Returning for their 11th year, Smithdown Festival is offering a weekend of live music and community spirit this May bank holiday weekend.
With free access to all venues, the festival will bring together emerging talent and established acts from across Liverpool, showcasing a range of bands and DJs.
Andy Scott, organiser of Smithdown Festival said: “You can party til 2 in the morning, or you can relax in a garden listening to ukulele bands in the sunshine. This is a real community event, and we try to keep it as inclusive as we possibly can with festival goers at different stages, ranging from students to families to OAPs.”
Karman, a producer/singer/songwriter / DJ, performing at the festival, said: “I am very excited to perform at Smithdown Festival! It will be my first time doing a festival and my second headline slot.”
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a lovely vibe. I’m going to be playing amongst a lot of my friends and it’s always a joy to do that. The correspondence from the organisers had already been stellar, so if that’s anything to go by, it should be amazing.”
The festival will take place from Friday 1 May to Monday 4 May across celebrated venues along Smithdown Road, including Black Cat, Luminous, Handyman’s, Brookhouse and Beeswing.
Transforming into a live music venue, Luminous will collaborate with Music Seen to spotlight women and trans artists, followed by Queensway DJs.
Performing at Luminous on the Saturday, Karman added: “When I think about the Liverpool music scene, it’s always a mixed feeling. On one hand, I’m always proud to be from around here and aware of how musical we are as a city, but on the other, I see so many genres neglected and stagnated here, often the ones that are primarily queer and female-dominated. It’s in the small things.”
Alongside acts performing in bars and pubs, the festival will also be hosted in local coffee shops in the area, such as Bean There, Nomad, and Cafe Oro, to showcase the eclectic mix of performances.
This year, Black Cat is set to host one of its most diverse line-ups yet, from acts like Sheffield’s rock duo The Bad Actors, Manchester’s jazz-funk band Flat Moon, and Liverpool’s own Motel Sundown, DSM IV and The Pintucos.
Smithdown Festival prides itself on the community it gathers, with Mr Scott adding: “Every year it blows us away in all honesty. We’ve got students dancing with 70-year-olds at 1 am in Black Cat, we’ve got aspiring musicians taking influence from the amazing bands at Handymans, or we’ve got families introducing their kids to live music at an early age.”
Alongside the community it fosters, all money raised during the festival goes towards The Whitechapel Centre, supporting its work tackling homelessness and loneliness in the city.
Whilst also partnering with Autism In Motion to deliver a dedicated programme for children with Special Educational Needs, including a sensory disco, messy play and creative workshops.
After a weekend packed with championing grassroots music, the venues are offering a bank holiday Monday of all sorts of hungover fun.
Quizzes will be held across the Tavern Co., Brookhouse and The Black Cat will be hosting its Big Bank Holiday Hangover Quiz for the chance to win a £50 bar tab whilst also offering free food and live music.
For more information, go to https://www.smithdownfestival.com/ and to help keep the festival alive, head to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding.
