Easter Newsletter
Welcome to our Easter news
Lots more fabulous acts to tell you about, plus our kids lit fest and some exciting news on our festival site!
Pastures New
As we celebrate our 15th Birthday we are very excited to let you know we are moving the area where we have our festival village at the racecourse. Don’t worry we’re not moving from the racecourse, but over the years it’s become harder and harder to work with our current area which has become less and less grassy! So we are moving to an area that is truly verdant, meaning that everything will feel like we’re in a field – but with all the continued advantages of easy access paths and proper car parking etc, it also means we can spread out a bit! We’ll be giving you lots more info on this over the next couple of months, but we’re really looking forward to our new home.
More Artists and Bands
We're delighted to add two amazing world music bands to our Main Stage lineup. On Saturday, you can see the incredible Grupo Lokito, who play an exciting and uplifting blend of Congolese and Cuban music. Then on Sunday we'll be joined by Jally Kebba Susso, an amazing kora player who with his group, perform an intoxicating afrobeat, funk, jazz concoction which has pulled crowds at festivals across the UK. Expect these international players to have you up on your feet and experiencing something truly original.
Adding to our Saturday Dance stage lineup, we're really excited to welcome EMF’s Milf to DJ, creating a party vibe with a melting pot of hip hop, house, rock and RnB from across different eras. He's had residencies at the greatest clubs – Amnesia Ibiza, Limelight in NYC and the Fridge in London and he knows how to get you dancing.
n our Hobgoblin tent on Saturday, we've added Madi Stimpson Trio to the bill. Singer-songwriter Madi is an exciting and original guitarist whose influences cross a huge range of styles; jazz, folk bluegrass and gypsy jazz masters such as Django Reinhardt.
We also have an addition to our main stage on Saturday in the shape of LEAH, a soulful singer accompanied by a tight, funky 5-piece band.
BBC Hereford and Worcester Introducing acts for 2019
We'd also like to flag up our BBC Introducing acts for 2019. These are some of the best new talent around and they'll be on the Hobgoblin Stage on Sunday.
We've got Arcadia Roots, a band that combine many different styles into a sound described as earthy psychedelic and dubtrance. We’ve also added punchy indie-pop from Evesham band Lower Loveday and original material from Chloe Elliot, a Worcestershire singer-songwriter who's a regular performer on her local circuit, in the West Midlands and London, and pianist India Parkman with a contemporary sound whose influences include Adele and Charlie Puth.
The Saturday Hobgoblin lineup includes four-piece Indigo Haze with anthemic danceable tunes, local band Fawner who are currently working on their first full album and TREE//HAUS who fuse funk, jazz and pop into catchy melodies.
Don't forget the fabulous lineup we've already announced… The Stranglers, ABC, Scouting For Girls, T'Pau, Toyah, Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club, Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band, Ibibio Sound Machine, Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer, DJ’s Steve Davis (yes the snooker player!) and Kavus Torabi, Bez, Count Skylarkin, Tankus The Henge, John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett, The Zangwills, The Baghdaddies, Demi Marriner, Regiment, The Covasettes, Penny Mob, Folk On and of course, Thrill Collins.
Kids Literature Festival
This year our Story Box Kids Literature festival features a great range of authors and illustrators including Sibéal Pounder, author of the wonderful Witch Wars and Bad Mermaids series, Fleur Hitchcock with her brilliant new book The Boy who Flew, zany Steve Cole with Adventure Duck vs Power Pug and the fantastic Christopher Edge with his new novel The Longest Night of Charlie Noon.
Plus we have Andy Seed with his amazing and funny book Wild Facts about Nature, Smriti Prasadam-Halls bringing a new story about Little Monster and the fabulous Tracey Corduroy with The One-Stop Story Shop. Two new YA authors will be bringing their debut novels to Wychwood; Gabriel Dylan with Whiteout and Tracy Darnton with The Truth About Lies and what's more they'll be having battle of the genres - horror versus thriller – with you casting the deciding votes!
Of course, it wouldn't be Wychwood without festival favourite Philip Ardagh, bringing his new historical book Secret Diary of Kitty Cask, Smugglers Daughter, the lovely Jo Cotterill reading from her acclaimed new book Jelly and hilarious author, poet and songwriter John Dougherty who's recently won the Oscar's Book Prize.
We're also delighted to welcome inspiring illustrators David Lichfield who will share secrets about writing and how to draw his wonderful characters and Leonie Lord, who has both written and illustrated the lovely book Sofa Dog.
Last but not least, we are looking forward to the appearance of Gareth P Jones, fresh from his latest Blue Peter appearance as the fictional detective who, together with illustrator Gemma Hastilow will be bringing a brand new show Mystery Makers in which YOU are invited to create, star in and solve your own mystery!
Headphone Disco
Our ever-popular headphone disco returns this year. What better way to end each fantastic day at Wychwood, than singing your heart out to music that only you can hear until the early hours, on special wireless headphones! You get to choose from two awesome DJs, battling it out simultaneously, whilst you take your pick using a toggle on your headset. This year we are delighted to introduce LED headphones, with a third headphone channel and special guests to join in the musical battle! This year taking place inside and outside our new dance venue. The Headphone Disco headsets will be operating this year on a refundable £10 deposit scheme, just to make you aware.
Tickets
Still not got your tickets for our wonderful 15th event? Don’t delay, weekend and day tickets on sales now!