When: 27th – 29th July 2018
Where: Umberslade Farm Park, Warwickshire
‘Make Hay While The Moon Shines’
Lunar is back. After having taken a sabbatical in 2017, this hidden jewel in the Midlands’ festival crown makes a most welcome of returns to the idyllic setting of Umberslade Farm Park in the north Warwickshire village of Tanworth-in-Arden.
Moving to the last weekend in July from its traditional time at the beginning of June, this year’s Lunar Festival promises many more changes besides as it evolves into something that is altogether bigger, bolder and better without losing any of its innate sense of intimacy and charm.
For 2018, Lunar Festival introduces us all to its magnificent seven Elements – Listen, Learn, Move, Create, Taste, Relax and Laugh. Music still remains very much at the forefront of the Lunar experience and this year’s headliners are Goldfrapp, the sublime synthpop duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory; evergreen punk veterans The Stranglers; and Amadou and Mariam, the blind couple from Mali who fuse the traditional rhythms of their home country with a startling array of other, more Western sounds. And the sheer musical diversity of these three principal acts distils the very essence of Lunar’s broad cultural horizons.
An exceptionally strong musical undercard features similarly wide-ranging talents including the electronic dance-pop duo Basement Jaxx, who will be performing a DJ set; Brighton’s supremely energetic The Go! Team; Amadou and Mariam’s fellow Malians, the desert guitar band Songhoy Blues; psych-rock experimentalists Hookworms; kindred psychedelic explorer Jane Weaver (who graced Lunar’s main stage three years ago); and the joyful south Wales’ party-rockers Boy Azooga.
But as its other six Elements will firmly attest, Lunar Festival is much more than just mere music. Education will feature heavily this year with a wide range of talks, workshops and films geared towards increasing our knowledge and learning. There will also be dancing, sports and various other activities alongside a programme of assorted creative events, many of which are inspired by the natural world that surrounds us. A wonderful selection of food and drink, mostly sourced from local producers, will be available across the whole weekend and if all of this proves too much for the senses an entire area of Lunar will this year be devoted to the more relaxing pleasures of Yoga, Tai Chi, Mindfulness, and even some Hot Tubs.
And no Lunar Festival preview would be complete without making mention of Nick Drake. Tanworth-in-Arden is where the doomed English folk singer spent his childhood years and in his memory 40 very lucky festival goers will once again have the wonderful opportunity to listen to his third and final studio album Pink Moon in a secret location on the site on the old gramophone player that was once owned by the Drake family.
Lunar Festival will be back in just over four weeks time. You can get your full weekend tickets, including camping in the most beautiful surroundings of the Umberslade Estate, HERE
Individual day tickets can also be purchased for Lunar Festival as can an Early Settlers ticket (available to those who have a full weekend camping ticket) which will enable you to arrive on the Thursday and experience that evening the various delights of The Pretty Things, with an appearance that coincides with the release of a 50th anniversary vinyl box set edition of their seminal 1968 album S.F. Sorrow; a DJ set from snooker legend Steve Davis; and ace Mancunian cosmonauts, Henge
All the information about this year’s Lunar Festival can be found HERE
Some photos from the last Lunar Festival in 2016
