Festival No.6 has announced that the final day of this year’s festival will become Sgt. Pepper’s Sunday, with a huge Sgt. Pepper’s themed Carnival No.6.
As well as the UK festival exclusive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Bootleg Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s show, which last month sold out the Royal Albert Hall, No.6 has partnered with Culture Liverpool to bring some of the highlights of their critically acclaimed Sgt. Pepper at 50 festival to Portmeirion. There are also contributions from The Beatles Story and British Music Experience as Sgt. Peppers Sunday takes over No.6.
Sgt Pepper at 50 will bring amazing performances and art inspired by each track on the album to No.6, including With A Little Help From My Friends, a new work by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, inspired by Beatles manager and friend Brian Epstein, who loved Portmeirion so much he had his own cottage in the village. Other highlights include For The Benefit of Mr. Kite, a No.6 collaboration between Sgt. Pepper at 50 and the John Cage Trust, creating Mr Kite’s Musicircus – a unique, audacious fairground ride of sights and sounds with 100 musicians and performers, while Within You, Without You sees Milapfest take over the Central Piazza to the sound of bhangra and sitars, highlighting George Harrison’s spiritual connection to India.
In the No.6 Academy, world-renowned producer Steve Levine will talk to British Music Experience head curator Kevin McManus about the incredible production work on Sgt. Pepper’s by Sir George Martin, who he first worked with 40 years ago. Also, the brilliant Dr Mark Vernon talks about The Philosophy of Friendship inspired by With A Little Help From My Friends and The Psychology of Love, based on All You Need Is Love (not on Sgt. Pepper’s, but released during the Summer of Love).
Other activity includes a Beatles Tour of Portmeirion, showing where George Harrison stayed when he had his 50th birthday party there, Brian Epstein’s old cottage and other Beatles connections to the village.
Also on this bill is an incredible Sgt. Peppers-themed Carnival No.6, (Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite) offering festival-goers the chance to bring their own Sgt. Peppers themed costumes and join the carnival as it weave its way through the village to the main stage in time for the 70-piece Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and The Bootleg Beatles amazing performance of Sgt. Pepper’s in full, and The Beatles Story’s Liverpool Selfie Photo Board - choose your favourite Beatle, take a selfie and share across socials with a hashtag, #SgtPepper50.
Luke Huxham said: “This is a landmark anniversary for a seminal album and we wanted to stage a celebration which was a whole new interpretation of this classic piece of music and pop culture. Sgt. Pepper’s pushed creative boundaries, as we aim to do with No.6, and as The Beatles have a long history with Portmeirion, it seemed only right to celebrate the 50th anniversary with a psychedelic Sgt. Pepper’s takeover of No.6 featuring brilliant artists, that the audience could also be part of.”
Festival No.6 is a bespoke banquet of music, arts, culture and gastronomy, taking place over the weekend of the 7-10 September in the magical village of Portmeirion, Wales, home of the cult TV series The Prisoner. With more live artists, DJ's, renowned chefs, speakers and surprises yet to be revealed the sixth Festival No.6 will undoubtedly be the most impressive to date.
Acts will perform across the entire site, by the whimsical Italianate architecture of the village, the historic town hall, piazza, Bristol Colonnade, beside the picturesque estuary, in the atmospheric woods and the promenade along the River Dwyryd.
Constructed between 1925 and 1975 by maverick architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion is a wonderfully bizarre and elaborate interpretation of a Mediterranean villa, nestled in the stunning mountains and forests of North Wales overlooking the expansive estuarial waters of the Irish Sea.
Published on 23 July 2017 by Ben Robinson
