Brand-new one-day festival comes to Leicester

A brand new one day festival – WIDE EYED – featuring BEAK>, The Orielles and Squid, is coming to Leicester in May, from some of those lovely folks behind the East Midlands institution, Handmade Festival.

Since 2015 the event has showcased some of the hottest new emerging talent on the indie-punk scene, and this year WIDE EYED will cram as much fun as it can into one day on two stages at O2 Academy Leicester on Saturday 16 May 2020 from 2pm – 11pm.

Presented by The Cookie, Firebug and Academy Events, promoter Nik Sharpe says, “WIDE EYED is a new one-day festival to showcase some of the best new emerging bands we can’t stop listening to, so it’s a great chance to see them all at one event.”

BEAK>

Amongst the first bands to be announced are the hugely talented psych-electro-rock trio BEAK>. Featuring multi-instrumentalist members Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Billy Fuller and Will Young, they have released three albums over the last decade, the most recent in 2019.

The Orielles

This four-piece from Halifax, who released their debut album Disco Volador for Heavenly Recordings at the end of February, were described by The Guardian as “sharp as they are spacey, at home with psychedelic wooze and seductively chugging guitar pop.”

Squid

Next up is Squid, Brighton’s hotly tipped post-punk, disco-funk phenomenon who had an incredible 2019, from the incandescent single ‘Houseplants’ to their ‘Town Centre’ EP. Squid have had great support from BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music, and on the back of several playlisted singles, made the BBC Sound Of 2020 shortlist.

Alternative rockers Happyness, Nottingham punks Do Nothing, South London’s JOHN, plus new wave Talk Show, the solo outing from Manchester-based singer-song-writer Julie Bardo, Leeds post-punk outfit Treeboy & Arc, enigmatic newcomer Lazarus Kane and Girls in Sythesis, tipped as one of the most exciting live acts out there, have all also been included in the first wave of announcements for WIDE EYED festival with many more acts to follow.

Tickets for WIDE EYED Festival are £20.00 adv and on sale now at ticketmaster.co.uk.