Featuring: The Beat and The Selecter, The Bluetones,
The Boomtown Rats, TheLovely Eggs, Stealing Sheep
Family Highlights:
Theatre including; Travelling Light Circus, Mufti’s L_ve Hangman, A Bird In Hand Theatre and ‘Baba Yaga’s House’ by Dizzy O’Dare
Plus creative workshops, face painting, art and crafts, performing arts, installations
DATES: 14,15 & 16 September, 2018
www.headforthehills.org.uk / @head4hillsfest / #h4th / #headforthehills18
The festival season’s final fling, Head for the Hills in Ramsbottom, returns on 14, 15 & 16 September, with a three-day celebration of music, arts and creativity for all the family.
Surrounded by beautiful panoramic views of rolling Lancashire hills, this fun-filled family friendly festival, is renowned for showcasing exciting new music, alongside world-class headliners, as well as its great taste in food and drink.
Bringing their music to the hills first will be legendary 2 Tone Ska bands The Beat and The Selecter, who will open the festival in style with a double headliner spectacular on the Friday night, they will be accompanied underground surreal-psych punk rock Lancaster duo, The Lovely Eggs, and Manchester post-punk three piece LIINES.
Headlining Saturday is Britpop band The Bluetones; the London-based musicians originally formed in the ‘90s and have performed over 10,000 shows in more than 73 countries. They will head up an eclectic day full of music and arts with, Stealing Sheep, Barry Hyde (of The Futureheads), Alice Jemima and returning North East Newcastle folk rockers Holy Moly & The Crackers
On Sunday, legendary Dublin rock band The Boomtown Rats will fulfill the legendary closing set. With a career spanning four decades and fronted by legendary Irish singer-songwriter Bob Geldof, the band announced in 2017 that they plan to release their first album in over thirty years and are set to close the family festival in style with the final headline show of the weekend.
With an inclusive family focused ethos, a relaxed atmosphere and an impressive arts programme, the award-winning Head For The Hills is going into it’s 8th year and has maintained a strong reputation as a great festival for parents and children.
Kid friendly highlights include face painting, arts and crafts as well as a huge range of performing arts and theatre including staged shows, walkabout comedy, installations and workshops. Another advantage for parents is that the festival is located on a beautifully maintained cricket pitch with a fully dedicated baby changing tent, giving festival goers with prams and strollers easy access and a hassle free weekend.
As part of the Northern Festival Network and funded by Arts Council England, the family arts programme includes magical performances from Manchester creative arts company, Travelling Light Circus as they showcase installations including the ‘Pendulum Wave Machine’ and new production, ‘The Playground of Illusions’, a collection of ‘giant toys’ that each contains a visual or auditory illusion; these toys are placed in an area that festival goers will be free to wander around and explore.
Pushing the boundaries further will be Mufti’s L_ve Hangman. A life-sized, 3D version of the timeless pen and paper favourite with a catchy original soundtrack, tongue-in-cheek puppetry and awful dress sense, L_ve Hangman is set to bring a huge amount of interactive fun to the weekend.
A Bird In Hand Theatre will be offering a sweet and gentle alternative piece of puppet theatre called ‘Special Delivery’, which is a show without words that appeals to both adults and children, blending beautiful puppetry with a good dollop of silliness.
Topping off the theatre programme will be ‘Baba Yaga’s House’ a new unique and bizarre walkabout from contemporary circus theatre company Dizzy O’Dare.
It is not just theatre performances that will get the family’s creative juices flowing, Head For The Hills will also be providing some exciting interactive workshops, including a new playful, physical comedy workshop by Shifting Sands Theatre called THE FILM KREW, where families can help re-create epic films such asSpartacus, Star Wars, Gone With The Wind as you’ve never seen them before
Adding to the workshops further will be new Manchester and Bury collective, Gang Of Five who will be setting up their spectacular ‘ART-tillery Tent’ at the festival – a special art studio space, that is set to inspire festival goers’ artistic flare with exciting and interesting arty sessions inspired by the whole Head for the Hills experience including creating a Monster Head Army, making your own festival Zine and lively figure drawing with a difference.
The festival will feature a wide variety of food stalls and beverage tents offering a range of locally-sourced produce including its very own beer festival, organised by festival partners, Hollinworth & Price and Silver Street Brewing Co. The beer extravaganza will be a celebration of the region’s brewing talent with over 30 cask ales from across the North West, accompanied by a side order of fantastic DJ sets from well known artists.
Tickets are now on sale for the event, which is organised by The Met in association with Blueprint Studio and Scruff of the Neck.
Ticket prices start at £40 for a day ticket and £100 for a weekend ticket, with discounts for children and families.
For more information and further updates, please visit:
@head4hillsfest / #headforthehills18
