Florence & the Machine to headline Freedom Festival

Florence & the Machine has been announced as the headliner of Hull's Freedom Festival, a FREE music and live arts festival.

Joining Florence & the Machine on the line-up for the Sunday is Patrick Wolf.

The event which takes place in Hull city centre on Friday 11th until Sunday 13th September 2009 will be going pop on the Saturday with Pixie Lott, JLS, Peter Andre, and a yet to be announced headliner.

The King Blues will headline the Freedom stage on Saturday as part of a Love Music Hate Racism line-up that includes Chipmunk, The Paddingtons, EndOfLevelBaddie, The Notebook, Novacaine, Shanga Band, Counting Coins, and Abbie Lammas.

This year there will be jazz performances around the Hull Marina area with Ruby Turner, and The East Coast Big Band to coincide with Freedom 2009 and the start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 09/10.

Sunday's line-up will also include a BBC Introducing showcase of The Gang, Horse Guards Parade, and Silent Film Project.

A range of music acts including indie, pop and jazz stars will grace three main stages with several satellite stages around the city centre over the weekend and will be interspersed with dazzling multicultural dance performances.

Freedom will fill the city with live performances, international art installations, colourful dance displays and a fleet of Clipper yachts beginning their round-the-world journey.

Avant-garde arts company Carabosse will join the festival from France to light up the Fruit Market area of the city with their Installation de Feu: a fire installation. Walkers will be led to a host of different entertainment and surprises along their journey, discovering live music stages, DJ's and outdoor bars.

This year's festival will also be marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wilberforce. Freedom is a festival to celebrate the life and work of William Wilberforce, a Hull-born MP who was a highly influential social reformer. The festival is a lasting legacy of the bi-centenary of the abolition of slavery, which was commemorated by the Wilberforce 2007 campaign. Hull continues to be a leader in the anti-slavery movement through its Wilberforce institute for the study of slavery and emancipation.

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