Too many fantastic acts to go through in depth but we thought we’d share some photos and audience quotes from Saturday daytime and evening around Lancaster – more to come – keep an eye on our socials!

We had a great start to the day with Pocket playing at the Herbarium to an entraced early morning (and rather warm!) audience.

Ulita moved us to tears with a beautiful tale of a childhood tinged with sadness and magic realism with the stunning What Happend To Agnes – not a dry eye in the house! And in the lecture theatre we were captivated by a powerful performance from Dee Byrne and Cath Roberts.

We got off to a strong start at Kanteena with the mighty LCMC Big Band, followed by Awen Ensemble who went down well with our audience. Sadly Lizbett Russo was not able to join us but we were very glad to welcome Dreamscape Trio led by Jamie Sykes to stage who gave a great performance at Kanteena, along with Nimbus Sextet, Hannabiell and the Midnight Blue Collective, Dirty Freud, with DJ Harkarit Bopari keeping people on their feet until the end!

We had a sold out show for the amazing Skylla and it was lovely to welcome Ruth Goller back to Lancaster again – a firm festival favourite.

Finally, Chelsea Carmichael took us on an emotional, poignent and uplifting journey through the experience of Caribbean elders from Lancaster and the surrounding area with her commission Kitchen Prayer/Let It Stay Here. Undaunted by not one but two fire alarms and evacutations, the band played on with great spirit and we thank them for an amazing performance.

Thanks to all the artists for making it such a brilliant day and night – and to our fantastic audiences!

Some quotes from our audience:

“A truly breathtaking experience. The whole performance was pulsing with high energy throughout. The rhythms and harmonies had everyone moving or on their feet dancing. The musicality was astonishing. The coordination of the whole band by Hannabiel was excellent. Bravo!”

“Loved the narrative about the commission. Fantastic musicianmanship. Sublime harmonies. Delicate, atmospheric and exquisitely tasteful. A massively well delivered commission.” (Chelsea Carmichael)

“Dirty Freud was something new for me; but what a brilliant education it was. SO gloriously crafted and improvised a performance. ”

“So-good to catch the Jamie Sykes trio,in lieu of missing the Evolve commission Premier. STUNNING!

Nimbus sextet:- a powerhouse of soloists perfectly interlaced and orchestrated into a top line performance.”

“Tremendous line-up throughout, from the sunny outdoor opening with LCMC ensemble (sound arrangements, well executed and good fun!), the amazing Awen Ensemble (so well-balanced, with great vocals and such nice people too!)”

“Skylla is like being stuck in the Blair Witch Project, but in a good way. Ethereal witchiness.”

“Really incredible program, the Dee and Cath gig was amazing!!!”

“Beautiful interesting progressive please keep doing it” (Pocket)

If you’d like to give feedback about any of these performances – good or bad – it really helps us – you can fill in the form online.

Photos by Jodie Bawden.