As we head towards the summer all talk turns to festival season and here in Leicester Handmade Festival is kicking things off beautifully. Handmade Festival is taking place at Leicester’s O2 Academy this weekend (Friday 29 April to Sunday 1 May) and brings together a perfect blend of top artists, independent vibes and local arts.
So why should you make sure you’re spending your bank holiday weekend over at Handmade? Well here’s just a handful of reasons:
- The music
Handmade Festival have really pulled it out of the bag this year with the lineup and you can expect to see the likes of We Are Scientists, Los Campesinos!, Deaf Havana, 65daysofstatic, Swim Deep, Lonely The Brave and so many more gracing the stage. - The ticket price
All this for just £40 for a weekend ticket. I dare you to find a better value event anywhere. Day tickets are also available for just £20/day and if you happen to be a student you can get a pretty hefty NUS discount. - The non-music bits
The organisers at Handmade Festival know their music but there’s plenty more happening at the festival as well. Throughout the weekend you can enjoy the fantastic lineup of spoken word with House of Verse, various screenings of films and music documentaries in the Handmade Cinema and a wealth of comedy talent with Jokes on Us, Comedy & Cocktails, Club Smashing Comedy and more, all taking place within Union Square and the Union Diner. - The Sunday night acoustic lineup
Cool As favourite, Grace Petrie was handed the reigns to programme Sunday in O2 Academy 3 and a mighty fine job she has done of it. Not only have we got Grace herself playing her fab blend of folk, but she will be joined by comic Robin Ince, Chris T-T and the night will be headlined by another of our favourites, funny alternative folkster, Beans on Toast. Fancy a preview? You can watch the Cool As Session that we recorded with Beans on Toast just HERE (contains swears). - The wristband extras
It’s a bank holiday weekend so hopefully everyone will be up for a party. The good folk from Handmade have made sure that the party doesn’t end too early and have programmed 3 club nights for you at Firebug on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with pop punk, Suburbia on Friday, Love Unltd with Does It Offend You Yeah? on Saturday and finishing with Plug on Sunday night. All club nights are free to get into with a Handmade Festival wristband.
Tickets for Handmade Festival are available now from the Handmade website.
