James Taylor Quartet, Spring King, RatBoy, and Get The Blessing, for Freedom Festival

Freedom Festival 2015

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th September 2015
city centre, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU1 1TU, England MAP
most events are FREE

Daily capacity: 55,000

James Taylor Quartet, Spring King, RatBoy, Get The Blessing, Shri Sriram, Yolanda Brown, and Mr Wilson’s Second Liners are among the latest acts announced for Hull's 8th annual Freedom Festival.

Also announced as part of the full programme happening in the city centre from Friday 4th until Sunday 6th September 2015 are comedians Shappi Khorsandi, Mickey Hutton, Jason Cook.

They join the first acts confirmed - Public Service Broadcasting, Tubular Bells for Two, Scanner, and Freedom Chorus.

The family-friendly programme includes more than 200 acts across music, dance, comedy, poetry, spoken word, theatre, community programmes, and more.

The opening night spectacular is centred on the River Hull and will feature Hull’s Freedom Chorus, with local people with a connection to the river joining a mass choral performance.

Other highlights include a dance reworking of Goethe’s Faust, from Southpaw Dance, featuring breakdancing, Lindyhop and the Charleston performed at Hull’s Tidal Barrier, a deaf-friendly family musical comedy starring a talking pig (Edmund the Learned Pig), a new production about the rave scene and global events of 1989 with an original score by Steve Cobby called Revolutions, from Ensemble 52 and Hull Truck; family animation and puppetry powered solely by the energy of the performers involved (At The End of Everything Else); an unmissable Saturday night set from DJs from the much-loved Payback night at Hull’s Adelphi Club, plus a Sunday afternoon screening of cult 80s film Hairspray, screened by Hull Independent Cinema Project.

Liz Pugh, co-founder and creative producer, festival directors Walk the Plank said: "We’re incredibly excited to reveal more of the 2015 programme – and there’s still much more to be announced! We feel that this year is the strongest line-up yet, with a perfect blend of established talent alongside new and surprising elements.

"The roots of the festival – to commemorate Hull’s links to the cause of freedom as the birthplace of Wilberforce - are consistently celebrated in the programming. This year’s theme of Broadcast is explored throughout - from examining the communication of events in the late 80s in Revolutions, to Over and Out, marking the role of communication at sea. And for the first time, we have programmed work that will appeal to deaf audiences, working with Fittings Multimedia Arts to present Edmund the Learned Pig. There will also be plenty of quirky, unexpected free music and entertainment – something that the festival has become known for - popping up all over the city centre during the festival weekend."

Many events will be free including the music events across two stages - The Bridge Stage, and The Yellow Bus Stage.

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