SO 2010 now has a new website: http://www.sofestival.org - SO go check out.



Photo: John Byford

SO 2010 also has a facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=207798716410

Thanks for that Mr Jolly Fisherman...by the way how is Moonhead these days lol

The marketing for this year's even is much better already

With how popular, and amazing it was last year, I get the feeling it will be a very busy weekend!

BRING IT ON!

SO Festival 2010 Organisers Reveal First Programme Headliners

Internationally acclaimed flying drummers and Lincolnshire’s
best musical talent to take centre stage at SO Festival 2010

Drumming majors floating magically in the night sky and the best of Lincolnshire’s unsigned bands are the first acts to be announced by the organisers of SO Festival 2010.

Internationally acclaimed French street theatre company Transe Express will perform Homme Mobile outside the Embassy Theatre on Friday 23rd July, with BBC Introducing being staged inside the theatre immediately before.

Suspended 40 metres (131 feet) in the air and silhouetted against the night sky, Transe Express performance of Homme Mobile will be unlike anything ever seen before in Skegness says Robin Morley, Festival Director from Magnetic Events, the arts and events company appointed by East Lindsey District Council to deliver SO Festival 2010.

“We’re thrilled to be able to confirm that Transe Express will be coming to Skegness and SO Festival 2010,” said Robin. “Homme Mobile is simply awe-inspiring. The 45 minute performance starts with a procession through the streets and culminates in the musicians being suspended from a giant crane whilst playing the most enthralling music and acting out a fantasy story, involving soldiers and a trapeze artist.

“Transe Express have performed outside some of the world’s most recognised landmarks, such as the Sydney Opera House and so to bring them to Skegness for SO Festival 2010 is a real coup.”

Musicians from closer to home will take to the Embassy Theatre stage immediately before Transe Express transform Skegness’ night sky as BBC Introducing showcases some of Lincolnshire’s best unsigned musical talent.

Four up and coming bands or performers will be chosen by Magnetic Events and East Lindsey District Council from those that apply via BBC Lincolnshire’s Friday night ‘BBC Introducing’ show. The programme usually goes out between 7 and 9pm on Friday’s from the BBC’s studios in Lincoln but on 23 July, it will come live from the Embassy Theatre as part of SO Festival 2010

“Lincolnshire is home to many incredibly talented solo performers and bands looking for their big break and BBC Introducing is a fantastic showcase for their talents,” continues Robin. “We want to offer something for everyone as part of SO Festival 2010 and I don’t think you can get a more diverse night than taking in BBC Introducing followed by the incredible spectacle that is Transe Express.”

Both events are completely free but BBC Introducing will be ticketed and have a 1,300 capacity and Trans Express will be seen by a large audience of many thousands.

Skegness hosted its first SO Festival last year. Over its two days, some 13,000 people enjoyed a range of free events and entertainment, including performances by Jonathan Ansell and The World Famous.

This year, East Lindsey District Council with support from Arts Council England, which includes a grant of £250,000, has extended the programme to cover four days of free exhilarating events.

A new website, www.sofestival.org, is now live and will provide the very latest programme news and further details of the performances, which Robin promises will include more international attractions complemented by local artists.

“SO Festival 2010 will be bigger, better and longer than last year’s event. We’re looking forward to revealing some more internationally-acclaimed artists in the very near future but we’re also seeking to involve as many local performers and people as possible. We’re really keen to hear from visual artists, dancers, performers and people who want to take part in the outdoor events programme to make SO Festival 2010 a fantastic spectacle.”

People interested in getting involved should visit the website – www.sofestival.org - or email emmalouise.hamilton@e-lindsey.gov.uk or telephone Emma-Louise Hamilton on 01507 329 443.

Lee Mead leads the line up for SO Festival 2010

source Lava pr press release

First it was flying drummers and the best of Lincolnshire's unsigned bands, now it's the West End stage that's coming to Skegness as part of the SO Festival 2010.

Lee Mead will bring his show to the Skegness Embassy Theatre on Sunday 25th July.
The singer, who hit the big time after winning BBC series Any Dream Will Do, will be performing songs from his latest album Nothing Else Matters, as well as well-known West End classics.
Lee is about to take on the role of Fiyero in the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre from May 10th 2010 before touring the UK with his second studio album.

Speaking of the chance to perform at the Embassy Theatre, Lee said: '“I remember doing some work experience at similar theatres to Skegness Embassy at The Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, assisting with the spotlight. I used to think, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great if it was me on stage one day’, and now it is. It’s all a bit surreal, but amazing at the same time."

Skegness is gearing itself up for the return of the SO Festival, billed as the biggest arts festival this century with four fantastic days of free large scale outdoor events. From Thursday 22 through to Sunday 25 July, the festival will transform Skegness into an international arts venue bringing a colourful carnival of dance, visual art, street theatre, music, world class performances and more.
Organised by East Lindsey District Council with £250,000 support from Arts Council England, this year’s festival promises to make this summer in Lincolnshire the best ever.

