Summer Sundae (also called the Summer Sundae Weekender) is an annual music festival held in Leicester, England which focuses on indie, alternative, and local music. The festival began as a one-dayer in 2001 and has grown year on year since then, adding first one and then two campsites, and now involves five stages.
It is hosted by the city's De Montfort Hall, both in the hall itself, and over four outdoor stages in the hall's grounds, and including part of Victoria Park. A section of the park is fenced off for camping during the weekend of the festival. The festival was formerly sponsored in part by the digital radio station BBC 6 Music, which in return had exclusive broadcasting rights. The festival usually takes place in August and has grown from two stages to five over the course of six years. In 2005 the festival welcomed over 70 artists, both well-known and established bands, and local bands from around the East Midlands. This extended to over 100 bands, and the first ever sold-out festival in 2006.
The festival is run over five stages: The Outside Stage is by far the largest and hosts the bigger bands, in conjunction with the Indoor Stage, the main auditorium of the De Montfort Hall. In addition, The Musician Stage is a tent featuring mainly acoustic and roots music at times when the Outside stage is quiet, and The Rising Stage features new and local talent. In 2006 the eFESTIVALS Cabaret Stage was added, and these were added to in 2008 by the Phrased & Confused/Bathysphere tent, offering spoken word performances during the day and electronica artists later on. In 2012, the Musician Stage and the Rising Stage were replaced by two new performance spaces in The Village, named the Into the Wild stage and the Watering Hole following the festival's safari theme.
Since 2006 the festival has been preceded the night before it begins by an official warm up party, hosted by Pineapster to provide entertainment to those campers arriving in the City on the Thursday night and raise money for LOROS, a local hospice. Since 2007 it has become a full Fringe festival event in the week or fortnight up to the festival curated by local arts bodies across Leicester and Leicestershire, culminating in a series of warm-up parties. In March 2008 the festival put on a Taste Of Summer Sundae gig to provide a flavour of the bands expected to play the main festival.
2012 lineup [edit]
The 2012 Summer Sundae Weekender festival took place 17–19 August. The main festival line-up was as follows:
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- Main stage
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- Indoor stage
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- Into the Wild stage
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- The Watering Hole stage
| Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
- Charlee Drew
- Walter Bottle
- Kappa Gamma
- Elizabeth Cornish
- Tiny Ruins
- Clean Bandit
- Bastille
|
- Nancy Dawkins
- Park Bench Society
- Mahalia
- Buenos Aires
- Jake Bugg
- Kenworthy
- These Furrows
|
|
The comedy stage features Rich Fulcher, Toby, Carly Smallman, David Morgan, Joey Page, Joe Bor, Richard Garaghty, Goronwy Thom and Jon Hicks.
2011 lineup [edit]
The 2011 Summer Sundae Weekender festival took place 12–14 August 2011. The main festival line-up was as follows:
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- Outdoor stage
-
- Indoor stage
-
- Rising stage
-
- Musician stage
The comedy stage featured Simon Evans, Gary Delaney, Jon Richardson, and John Cooper Clarke.
2010 lineup [edit]
The 2010 Summer Sundae Weekender festival took place 13–15 August 2010. The main festival line-up was as follows:
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- Outdoor stage
-
- Indoor stage
-
- Rising stage
-
- Musician stage
2009 lineup [edit]
The 2009 Summer Sundae Weekender festival took place 14–16 August 2009. The main festival line-up was as follows:
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- Outdoor stage
-
- Indoor stage
-
- Rising stage
-
- Musician stage
The Streets were due to headline the main stage on Friday but pulled out earlier the same day due to illness. Skint & Demoralised, Beth Jeans Houghton and Jeremy Warmsley played sets in the Phrased & Confused tent.
2008 lineup [edit]
The 2008 Summer Sundae Weekender festival took place between the 8 and 10 August 2008. The main festival line-up was follows:
-
- Outdoor stage
-
- Indoor stage
-
- Rising stage
-
- Musician stage
2007 lineup [edit]
The main stage of the 2007 festival.
The 2007 Summer Sundae Weekender festival took place between the 10 and 12 August 2007. The line-up was as follows:
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- Outdoor stage
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- Indoor stage
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- Firebug Rising stage
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- The Musician Stage
2006 Lineup [edit]
The 2006 Summer Sundae took place between 11 and 13 August 2006. The line-up was as follows
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- Outdoor stage
-
- Indoor stage
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- Jim Beam Rising stage
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- The Musician Stage
2005 Lineup [edit]
The 2005 Summer Sundae took place between 12 and 14 August 2005. The bill was as follows
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- Outdoor stage
-
- Indoor stage
-
- The Musician acoustic stage
-
- Rising stage
| Friday Bathysphere - Lo Tempo Hi Fi Arena |
Saturday |
Sunday |
|
|
|
|
2004 Lineup [edit]
The 2004 Summer Sundae Weekender took place between 13 and 15 August 2004
Highlights of this festival included Kings of Convenience, Super Furry Animals, Ed Harcourt, Air, Amy Winehouse, The Beta Band, Kasabian and Adem.
2003 Lineup [edit]
The 2003 Summer Sundae Festival saw the introduction of a dance music to Friday night, and took place over three days between the 8th and the 10th of August, 2003
Saturday's lineup included Alabama 3, Chumbawumba, Laura Cantrell, British Sea Power, Kathryn Williams and The Herbaliser with Gotan project Headlining. Sunday's bill included Ian McCulloch, Aqualung, Durutti Column, Pernice Brothers, Cosmic Rough Riders and Richard Hawley. The finale was a Concert for a Landmine Free World featuring Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Joan Baez and Chrissie Hynde sharing the stage.
2002 Lineup [edit]
The 2002 Summer Sundae Festival took place between the 6th and the 7th of July, 2002
Highlights of the festival included I Am Kloot, Beth Orton and local favourites Cornershop. There was a strong Americana influence including the Be Good Tanyas, Calexico and The Handsome Family. David Byrne headlined.
2001 Lineup [edit]
The inaugural event was held on one day in July on two stages with 14 acts including Morcheeba on the outdoor stage and Lambchop on the indoor stage.[1]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
Coordinates: 52°37′27.76″N 1°07′21.86″W / 52.6243778°N 1.1227389°W / 52.6243778; -1.1227389
