Leicester is going back to the sixties this month as ReVive Festival takes over the city. From vintage fairs and live sixties music to family fun and more scooters than the set of Quadrophenia, it’s time to join the Summer of Love as it all kicks off from Friday 14 June.

ReVive Festival aims to bring the past to life. The whole festival programme is very much a celebration of sub-cultures, bringing the sights and sounds of bygone eras back to the streets of the city, with Mod culture being a particular highlight. BID Leicester are headline sponsors of the festival and the event has snowballed with public interest. With so many activities taking place, where do you even start?

revive festival

Sunday 16 June is of course Fathers’ Day but in Leicester this year it’s being renamed ‘MOD Fathers’ Day’! You can bring your dad to New Market Square to enjoy Scooterama – a vintage scooter display with the Leicestershire Alliance Scooter Club on the New Market Square, alongside street food from Canteen and a vintage and independent market. Or hot foot it over to Highcross where up and coming Mod band, Subculture, will be playing whilst individual shops offer special discounts and John Lewis embrace the sixties with special themed window displays.

revive festival

There’ll also be activities in the Cultural Quarter as The Exchange hosts live acoustic acts and Mod/Northern Soul DJs all weekend, you can enjoy themed fashion talks at LCB Depot, whilst The Phoenix will be showing a screening of Quadrophenia. One of the main highlights of the festival also takes places on Sunday with a free outdoor cinema screening of The Beatles’ classic film  Hard Days Night on the DMU big screen at 5.30pm sponsored by Leicester Racecourse.

Director at The Exchange Bar, Jon Davison, commented, “We are really excited about the whole festival and the buzz that has been created. It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase venues across the city and we’ve spent a lot of time programming a weekend’s worth of events including brewery takeovers, vinyl DJs and a modernist jazz performance. We’re just about ready and are now looking forward to seeing everyone at the Festival launch after-party on Friday night.”

Of course ReVive Festival ties in with the hugely successful Mods: Shaping a Generation and Modified Exhibitions running at New Walk Museum and Soft Touch Arts running until June 30th. If you haven’t been to see these yet, make sure you don’t miss them! Soft Touch have also just announced that they are auctioning off some of the exhibits from the hugely successful exhibition at New Walk Museum, including a jukebox and pinball machine. All the money from the auction will go back to the charity Soft Touch Arts.

Chris Wigmore from Soft Touch Arts commented, “Soft Touch Arts gives young people with troubled and difficult lives the opportunity to shine and thrive through involvement in arts, media and music projects which give them confidence, self-belief and uncover their hidden creative talents. We gave over 100 young people the opportunity to get involved in the Mods: Shaping a Generation project and they created an amazing ‘inspired by Mod culture’ exhibition -Modified, which runs alongside the exhibition at New Walk Museum. To keep our vital work running and give more young people the chances in life they deserve we need to raise funds to keep our projects running.     So, we’re offering the opportunity to own popular pieces from the Mods exhibitions whilst raising money for an amazing charity. Win-Win – place your bids and feel good about the difference you’re making to young people in need in Leicester at the same time.”

 

WHAT’S ON

Other event highlights throughout the festival include:

Friday 14 June – Official ReVive Festival Launch and opening of Mods 19:64 Photography exhibition at LCB Depot

Friday 14 June – James Cafe Bistro take their prices back to the 60s with cups of tea for 15p and a special 60s breakfast menu until midday

Friday 14 – Sunday 16 June – Acoustic music and Mod/Northern Soul DJs at The Exchange as well as takeovers from Framework and Round Corner Breweries

Saturday 15 June – Style and beauty demonstrations at John Lewis – How to incorporate 1960s style into a modern day wardrobe

Saturday 15 June – Pop-up print making workshop for families at Leicester Print Workshop

Sunday 16 June – Vintage scooter exhibition and independent vintage market with street food on New Market Square

Saturday 22 June – Mods: Shaping a Generation Exhibition Tour with Roger K Burton at New Walk Museum

Sunday 23 June – Live Mod, Ska and Indie music at The Donkey

Friday 28 June – LCB Depot goes Mod for Last Friday. Music, street food, fashion and more

Saturday 29 June – Biff Bang Pow 60s themed club night at Firebug

Sunday 30 June – Scooter rally on the museum forecourt at New Walk Museum

revive festival

 

OFFERS

Yes, there are also a huge number of offers and discounts available through ReVive. Some highlights include

10% off all Fred Perry items at WellGosh

2 for 1 cocktails at Queen Victoria Arts Club

10% off purchases over £10 at Harriman & Co

20% off Clarks Originals (only if you can answer 3 Mod related questions, though) at Clarks

 

To claim the offers just download your official ReVive discount card from the website.

revive festival

Of course the events and offers listed above are just a taster of everything that’s going on. From now until the end of June the city will be awash with Sixties vibes, so be sure to check out the full event listings on the ReVive Festival website and follow them on Facebook.

 

Our BID Spotlight features are brought to you in collaboration with BID Leicester.

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