A virtual music festival featuring a number of leading folk, roots and acoustic performers is to be staged online in a bid to help the Crescent Theatre during the lockdown crisis.
Folkin’ Digital will be free to view on the Crescent’s own YouTube channel for several hours on Sunday 23 August. It is also hoped to stream it on Instagram and the theatre’s Facebook page.
The festival will feature 10 artists who have all graced the Crescent’s stage over the last decade or so.
The Crescent, which is a non-funded registered charity, has been forced to remain closed since coronavirus lockdown began in March.
Although the event, which starts at 3pm and is due to finish at 10pm, is free to view, donations will be invited with 50% going to the Crescent and 50% to the artists.
Event organiser Francis Mallon, a member of the theatre’s music department, said: “These things are always more difficult than you imagine, but I am very, very excited by it.
“I think it will be a great event which people will enjoy and hopefully reach into their pockets to donate.”
Each of the 10 acts will perform for about 40 minutes each, with a number having chosen to pre-record their sets.
The majority of artists are performing as solo acts because of lockdown, with the exception of band Fret & Fiddle, who have laid down individual tracks and will open the show, and Kim Lowings and her dad Andrew.
The full line-up is:
- Fret & Fiddle http://www.fretandfiddle.co.uk/
- Julu Irvine & Heg Bignall https://www.juluandheg.com/
- Paul McClure http://www.paulmccluremusic.com/
- Daria Kulesh http://www.daria-kulesh.co.uk/
- Kim Lowings https://www.kimlowings.com/
- Chris Cleverley https://chriscleverley.com/
- David Fisher https://www.davidfishermusician.com/
- Iona Fyfe https://ionafyfe.com/
- Katherine Priddy http://www.katherinepriddy.co.uk/
- Edwina Hayes https://edwinahayes.com/
Francis added: “I think this form of entertainment is here to stay, even if we get live concerts back.”
Folkin’ Digital can be viewed by visiting the Crescent’s official YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7DAdJvhFbIHUY_grCYuhw or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcnWJJ_gUXs&feature=youtu.be
It is also hoped to stream the event simultaneously on the Crescent’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CrescentTheatre/
By Tony Collins
Did you ask Ruby Turner? Her career started at the Crescent.