Sunrise At Big Chill 2008

Sunrise Celebration festival was due to be held at the end of May but adverse weather meant the event had to be cancelled. The festival now has a new date, and a new location, Friday 1st until Sunday 3rd August at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire.

Sunrise will be held in a field adjoining The Big Chill festival on the land of Eastnor Castle near Ledbury, Herefordshire. All Sunrise tickets grant access to all of the Big Chill and Sunrise Arenas as long as they are exchanged. The deadline for ticket exchanges to The Big Chill has been set at Thursday 10th July.

Music at the Sunrise part of the two festivals will include Gypsy swing, Beatboxing, traditional Breton Dance, Ska and Reggae, bulkan bazookas, folk and fireside songbirds.

So far confirmed to play in the Sunrise field are: Seize the Day, King Porter Stomp, Dragonsfly, Planetman & the internationalz, Dan Arborise, Undercover Hippy, Pink n Ruby, Travelling Band, Manjinga 7, The Gentleman's Club, Lazy Habits, Dub Fx, One Taste collective feat. Jamie Woon, Gideon Conn, Speakers Corner Quartet, Elova, Excentral Tempest, Yamit Mamo, Daisy, The Hat, Nick Mulvey, David J, Joe Driscoll, MC Xander, Bridgette Amofah, Portico Quartet, Jono McCleery, Sweet Sweet Lies, Chancery Blame and the Gadjo Club, Perunika Trio, Paul Didge, Green Angels, Forcenra, Wriggles Of Nen, Percefoni Petticoat, The Summits (acoustic set), Nathan Ball, Masdafarai, and The Wind Whistles. For the line-up details as available for the Sunrise field please click here.

Other on site highlights include an ethical fashion show, featuring bespoke ethically manufactured clothes from independent small businesses, and the biggest astrologically informed speed-dating event in history, and site decor from the Ramshackle faculty.

The Big Chill line up this year includes Leonard Cohen, Bomb The Bass, Fujiya & Miyagi, Roisin Murphy, Alabama 3 (acoustic), Bill Bailey, Jilted John, Plaid, Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, Trentemøller, Buzzcocks, Martha Wainwright, Mr Scruff, Fat Freddy's Drop, The Mighty Boosh, and more. For the line-up details as available for Big Chill please click here.

Sunrise will be a festival within a festival. It will be 100% sustainable powered, with compost toilets, eco rangers and all the usual Sunrise Ethos and intimacy.

The Sunrise arena will have all that you the usual Sunrise aspects including talks on Alternative Technologies, Earth Mysteries, Ethno Botony and Global tribal culture, workshops, walkabout and spontaneous performance, dance from breaking to Breton, green graffiti, crafts, hot tubs, saunas, permaculture gardens, and more, all around a central fire.

The areas in the Sunrise field at Big Chill include:
Small World cafe: Home away from home to acts from the Sunrise campaigns area, championing a host of NGO's and charities.
Inspiral cafe: A visionary space, serving up Inspired chai and nibbles, super healthy foods and a fine cuisine of down tempo audibles.
Roots n culture: Featuring the Chai Wallah stage and cafe, eco graffiti boards, poetry slam and the ethical fashion show.
Out Of The Ordinary: A conference in a field, with talks and workshops covering astronomy, earth energies, calendricals, megalithic sites, wonders of the world and more.
Permaculture Gardens: Practical info on living in harmony with the earth, with workshops, permaculture garden, and information sharing. A chilled out space with a garden to relax in.
Astrology and divination: Heart of the astrological speed dating phenomena! a site wide astrologically aligned game to explore every possible relationship. Some of the best Astrologers in the UK offer insights into the deeper rhythms and influences at work in your life, also featuring divination, tarot, & healing.
The Eartheart cafe stage: Serving up chai and nibbles, and a rootsy musical menu.
Kids area: Fun for all
Craft area: Blacksmithing, stone carving, pottery, bowl carving, make butterfly wings or take part in recycled arts for children and adults.
Green innovations: Showcasing new technologies, featuring eco rangers, giving advice on how your can lighten up your footprint on the planet.
Tipi Circle: Celebrating nomadic and indigenous cultures, through music and word. Featuring ceremony, workshops, and performance.

There will be a partial solar eclipse, due to happen on Friday 1st August between 9.30am and 11am. Festival goers are invited to come along to the Sunrise central fire and take part in a solar ceremony.

The Sunrise field will have a separate road access gate. Camping and parking will be within the field for all the Sunrise Ticket holders, so it really will be like Sunrise, next door to the Big Chill.

The Sunrise Field at the Big Chill is a big field at the upper end of the site, with a forest to one side and views across site and of the near by hills.

For details of the original cancelled festival please click here.

This is the same weekend as The Big Chill, to see the eFestivals' listing of the Big Chill festival click here and all Sunrise ticket holders get to experience The Big Chill for free too.

Tickets for Sunrise 2008 were priced at £88 and are valid for entry to both festivals as long as they are exchanged. The deadline for ticket exchanges to The Big Chill has been extended to Wednesday 30th July - you can not get into the big Chill if you still have a Sunrise ticket. To swap tickets click here. Tickets for Sunrise at The Big Chill, priced at £136 for adults, children 5-12 are free, and a car pass for £11, have SOLD OUT.

There will be more information here once it becomes available.

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