Festival fever as chart toppers prepare to take centre stage
Newark Festival will aim to hit the high notes again this weekend with three days of entertainment.
Headlining a day of music at Riverside Park on Saturday is Wet Wet Wet frontman Marti Pellow.
Marti, supported by special guests, Irish rockers Hothouse Flowers, will top the bill at the evening concert.
He said his performance would feature a lot of fans’ favourites from his back catalogue rather than new material.
“I am really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great day — see you there,” he said.
The festival has a new format, including an earlier start time of noon on Saturday.
The first act will go on stage at 1pm, launching an afternoon of music entertainment — featuring Kim Wilde, Go West, Nick Heyward, Limahl, and The Fizz — before the headline concert from Marti Pellow in the evening.
Kim burst on to the music scene in 1981 with the classic worldwide hit, Kids In America.
That led to a career of more than 30m record sales, including 12 albums and hit 1980s singles, including Chequered Love, Cambodia, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, You Came, Never Trust A Stranger and Four Letter Word.
Kim said: “I am really excited to play my hits and new material on Saturday. Newark Festival is always really good fun — I can’t wait.”
Go West — Peter Cox and Richard Drummie — saw their debut single, We Close Our Eyes, reach number five in the UK chart in 1985 and become a top ten hit in the US.
It was followed by other UK hits, such as Call Me, Goodbye Girl, Don’t Look Down, and King Of Wishful Thinking, from the Pretty Woman soundtrack.
Songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Nick Heyward is perhaps best known for success with Haircut 100 in the early 1980s, when they had four UK top-ten singles, including Love Plus One and Fantastic Day.
Nick, who has since pursued a career as a solo artist, promised to take fans back in time when he appeared on stage.
Limahl first found fame as the lead singer of Kajagoogoo, who stormed the singles charts with Too Shy in the 1980s.
The Fizz, formerly known as Bucks Fizz, catapulted to fame in 1981 after they won the Eurovision Song Contest with chart-topping Making Your Mind Up.
They released more than 20 singles, including two more number ones — My Camera Never Lies and The Land Of Make Believe.
The festival, organised by Newark-based promoters LHG Live and Newark Town Council, and partnered by the Advertiser, gets under way this evening with Riverside Rocks, featuring tribute bands to The Who, The Stone Roses, The Rolling Stones and Queen — Who’s Next, The Ultimate Stone Roses, The Rollin’ Clones and Magic Queen. Gates open at 5pm.
On Sunday, there is a free family fun day with activities and entertainment throughout the day, followed by a Swing In The Park evening concert and fireworks finale.
The entertainment begins at noon and, weather-permitting, there will be a a Spitfire flypast at 1.40pm.
On the stage, Rhubarb Theatre Productions will perform two shows — The Book Worms and The Suitcases — and there will be Braniac Live.
Music entertainment includes BBC Introducing East Midlands, Newark Amateur Operatic Society, and the Rockin Beats Party Band.
Swing In The Park will feature Swing Nouveau, Tessa Smith And The Applejacks, the Vernon Sisters and Mr Swing’s Dance Orchestra.
A special late-night service has been arranged by East Midlands Trains.
The last train from Newark Castle to Lincoln tomorrow will leave at 11.10pm and the last service from Newark Castle to Nottingham at 11.06pm.
The last train to Lincoln on Saturday will leave Newark Castle at 11.07pm, stopping at Collingham, Swinderby, Hykeham and Lincoln.
An additional train at 11.04pm will call at Rolleston, Fiskerton, Bleasby, Thurgarton, Lowdham, Burton Joyce, Carlton and Nottingham.
The last train to Lincoln on Sunday will leave at 11.09pm, while a service heading the opposite way will leave at 11.14pm, calling at Rolleston, Fiskerton, Bleasby, Thurgarton, Lowdham, Burton Joyce, Carlton and Nottingham.
To buy festival tickets, go to www.newarkfestival.co.uk