There will also be the opportunity for aspiring young musicians to feature in the BBC Introducing programme, a battle of the bands competition which will be broadcast on local BBC radio stations.

Cllr Doreen Stephenson, Leader of East Lindsey District Council, said: “Last year’s SO Festival was such a huge success that we were thrilled to be able to make this year’s event even bigger and better. The SO Festival is a great way to show people that Skegness really can offer them something different and put the resort on the map as an ambitious place to visit and invest.”

Tickets to see Lee in concert are available from Wednesday 05th May at The Embassy Theatre and cost £25.50 / £23.50 concessions.

For more information visit www.embassytheatre.co.uk or contact the booking line on 0845 674 0505.

Sounds great so far! I hope they can get The World Famous back again!

WOW

Just been to a briefing by East Lindesy and WOWed by them Jools Holland and his band are to open the SO festival at the Embassy theatre.

http://www.joolsholland.com/ and to keep up with the latest don't forget to Visit http://www.sofestival.org

Admin wrote (View Post): › WOW Just been to a briefing by East Lindesy and WOWed by them Jools Holland and his band are to open the SO festival at the Embassy theatre. http://www.joolsholland.com/ and to keep up with the latest don't forget to Visit http://www.sofestival.org

Jools Holland? FANTASTIC!!!! This is going to be one hell of a festival!!!!!!

My tickets are booked. Phoned the Embassy........ admin < excited

I would have liked to go, but wont be able to make it for Thursday.

Hopefully all this big build up will lead to an even more spectacular Saturday night!

Other than the acts mentioned on the SO festival site http://www.sofestival.org/pages/programme.html (just 6 things mentioned), what else will be happening during the festival?

As a Skegness resident I don't really need to know what the program will be until a week beforehand, but if I was a holiday maker I'd expect by now at least a basic run down of what's on less than 2 months from now so I can decide if to book a holiday in Skegness or another holiday town like Blackpool, but there's no easy to access detailed information available as to what is definitely happening over the 4 day festival!

We like the Embassy Theatre, but the two main acts lined up that week aren't something we'd pay for (nothing wrong with the acts, just not our taste ).

The unsigned bands event sounds interesting, but there's no information about it yet. Someone asked about it in Feb on the Facebook group and I've contributed twice to that discussion, but no information yet. Surely someone knows something about this event like what sort of music will be played?

Almost missed an interesting part of the festival that's listed at http://www.sofestival.org/pages/work-at-the-so-festival.html (looking to hire someone to manage an event) which mentions traffic art and local people getting involved:

"Traffic Art will be produced by the artist, his artist assistant Uttar Kumar, the artists assistant + site manager and 100's of local people and visitors to Skegness over the 10 days."

My wife and youngest son might be interested in something like that, youngest son in particular plans to be an artist, so would be good experience.

Any reason why that's not listed under http://www.sofestival.org/pages/artists.html or http://www.sofestival.org/pages/programme.html with a separate article about it?

A little advise to whoever is running the SO festival website, (I'm assuming the person(s) visit here) you need to link pages together. For example on http://www.sofestival.org/pages/programme.html the mention of Jools Holland needs to be linked to http://www.sofestival.org/pages/artists/jools.html so visitors (like me) who assume all the information will be easily available on or via the program page can find it easily: every event should be listed on that page with a link to a main article about the individual event (it's basic website design).

OK, I've realised the site is very poorly laid out and you have to load pretty much every menu link to find the information!!!

For example, found the traffic art event listed only under Media! Didn't check that section out as assumed it was for media enquiries (newspapers etc...). If I didn't check it, you can bet potential holiday makers won't either. I found it by searching for the artists name, not by looking at the Media section.

I'd hate to be a potential visitor deciding if this is the week to visit Skegness, the information just isn't easily available yet and I was willing to put more than a quick search into this.

Went on a bit of a rant there, irritates me when I view poorly laid out websites.

David

You don't say whether you have passed your critique to the SO Webmaster but if not I would have thought that would have been a better route to follow than to be posting it here David.

Just to say I saw Transe Express last year performing in Derby it will take your breath away trust me to see them dangling in mid air nearly 100ft up its brilliant

impetuous wrote (View Post): › You don't say whether you have passed your critique to the SO Webmaster but if not I would have thought that would have been a better route to follow than to be posting it here David.

My comment above didn't start as a critique of the SO website, it was meant as a question to find out more about the acts etc... since the website isn't very informative and the Facebook group and Twitter accounts related to this might as well not exist as they don't provide useful information.

But then it drifted into a critique as I double checked I'd not missed anything from the program page and found the information was spread over multiple sections (AKA poorly laid out). Which is why I said that comment turned into a bit of a rant, which referred to everything after "Almost missed an interesting part of the festival that's listed at".

So anyone got any information about the unsigned bands event?

David