Liverpool Loves 2016 has officially been launched and the two-week countdown is now underway until the event returns to Pier Head Liverpool.
This is second consecutive year the three-day event has taken place, celebrating all that is great about Liverpool City Region under the fab four themes ofBusiness, Culture, Food and Wellbeing.
Guests were invited to Tom Halls Tavern yesterday evening (Thursday 21 July) for a taster of what to expect from this year’s event.
Liverpool Loves 2016 takes place over three days – Liverpool Loves Business on Thursday 4 August; Liverpool Loves Merseybeat on Friday 5 August; andLiverpool Loves Festival Day on Saturday 6 August.
Liverpool Loves Business will take place between 9am and 5pm on Thursday 4 August at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Pier Head Liverpool.
This year, a key focus of Liverpool Loves Business looks at how business is pitched, won and delivered digitally. Seminars will include comprehensive guidance and advice on how to build an online business; retail business; service business; food and drink business; and export business.
On Friday, 5th August, the Pier Head will come alive with the finest sounds of the iconic Merseybeat era.
Liverpool Loves Merseybeat will take music fans on a trip down memory lane to relive the sounds of the Swinging Sixties when life was all about peace and love.
It will be headlined by Liverpool singer Beryl Marsden, who shot to fame in the 1960s as a rising star at the Cavern Club at the same time as The Beatles and Cilla Black.
Beryl will be joined on stage by her house band The Goldies, and special guests – Merseybeat performers Ray Ennis, Karl Terry, Brian Saxophone Jones, and Billy Kinsley.
The indoor concert will take place at 7pm on Friday 5 August in the Culturebox Marquee, which will be located at Pier Head Liverpool, part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool Loves Festival Day on Saturday, 6th August, will showcase the best of the city’s thriving local music and culture scene acrossfive separate stages – inviting visitors to experience a free public event which features a packed programme of live entertainment, representing the city’s status as a UNESCO City of Music.
The Main Stage afternoon programme with The Guide Liverpool runs from 12pm to 5pm and will be hosted by The Guide Liverpool’s Jay Hynd featuring a mix of genres from indie-pop and dance acts to 10-piece funk bands. The set will be headlined by The Hummingbirds and will also include Mersey Wylie and her band, Halem, The Native Kings, The Soul Rays, Shamona, Clare Sophia, Deliah, Eleanor Nelly, Spink, Joe Slater, and DJs Liam Hincks and Lee Butler.
Headlining the Main Stage will be Liverpool’s acclaimed Tea Street Band as part of BBC Radio Merseyside’s programme which will run between 5pm and 9pm, joined by The Wicked Whispers, The Night Café and Bribes.
There is a full day programme on the Culturebox Stage between 8am and 9pm. It all starts with Morning Gloryville between 8am and 12pm; followed from 12pm to 6pm by Gongapalooza; Huayun Arts, China Pearl, Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival, Pop Vox Choir, Lion Dance, Capoeira For All and Viva Brazil with Katumba. Then from 6pm to 9pm, visitors can enjoy the sounds of Greg Wilson and DJ Bernie Connor.
To round up this year’s programme – new breakthrough music talent will be showcased by Liverpool SoulFest and Liverpool Disco Festival at Bar Funk,alongside acoustic performances on the Merseyrail SoundStation Pop-Up.
Visitors can look forward to a full programme at Bar Funk between 12pm and 9pm with programmes from SoulFest which includes Little Grace and Shan Smile and Liverpool Disco Festival.
The Rider Stage will be presented by John Gibbons of The Anfield Wrap between 12pm and 6pm, and will feature The Ragamuffins; The Cheap Thrills; Those Fantastic Things; Ovvls, Heartbeat Drumming Circle; Shellsuit; The Bad Habits; The Jjohns; and Jo Symes and The Loving Kind.
There is a real focus on families and wellbeing at this year’s Liverpool Loves festival too with a packed programme of activities for children – from kids’ yoga to dancing and drumming, as well as lots of relaxing therapies and workshops for the grown-ups! Also just announced is Dr Zigs Extraordinary Bubblesadding a whole lot more excitement for children.
Organisers Orb CIC really have pulled out all the stops to ensure the festival’s second year is even bigger and better than the first.
Dubbed ‘The People’s Festival’, the inaugural event, Liverpool Loves 2015, attracted more than 27,000 people attending across the weekend to celebrate everything that is fantastic about the City Region and scooped the prestigious accolade of Small Tourism Event of the Year at last month’s Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards 2016.
Now, the team behind the three-day event are now working tirelessly on this year’s line-up in a bid to attract even more visitors.
Festival Director Josh Boyd from Orb CIC commented: “We’re really excited for the festival weekend now and the countdown is officially on. The City Region has pulled together once again and we have a really amazing offer on this year that’s completely unique, full of character and loads of fun.
Our business event with a difference will help local entrepreneurs to take that next step towards success with loads of great talks, workshops and networking opportunities. The amazing Beryl Marsden will headline a concert on the Friday evening, with some greats from Liverpool’s world renowned Merseybeat era – and of course we have a big exciting festival with so much going on to cap off the weekend on Saturday. Five live music stages, loads of activities for children and families; street food, drinks – we can’t wait!”
Find out more at www.liverpoolloves.co.uk and get involved by emailing your details to LiverpoolLoves@orb-events.co.uk
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