WELCOME Lancaster's Second Annual Music Festival, Friday Oct. 8th through Sunday Oct. 10th, 2010

About Lancaster Music Festival

See Festival Objectives for the goals of our festival.

Lancaster is one of Britain's best kept musical secrets. This is not an idle boast but an observation. Just out of sight of the M6 between junction 33 and 34 and two hours on the mainline from London and Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow) this supposedly quaint historic market town conceals a very different personality with an edgy, highly diverse world class secular and non-secular music scene supported by a large number of music locations (over 40), music organisations (over 20) and musicians (well over 300 listed acts in the district).

There are innumerable restaurants and cafes (see food), a covered and an open air market (Saturday), plenty of night clubs (10), two theatres, and lots of accommodation to suit every taste and every pocket. We have a castle, cathedral, canal, a salmon river, a 30 mile bay overlooked by the mountains of the Lake District, England's largest folly situated on a landscaped Victorian park overlooking all that and we're only 3 miles from the beach. When it isn't raining it's breathtaking!

There are such a large number of real ale pubs (see ales) that there will be a number of beer festivals taking place over the festival weekend (Mitchells of Lancaster Ale Trail George & Dragon, Penny Bank and Merchants).

These are the reasons we believe make a music festival at Lancaster truly unique. The festival itself reflects this diversity and does so by being location, organisation and music driven. It's run non-for-profit by the coordinating team (led my Lancaster's own music agency CME Artist Services) and relies on local support not grants so we can run this event each year without fear of funding running out. Click <HERE> for the festival's stated objectives.

Last Year's Festival

In 2009 we had our first all genre music festival. In many ways it was a pilot but it exceeded our expectations with many venues posting the busiest day, weekend or week since trading, many of the hotels and B&Bs fully booked, and an estimated 3-4000 folks attending the events. Last year we had 18 venues, 60 acts and 80 shows (see 2009 FEEDBACK). This year, with virtually the whole city behind the event, we expect to break all previous records (despite the much touted recession). Unusually, this festival is entirely self-supported through the venues and local businesses that thrive here and the public and private organisations that support them. There are no grants or handouts.

CONTACT US

We are not accepting artist applications at this time. The final calendar is expected end of August. Musicians who have already applied can contact us at music@lancastermusicfestival.com.

If you are a local business that would like to be advertised in the festival brochure, website and other press media please contact the festival coordinator at info@lancastermusicfestival.com for rates and options.

Festival blog is available, courtesy of Sue Seddon of Lancashire Life <HERE>. To keep up to date with what is going on and to sign up to our newsletter see contacts. You can follow our festival coordinator's immediate updates on our Twitter account. Or contribute to our Facebook Event Blog.

*A few individual events are tickted, most are not. Tickets for ticketed events will be available on venue's website, this website, and Lancaster and Morecambe Tourist Information Centres as and when available

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