Whitehaven Festival 2009

Music at Whitehaven Festival

Festival Tall Ships Food JetSki Blades Vulcan Music

There was probably a better musical line-up at Whitehaven Festival 2009 than ever before. In fact whilst it was billed as a food festival because of the celebrity chefs it was also a music festival with a continuous series of acts on two stages for the two days. On the main stage topping the bill on Saturday night were 2 of the best tribute acts in the business - Abba Gold and the Backbeat Beatles. However, there was also, on the CFM stage throughout the two days, a succession of brilliant bands and solo artists.

Dearham brass band on the Sugar Tongue

There was a wide variety of music at the Whitehaven Festival including some very accomplished renditions of well known tunes by Dearham Brass band who performed on the Sugar Tongue before the inspiring backdrop of the tall ships.

Phill Lewthwaite at the Whitehaven festival

One of the first artists up on the Saturday was Phil Lewthwaite who was performing on the CFM stage which was situated near the hub.

Kinch

Kinch play the Whitehaven Festival

The penultimate band on the CFM stage on the Saturday night was Kinch, an exciting indie rock band from Leeds. Their songs and performance were full of energy and they generated a feel good factor of 11 out of 10. They were followed by Manchester band The Shallow Call.

Feed Me

Feed Me blues band at the Whitehaven festival

Great modern blues band Feed Me from Maryport showed some fantastic musicianship for such a young group - with double guitarists complimenting each other, a strong rhythm section and mature vocals on a mixture of their own songs and revitalised classics.

Jamie on guitar Jay on Vocals

Phil on Bass Kiefer on guitar

Skunk

Skunk on the CFM stage

Another great local band who have been playing the local scene for ages and thus put in a very solid performance were hard rock band Skunk from Whitehaven. With free performances from so many great bands that you would normally pay to see, apart from all the other entertainment, it was unbelievable that some people actually thought the 2 quid for a programme was too expensive!

Sea Dogs

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Back at the festival were the Sea Dogs, seen here on the Main stage at Quay Street Car park, with their unique blend of Sea-shanty, Folk and Rock getting everyone clapping, dancing and singing along.

Sea dogs - violinist Sea dogs - guitarist

Sea Dogs - accordian player Sea dogs - bass player

Abba Gold

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One of the big attractions on the Saturday night was the tribute band Abba Gold who did a good impression of the super pop group and performed most of their memorable hits from the 70's recently revived in popularity by the musical and the film Mamma Mia!

Agnetha Faltskog lookalike from Abba Gold Frida Lyngstad impressionist from Abba Gold

Backbeat Beatles

Backbeat Beatles play Whitehaven Festival 2009

Finally, on the main stage at the Whitehaven Festival, before the fireworks spectacular, was a rousing performance of Beatles songs by one of the top tribute acts in the country, The Backbeat Beatles. All of the big hits were there sounding very much like the originals.

The Return

Whitehaven band The Return on the CFM stage during Saturday afternoon. It was fantastic to see how many great local artists there are at the moment in Cumbria.

Ruffcut at Whitehaven Festival 2009