The Big Feastival, presented by Jamie Oliver and Alex James, is a two-day family-friendly festival that combines top quality food and live music. Started in 2011 by Taste Festivals (a company that runs food festivals all over the world), and backed by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, the festival is now in it’s third year and better than ever! This year it’s taking place on Alex James’ (bassist of Blur and chessemaker) Cotswolds farm on the weekend beginning Saturday 31st August.
There’s something for everyone, art workshops and ‘The Little Dudes Den’ for the kids, The Electrolux Big Kitchen where there’ll be demos from top chefs as well as the Electrolux Chefs’ Secrets where you can get tips from a Michelin star chef, Alex’s Cheese Hub (where he’ll be launching his new cheese Blue Monday), Waterstones Book Signings and of course an eclectic lineup of live music.
The website boasts that this year’s lineup has: ‘700 weeks combined on the singles and albums chart’, an impressive feat for a small festival like this! The music spans many genres, so there really is something for everybody!
Saturday plays host to headliners Basement Jaxx. With an extensive back catalogue of hits, and new material out at the moment, they’re sure to put on an amazing show as they always do, the perfect end to the Saturday night! Cheeky chaps Rizzle Kicks will also be playing, with their second album, Roaring 20s, to be released September 2nd, we can hope that’ll the festival goers will be treated to some new material!
iTunes Album of The Year 2012 winner and ‘Is Your Love Big Enough‘ singer Lianne La Havas will be injecting some soul into the lineup and upcoming singer songwriter Will Joseph Cook, is bringing his own brand of gorgeous acoustic music. Oxford based singer songwriter Jasmine Hill and Fickle Friends (the winners of Jamie’s Summer Jam competition) will also appear, both of them are definitely ones to watch. Jasmine Hill’s stunning voice is sure to translate amazingly to a live performance brilliantly, and Fickle Friends brand of indie pop music is reminiscent of Two Door Cinema club so is perfect to open the main stage on a Saturday afternoon!
Sunday features headliners The Feeling (who will be releasing their fourth studio album Boy Cried Wolf this October). The Feeling have always been an incredible live act, so hits like ‘I love it when you call’ and ‘Rose’ are sure to go down a treat! Scottish singer songwriter KT Tunstall will appear, another festival favourite. She always engages the crowd and gets everybody dancing along. Take That’s Mark Owen will be making a solo appearance, as well as London based soul band The Milk. Laurence Fox (most famously known for his role as Detective Sergeant James Hathaway in tv show Lewis, and for being married to Billie Piper) will be showcasing his singing skills, and The Cuban Brothers and Justin Fletcher (of CBeebies fame) make up the rest of the Sunday lineup!
With such an eclectic lineup of food, fun and music, The Big Feastival is definitely worth checking out. It’s this weekend (Saturday the 31st and Sunday the 1st) and more ticket information can be found here.
