Whitehaven Festival 2010
Whitehaven Festival 2010 Festival Ships Food JetSki Airshow Red Arrows Music Night
Once again Whitehaven festival had a great programme of music to compliment all the other activities around the harbour. Although previously the concerts had been free, in a slight change to the format it was decided to have three major concerts at Quay Street that would be paying, ticket only events to recoup some revenue and allow for the booking of major artists. The result was concerts featuring the widest spectrum of popular music.
The Friday night featured Katherine Jenkins the Welsh mezzo soprano who has topped the classical charts as well as performing at prestige events all over the world. She was backed by the National Symphony Orchestra and tailored her programme to reflect the tragedy of the recent shootings, that affected many people in West Cumbria.
On the Saturday before the Status Quo concert there was music from a collection of local acts on the CFM stage by the Hub. It was a smaller programme than last year but this helped avoid the conflict between listening to the bands and missing other things going on at the festival so a good crowd stopped to listen to all the bands. It also meant that anyone who didn't have tickets for the main concerts still got to hear some great music for free.
The main concert on the Saturday night was the mighty Status Quo returning to Whitehaven again after their successful concert at the Recreation Ground a couple of years ago. They were supported by Manchester based band six 10 repeater. With Quo's music being of the high volume variety there was almost as many people listening outside the small arena erected in Quay Street car-park as there were inside with tickets.
All Angels
Perhaps surprisingly, my favourite act of the weekend were All Angels whose pure voices and beautiful harmonies adapted well to some very diverse songs. Backed by keyboards and a string quartet they performed a free concert on the main stage on the Sunday afternoon after the veterans parade. With some gentle humour and their own particular take on songs from Coldplay to classics through folk, country and pop, all with strong melodies and delicate harmonies, they charmed the large audience of all ages. They were also very photogenic.
Daisy Chute Laura Wright
Melanie Nakhla Charlotte Ritchie
All Angels had a short interval for a costume change, during which the musicians played to keep the audience entertained. Then All Angels returned to the stage in shimmering white dresses, sang some more songs from their latest album, Fly Away, and finished with the old Chordettes number Mr. Sandman, which they seemed to enjoy as much as the audience.
N-Dubz
The festival finished with a great gig by popular chart band N-Dubz, enthusiastically supported by a large, young audience. Dappy, Fazer, and Tulisa had performed at Glastonbury festival the day before travelling all the way to Whitehaven and were also in the middle of filming their TV series Being N-Dubz so it was amazing to see them at Whitehaven festival. (sorry no photos).
Return to Western Lakeland Events
the official website www.thefestival.org.uk
All Angels www.allangelsofficial.com
N-Dubz www.ndubz.com
Status Quo www.statusquo.co.uk
Katherine Jenkins kj.tv
Gavin McKew www.myspace.com/gavmckew
Garry Kennedy www.myspace.com/garrykennedymusic
Glory or Death www.myspace.com/gloryordeath2010
With Lights Out www.myspace.com/withlightsoutmusic
© WAWL 2010