Returning for its 20th year, Richmond Live is back this summer with another cracking line-up.
Running from the 3rd to the 4th of August on the banks of the river Swale in North Yorkshire, this year sees main headliners Jaya The Cat and Tom Hingley And The Kar-Pets take to the stage alongside a vast range of other talented acts from the North East and beyond.
From The Hoosiers to Funeral For A Friend, Richmond Live has seen a good few acts grace their stages over the years. Organised and ran by music-loving volunteers, the first ever Richmond Live was held on 26th September 1998 and has been running pretty much ever since.
Speaking to Richmond Live team member Andy Brown, he told me: “In the summer of 1998, Mike Jinks was at a meeting of a community-working group (a council-led box-ticking exercise) and was bewailing the fact that local bands really had nowhere to play; the live music scene in the Richmond was pretty dismal at that time and someone at the meeting asked: “If we gave you a venue, Mike, would you be able to organise a festival?” Like a fool, he said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Since then, the festival has blossomed into something to be incredibly proud of – an enthusiasm-filled family-esque event that really brings organisers, festival-goers and acts together.
I spoke with Matthew Fisher from Darlington band The Circus Villains who are set to play Richmond Live this August. When asked about how they’re looking forward to the festival and getting to perform among old friends and new he said: “The lineup is pretty tasty and full of bands and artists that we know.
“We’re good friends with Ceiling Demons and really enjoy their stuff…I like a Hip-Hop band with a bit of grittiness and some live instruments. We’re also surrogate children to Black Sheep Frederick Dickens’ frontman, Dave Saunders, and will be lovely for us to play at the same festival – it’s a family day out, truly.
“Another act we’re dead looking forward to is Tom Hingley and his tribute to the original Inspiral Kar-pets. ‘Joe’ by the band has been one of our touring van (hatchback) anthems and lead us safely down many stretches of Britain’s motorway.
“We look forward to seeing some other acts such as Spirit Levellers, The Harringtons and The Voluntears, all of who we’ve played with before. Add our very own guitarist Sam Kennedy to the mix, with his other project Ronald Raygun, and it’s tipped to be a pretty tidy, tidy day. I’ve been to Richmond Live before and proper soaked it up with plenty of good music kicking around and lots of energy from the audience so hopefully, we can get our own little slice of Richmond Live pie.”
When speaking to Andy Brown about the festival in its current state and what to expect this year, he told me that: “After 18 years, the team took a year off in 2017 for some well needed R&R which means that this year they are celebrating 20 years & 20 shows. There will also be a few new aspects to the show and a fantastic local and not so local line-up.
“Friday headliners are USA/Amsterdam punk reggae band Jaya The Cat and Saturday will see Holy Moly & The Crackers, Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) & The Karpets, Ceiling Demons and Martin Stephenson gracing the stages on the glorious banks of the river Swale. This is on top of a host of up-and-coming and local bands and artistes.”
Tickets can be purchased from richmondlive.org.
