Festival to reflect '40 years of musical styles'

The organisers of a festival say the line-up this year will reflect "40 years of musical styles".

Festival Too has been running in King's Lynn, Norfolk, since 1985 and this year will feature acts ranging from 1980s favourites Tony Hadley and Sonia - to contemporary star Ella Henderson.

The free event was started by a group of business people who got together to put on a music event in the town to run alongside the King's Lynn Festival.

Abbie Panks, from the festival, said: "We are really pleased to be able to come back for our 40th year, I think the line-up is a great reflection of 40 years of musical styles... I like to think we've got everything covered."

Festival Too starts on 28 and 29 June at the King's Staithe Square and runs each weekend until Saturday 12 July at the Tuesday Market Place.

Opening the festival will be tribute acts Taylored Swift and Noasis.

Headlining on the final day will be King's Lynn singer Adam Tucker - the singing voice in Robbie Williams' biopic Better Man - Jo O'Meara from S Club Seven and Henderson.

Each evening will begin with a school band or group, then local bands will perform as warm up acts for well-known artists.

Ms Panks added: "It's great to be able to give those opportunities and that's really important to us."

In its first year, the budget to put the event on was about £5,000. With the support of fundraising and donations from the council and local businesses, the organisers have spent £230,000 on the festival this time around.

Ms Panks said the event was believed to be one of Europe's biggest outdoor free festivals.

"It's access to music with no economic barriers, that's the great thing about it, anybody can come, you don't need any tickets, you just turn up and we get fantastic audiences," she said.

The festival has continued to run with the help of community volunteers and has become a defining event in the town's cultural calendar.

In previous years, the festival has seen acts including Feeder, Sigala, Example, Reef, The Vamps, Busted, KT Tunstall and Gabrielle take to the stage.

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