Festivals join for Jubilee weekend music extravaganza

Two popular Suffolk music festivals have announced exciting plans to join forces to stage a two-day extravaganza featuring a host of top acts.

Growing annual music events LeeStock and Live and Kicking, both held in Sudbury, have been going from strength to strength in recent years attracting big acts and thousands of music fans. Both events have also raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Now after lengthy negotiations the organisers of both events have decided to pool their resources to stage a two-day event to be held in the Summer of 2012. The two-day festival will be held at AFC Sudbury’s state-of-the art MEL Group Stadium on Sunday 3 and Monday 4 June, to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The first day will see LeeStock make the move to the AFC ground, whilst Live and Kicking, which will also incorporate a family fun day, will take charge of the second day.

Bands and acts taking part in the festival have not yet been revealed, however, the line-ups will feature a mix of famous performers, tribute acts and local performers. More than 15 acts will be performing throughout the weekend.

LeeStock was launched in memory of music mad Lee Dunford who died aged just 21 after a four year battle against cancer. Since that time the festival has grown year on year, and last year was headlined by Dodgy, who enjoyed hits during the 1990’s including ‘Good Enough’ and ‘Staying Out for the Summer’ and Mark Morriss who enjoyed 13 top forty hits as the Bluetones front man. The festival, and its related fundraising events, have so far raised over £25,000 for the Willow Foundation, a charity aimed at improving the lives of seriously ill young adults.

Live and Kicking is an outdoor, 10-hour music extravaganza, now in its third year. Last year thousands attended the festival which was headlined by seventies glam-rock legends Sweet, who performed anthems such as Ballroom Blitz, Block Buster, Wig Wam Bam and Teenage Rampage. The event is one of the main fundraising event for AFC Sudbury, a Ryman League football club, which also does a lot of outreach work within the local community such as its grassroots initiative, which encourages young people to get involved in sport and stay healthy. 

Club director and one of the organisers of the festival, Richard Instance said: “Both LeeStock and Live and Kicking have been a roaring success and both have been growing and growing. After lengthy negotiations between the organisers of both festivals we decided it would be sensible to combine our resources for this Jubilee weekend celebration. 

“With both groups working together we are sure we can attract some very big acts, boost ticket sales and raise even more money for our causes. Our aim is to make the festival one of the best on the region’s music scene.”

An official launch party is being held at the White Horse, North Street, Sudbury, on Friday 3 February at 8pm. Famous headline acts are due to be announced on the night, along with live performances throughout the evening. Information on how to purchase tickets will be publicised in the near future.