After a year away, the award winning, independently run GuilFest is back by popular demand and bigger than ever for July 2014! The festival that is expected to attract 20,000 daily visitors will be held in the beautiful surroundings of Stoke Park, returning over the weekend of the 18-20 July. This year, festival goers can expect an incredible 10 stages at the festival that was awarded ‘Best Family Festival’ in 2006.
Visitors can also expect a weekend of fantastic live entertainment crossing all genres of music, coupled with comedy, theatre, children’s entertainment, arts & craft exhibitions and food & drink from around the world.
Guilfest will feature 10 stages for the first time this year, with two enormous outdoor stages (The Richmond Hyundai Main Stage and The Good Time Guide Stage) and eight smaller stages with something individual to offer. Some of the more niche venues include The Vive Le Rock Stage; home to Punk and Ska at GuilFest, The Funky End; which is a dance tent with cutting edge, world-class electronica acts and The Acoustic Lounge; where some of the best solo singer/songwriters in the UK play.
Other exciting spaces include the famed Big Cheese Cave; where you can go to see some of Britain’s sickest Rock, Metal and Alternative bands, The Live Club Stages; where you will see a real diverse range of musical talent from local and national unsigned bands, La Discotheque; where DJs will be playing a heady mix of the best ska, northern soul and 70’s, 80’s and 90’s soul and dance anthems. The last two tents will be supplying offerings from the arts with The Man In The Moon Tent hosting around 40 theatrical acts over the weekend and The Cosmic Comedy Lounge featuring some of the best comedians on the circuit today.
Headlining the festival on Friday 18 July this year will be the legendary Boomtown Rats, but it is still unconfirmed as to whether Bob Geldof will make an appearance after the tragic death of his daughter Peaches Geldof earlier this year. The Hoosiers, most famed for their huge singles ‘Worried about Ray’ and ‘Goodbye Mr A’ from their No1 UK album ‘The Trick To Life’, have also recently been confirmed as featuring on the Friday night. Other top acts that can be seen on Friday include Fun Lovin’ Criminals, The Blackout, Sham69 (featuring the original line up with Jimmy Pursey) and Public Service Broadcasting, amongst many more.
Saturday 19 July sees disco kings Kool and The Gang, who originally formed in 1964 and have sold over 70 million albums worldwide top the bill on the Main Stage. Overall, Saturday can only be described as a brilliantly eclectic array of musical fusion that sees such acts as metal gods Soulfly, British DJ, songwriter, record producer and musician, Naughty Boy, The Farm who rose to success in the early 90’s with classic songs like ‘All Together Now’ and XFactor winners Sam Bailey (2013) and Jedward (2009). Other names to look out for are Brits and MOBO award winning Ms Dynamite, Drum & Bass heavyweights Roni Size and Friction (ft P Money and Linguistics) and English punk-rockers Buzzcocks.
And on Sunday 20 July, the masters of synthpop, The Human League close the festival’s Main Stage ahead of a star-studded support. Big names include Hip-Hop legends and pioneers, The Sugarhill Gang, indie-rock band The Enemy, Norman Jay (who was awarded an MBE in 2002 for his services to music) and hardcore punk band Gallows. Other acts worth watching will be British dub/reggae favourites Dreadzone, actor/comedian/singer Shane Richie, playing with The Prelude, contemporary DnB masters Sigma and one of the best live bands you will ever likely see- The Correspondents (a must watch).
There will be a wealth of other entertainment and activities on site for the whole family as well as the music, including a massive 150 foot beer tent serving GuilFest bitter. There will be a Calypso cocktail bar, an extensive KidZone, the brand new Spaced Inn, Farmer Giles Barn Dance and much, much more.
For the full line up, details on each areas and for booking tickets, please visit the official Guilfest website HERE- book now to avoid disappointment as tickets are selling out fast!
James Martin