Stuart GouldenPopular local band Blackbeard’s Tea Party are set to become a national hit, with 10 major festival bookings already for this Summer.
The sight and sound of Blackbeard’s Tea Party will be familiar to anyone who regularly visits York town centre. They can often be found busking on the streets of York with funky folk-rock tunes and an infectious energy. But their audience is about to stretch much wider than just York townies and tourists.
Blackbeard’s Tea Party’s busy schedule includes:
- Chippenham Folk Festival (1-3 Jun)
- Chester Folk Festival (1-3 Jun)
- Bromsgrove Folk Festival (13-15 Jul)
- Festival at the Edge (20-22 Jul)
- Cambridge Folk Festival (27-29 Jul)
- Sidmouth Folk Week (4-10 Aug)
- Whitby Folk Week (18-24 Aug)
- Folkeast (24-27 Aug)
- Shrewsbury Folk Festival (24-27 Aug)
- Bromyard Folk Festival (7-9 Sep)
At the top of the bill, the six-piece band is set to take the stage at Cambridge Folk Festival in July. Cambridge has one of the longest running and most famous folk festivals in the world. It attracts ten thousand visitors each year, and receives coverage from BBC Radio 2 and Sky TV. Blackbeard’s Tea Party will play on stages once graced by Elvis Costello and Paul Simon, and this year join a line-up also featuring Billy Bragg and The Proclaimers.
Laura Barber – violinist for Blackbeard’s Tea Party – said: ‘It’s going to be a fantastic summer for the band, with a run of nine music festivals, the highlight of which will be Cambridge. The band are completely independent, with no label or management support, so a booking on this scale is a great reward for the work we’ve put in.’
If you’re not familiar with Blackbeard’s Tea Party, don’t worry. It’s not too late to see them live, loud and electric in York before they hit their run of festivals. They play The Duchess on Saturday 5 May, where they will be premiering new material. So make sure you catch them in a small local venue while you still can.
