“The fact that our weekend celebration will attract more visitors to the town at a traditionally quieter time will, we hope, also benefit the local economy. This is a celebration over the winter half-term to brighten up the winter days and nights and we hope everyone will get behind it,” she said.
Further announcements of headline acts are expected shortly, but the weekend will feature five major concerts alongside informal sessions and workshops and a late night festival session housed in the theatre’s Cafe Bar.
“We will also be showcasing some of the most exciting youth and local performers and are currently exploring options to host sessions in other venues, including town pubs, said Chris Wade. “We very much want this to be a Beverley-centric event, capturing the spirit of the early folk festivals when everything was centred in and around the town centre and audiences could walk from one to another and enjoy everything else Beverley has to offer in the process.”
Along with Chris, Stage 4 Beverley has been formed by Ray Williams, another founder member of Beverley Folk Festival, Roy Woodcock, a well-known East Yorkshire journalist, and Simon Bedwell, Productions Manager at East Riding Theatre.
Ray, a volunteer at East Riding Theatre, said he was delighted the East Riding Theatre would become the festival hub and was grateful for their support. “The facilities are tremendous and we’ve already proved with past concerts that a great atmosphere can be created.”
Longer term plans include broadening the scope of Stage 4 Beverley even more with future events embracing venues across Beverley. “We’re currently working to secure funding and sponsorship and would love to hear from anyone who shares our ideals. 2017 will very much be a scene-setter for what’s to come in the future,” Roy Woodcock said.
Dougie MacLean, who will be the headline act on the Saturday night is internationally-renowned for his song Caledonia, music for Last of the Mohicans and inspired performances including the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow which was viewed by more than a billion people worldwide.
He has received two prestigious Tartan Clef Awards, a place in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame, a Lifetime Achievement Award from BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and an OBE. His Beverley gig will be Dougie’s only live performance south of the Border in 2017.
John Hegley is widely regarded as one of the country’s most innovative comic poets with several best-selling volumes of poetry to his name, while The New York Brass Band, who will close the weekend on the Sunday night, can count a previous sell-out show in Beverley alongside performances at Glastonbury, the Tour de France, Monaco Grand Prix, as well as celebrity parties for the likes of Liam Gallagher and Jamie Oliver.
* Stage 4 Beverley will be held at East Riding Theatre, Beverley, from February 17 – 19, 2017. Tickets will be available from the ERT box office and will go on sale soon. For more information visit stage4Beverley.com or via Facebook/stage4Beverley or by calling 077300 52727 or 01377 217356.
