Elbow, Manic Street Preachers and Madness for OnBlackheath 2015

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OnBlackheath

OnBlackheath, in partnership with John Lewis, will return to one of London’s most beautiful open spaces on Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 September 2015.

Following a hugely successful inaugural year, OnBlackheath festival is back and promises to be bigger and better with the announcement of platinum selling five piece Elbow and pop icons Madness as this year’s headline acts. 

Music complimented by food, OnBlackheath offers festivalgoers a memorable experience on the historic green space of London’s Blackheath Common SE3. OnBlackheath will also feature an array of exciting attractions including a Chef’s Club Immersive Dining Experience, Food Demonstration Stage, a whole host of entertainment dedicated to kids and the family, urban arts experience area, interactive sreet entertainment and much much more.

Saturday's headliner will be BRIT and Mercury winning Elbow, a band that, over six studio albums, have established themselves as one of the most important acts the UK has ever produced. With their current album 'The Take Off and Landing of Everything' entering the UK charts at Number One and a well deserved reputation for incredible live performances this headline set is sure to be unforgettable.

Madness will be hitting the main stage on Sunday for their only London date this year. In the last 5 years the band have released two of their most critically acclaimed albums ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ and ‘Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da’. At the end of 2014 they embarked on a hugely successful arena tour, including a date at London’s O2 Arena.

Madness commented: “We thought we’d left no stone unturned in London: Palaces, parks, stadiums… and now the kind people of Blackheath are letting us play there. Lets hope we don’t cause an earthquake south of the river.”

Manic Street Preachers will arrive on Blackheath following the release of one of the most critically acclaimed albums of their career (Futurology) and the reissue of their 1994 masterpiece The Holy Bible which was also played in full at some of the most feverishly received gigs the band have ever played. They are unarguably one of the UK's most treasured rock & roll bands.

Also heading to the main stage on Saturday will critically acclaimed Anna Calvi with many more artists still to be announced. Whilst leading independent label Heavenly Recordings will be back to curate the second stage Heavenly & Friends.

Sunday will see the likes of American R&B star and food lover Kelis and British soul singer Laura Mvula take to the main stage. National radio DJ Gilles Peterson will be making a return and will be bringing an array of live music and DJ sets to his Worldwide Stage.

The Meantime Sessions Stage has also been announced and makes a welcome addition to the bill with artists including The Rude Vandals plus Chris Holland All Stars.

Over 25,000 festivalgoers attended the first ever festival that took place in Blackheath, London, in September 2014, with memorable headline slots from Massive Attack, Frank Turner and Grace Jones. The weekend proved to be a rousing triumph of incredible music and innovative immersive food experiences.

Tickets on sale 9am Friday 20 February and available via www.onblackheath.com 

Published on 16 February 2015 by Wayne Feltham

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