THE headline acts for Uttoxeter’s biggest music festival have been completed with two major acts from yesteryear.
Katrina and the Waves, best-known for their massive 1985 hit Walking On Sunshine and the Eurovision-winning Love Shine a Light, will headline the Acoustic Festival of Britain at Uttoxeter Racecourse on the Sunday night of the three-day event in May.
They will be joined on the bill by the reformed line-up of The Move, one of the biggest pop groups of the 1960’s and fronted by well-known local celebrity Roy Wood, who will headline the Friday night of the event.
One of the band’s claims to fame is that their song Flowers In The Rain was the first record to be played on Radio One after being introduced by Tony Blackburn.
The two bands join legendary singer Joan Armatrading, who had already been announced as Saturday night’s headliner, for the third staging of the festival in Uttoxeter.
Other acts confirmed in recent weeks include Danny and Ben from popular rock band Thunder, who play on the back of a sold-out tour of the UK this January.
Also on the bill are Eighties rockers Dogs d’ Amour, Ian McNabb and the already announced Glenn Tilbrook, Mike Peters and The Animals.
Mike Stephens, one of the organisers of the festival which takes place from May 25 to May 27, told the Advertiser the bill is a very good eclectic mix this year.
He said: “We’ve got a very eclectic event on this year encompassing folk and rock music.
“Katrina and the Waves are perfect as she can do a great acoustic set and they have a couple of massive hits.
“It will be her only festival appearance of the year and it will be the same week as Eurovision so she will be on TV that week which will work out great.
“Friday night we’ve got The Move back together which is fantastic. Just think of those hits they had such as Fire Brigade, Blackberry Way and Flowers In The Rain.
“That was the first song played on Radio One which if you think about is an incredible achievement given the choice of stuff they could have played such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or Elvis.” Mr Stephens also said that there will be a lot more on offer at the festival this year, with the addition of a poetry tent and more dance troupes.
He said: “We have got John Cooper Clarke playing on Saturday so we have the master of punk poetry and we have got other poets and spoken word performers.
“We’ve got four different poets from all over the country coming. We’ve also got a few more dance troupes coming — nine in total are performing.” More information about the event and tickets are available from www.acousticfestival.co.uk.
