Camper Calling festival announce new acts SKUNK ANANSIE, THE FRATELLIS, ASH, THE FEELING, CRAIG CHARLES and SLEEPER!
Camper Calling has quickly established itself as one the UK’s most sublime family festivals. This August Bank Holiday (23–25 August 2019) the festival returns to its majestic lakeside location of Ragley Hall in Warwickshire for its fourth year for a weekend of music and magic, revelry and relaxation, family fun and stunning street food. A wealth of new talent has been added to the bill with Skunk Anansie, Ash, Tony Christie, Craig Charles and The Christians amongst the acts joining The Fratellis, The Feeling and Sleeper. Tickets are on sale now here
This year, campers can also book an extra night and arrive on the Thursday afternoon with a host of entertainment booked for those arriving early. Funk & soul icon Craig Charles who will be bringing his Funk & Soul club to the festival headlines the opening night. The Christians renowned for an endless string of soulful yet socially aware chart hits including Forgotten Town, Ideal World, Born Again, Harvest for the World, What’s in a Word and many more also join the bill. They are joined by 70s chart topping legends The RealThing renowned for classic hits like You To Me Are Everything, Can You Feel the Force? and Can’t Get By Without You’
Friday night has become party night with dance anthems all evening. The Stickmen return to Camper Calling with a show that is packed full of festival grade anthems, bass heavy drops, exclusive productions, and remixes of both old and new school club bangers. Their LED costumes burst with colour on every drop, adding another visual element to an already breath-taking performance. They are joined by high-impact street theatre act Spark! who combine carnival style drumming with dynamic choreography and a supercharged light and lazer show, Gypsy Unit with their fusion of Balkan rhythms, hip-hop vocals and stomping bass-lines, compelling cult brass-band stars Hackney Collier Band and other-worldly electronic dance-pop trio Age of Glass.
Brit Award winners The Fratellis top the bill on Saturday. Playful, punchy and purposefully relaxed, The Fratellis are back roaring into their second decade with a fifth album In Your Own Sweet Time that plays to their strengths while also pushing their sound in vivid new directions. The Chelsea Dagger stars are firm festival favourites and Camper Calling attendees can expect hit after hit includingWhistle for the Choir, Henrietta, Mistress Mable and Baby Fratelli. They are joined by The Feeling will play tracks from their million-selling album Twelve Years and Home. The album featured hit singles such as Sewn, Fill My Little World, Never Be Lonely, Rose and Love It When You Call. Completing the indie trilogy for Saturday is Ash. Dominating the 90s indie scene with their debut album Trailer in 1994, Ash become chart sweethearts with his such as Girl From Mars, Angel Interceptor, Goldfinger, Oh Yeah and A Life Less Ordinary. Twenty-five years on from the band’s emergence as teenagers on Belfast’s DIY scene, Ash returned last year with renewed energy and trademark heady riffs on their seventh studio album Islands. Camper Calling favourite, Lucy Spraggan also makes a magical return. And if that’s not all 90s hero Mr Motivator opens the stage with a full on fitness spectacle like no other!
It’s been twenty-five years since Skunk Anansie exploded from the backrooms of London with their radical, politically charged and emotionally grabbing music seeing them become one of the most iconic and culturally important bands of the 90’s. They headline Sunday night at Camper Calling. Their career that has seen them score numerous Top 40 singles and Top 10 albums, sell millions of albums around the world, play sold-out arenas and stadiums across the globe and headline Glastonbury Festival. Tracks such as Weak, Hedonism and Charlie Big Potato remain as internationally relevant and potent as ever and their live shows are exhilarating. They are joined by Britpop favourites, Sleeper who are back on the road after twenty-one years. Fronted by Louise Werner, Sleeper notched up eight top 40 singles and three top 10 albums before they split in 1998. Their hits included Sale of the Century, What Do I Do Now, Nice Guy Eddie, Statuesque and Inbetweener.
The band return in 2019 with a new album and a nostalgia-filled live show at Camper Calling! Living legend and national treasure Tony Christie also performs on Sunday. Tony has enjoyed an incredible career, which includes over forty albums, seventy singles and countless live performances. Tony is set to perform hit after hit including this The Way to Amarillo, Avenues & Alleyways, I Did What I Did For Maria and Walk Like A Panther. Rarely does a band become a festival institution, but Thrill Collins have certainly done that. If you’ve somehow managed to miss them in the past, Thrill Collins are a three-piece acoustic skiffle party band, who have a habit of rearranging some of the most epic pop songs of all time, with surprising results.
The brainchild of the team behind Camper Jam at Weston Park, the festival combines an all-embracing family festival experience with a breathtaking camping holiday. This is a stay-cation on a whole new level! The festival offers a range of reserved camping plots across the opulent grounds of the Ragley Hall estate. This year, campers can also book an extra night and arrive on the Thursday afternoon. The campsite has also been extended into the stunning woodland to meet growing demand.
Away from the music, there are plenty of fantastic activities to ramp up the joy at this wondrous festival. With family at its heart,Camper Calling hosts a range of thrilling activities for families of all ages from face-painting and funfairs, to graffiti to glitter, big tops and bumper-cars to watersports and woodland walks. There are creative workshops, campfire tales, circus workshops and so much more. It’s carnival of fun for all ages! For the grown-ups, add award-winning street food, pop up cocktail bars, a huge Dance Tent, a Bier Keller with live music, cafés, bars, shops and stalls. There truly is something for everyone!
