There’s just one month to go before the Sidmouth Folk Festival begins on Friday, August 4, bringing the town to life with song, dance and all manner of musical magic and merriment.
The festival runs until Friday, August 11, and features hundreds of live performances and events in venues all over town - large and small, indoors and out. There are plenty of opportunities to dance, sing or play music.
The action kicks off with two pre-festival headline shows. Cornish shanty maestros The Fisherman’s Friends will appear on the evening of Thursday, August 3, followed by Barbara Dickson with Nick Holland on the afternoon of Friday, August 4.
Festival goers can then take their pick from major name concerts, lively late-night roots parties, intimate sessions, energetic ceilidhs and top quality folk dancing, storytelling, family entertainment, hands-on workshops and spectacular dance displays. There will be stalls selling crafts, local food and drink. The Children’s Festival takes place on the Peacock Lawn, and the Shooting Roots youth music sessions for 12 to 17-year-olds offer opportunities for the stars of tomorrow.
Topping the bill on The Ham main concert stage during the week are the female-led folk band The Unthanks, English four-piece Banter, Quebecois live wires Le Vent du Nord, festival patrons and Devon folk icons Show of Hands with Miranda Sykes, folk-rock pioneers Lindisfarne, Irish songstress Cara Dillon and the contemporary musical storytelling of Teeside’s The Young’uns.
Gigspanner Big Band (with Peter Knight, ex-Steeleye Span) will be presenting Saltlines, unique interpretations of traditional songs and tunes from the South West Coast Path, inspired by Raynor Winn’s book The Salt Path and featuring the author delivering bespoke new prose.
At the top of town The Bulverton, the high-energy hub for evening roots shows, eating, drinking and after-hours fun, will host Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening, Scottish crowd-pleasers Talisk, Grace Petrie, Tiree’s award-winning band Skerryvore, singer, songwriter and fiddle maestro Seth Lakeman, Blackbeard’s Tea Party and the high-octane Peat & Diesel. New musical worlds will be explored on smaller festival stages with inventive ground-breakers including Cerys Hafana, Suntou Susso and many more.
The afternoon of Sunday, August 6 sees the Sidmouth Horse Trials where a colourful collection of hobby horses and beasts of disguise are put through their paces in a hilarious cross between a fancy dress competition, a beauty contest and a horse race.
To book tickets or download the 2023 taster programme, visit sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk
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