Bristol ready for biggest music events for more than a year
IDLES will perform tonight on the Downs before Love Saves the Day this weekend
Tens of thousands of people will enjoy live music in Bristol over the next few days, for the first time since February last year.
IDLES, who are from Bristol, will perform on the Clifton Downs tonight (03/09) after dozens of warm up acts take to three different stages.
Performances are set to start at 3pm and last until 11pm.
The main stage today will host live and electronic musicians including Scottish composer and producer Anna Meredith, synth infused Yorkshire group Working Men's Club and Jane Weaver.
The second stage will be more electronically focused featuring UK dance music veterans Paranoid London, plus Giant Swan, Grove, Nuha Ruby Ra and Kayla Painter.
The third and final stage will then host up and coming bands from Bristol and across the country.
Hand picked by IDLES, those performing include Heavy Lungs, Alewya, Delilah Holliday and others.
Tom Paine from organisers Team Love said: "There is so much exciting, fresh and boundary-pushing music here, from musicians who Bristolians have been waiting to see play live for so long now, just seeing the names all together on the same artwork is genuinely sending tingles down our spines."
As well as the music there will also be bars offering drinks and various food stalls, while 2,000 free tickets have been offered to local NHS workers as a thank you for their work during the pandemic.
It comes before the Love Saves the Day festival starts at the same site tomorrow.
Twenty-five thousand people are expected at that on both Saturday and Sunday, with big names including Mahalia, Little Simz and slowthai among those set to perform across six stages.
Dave Harvey, Festival co-founder said: “It feels pretty surreal to be gearing up to finally get back in a field after the crippling uncertainty of the last 18 months.
"We are beyond excited to get back to what we love doing best with a really exciting line up, focussed on the wealth of amazing UK talent (for obvious reasons), with a heavy Bristol focus this year, which is something we only want to develop further.
"The line-up really shows the wealth of talent the country’s got to offer right now.”
Those going to the events are urged not to drive as there is no parking at the site.
You can find more about Love Saves the Day here.