The Vaccines and Jake Bugg have been revealed as the first headliners of the 2023 Whitehaven Alive festival.
Due to take place on Whitehaven Harbour from September 8 to September 10, the festival will feature famous faces, live entertainment, food and drink villages, Cumbrian producers, and street theatre.
The Vaccines and Jake Bugg will headline the main stage, sponsored by Mitie, on Saturday, September 9.
The Vaccines have achieved five top 10 albums to date, including 2012’s number one Come of Age and will be sure to rock the 2023 Whitehaven Alive festival with hits such as If You Wanna, Norgaard, and Teenage Icon.
29-year-old Jake Bugg is a British singer-songwriter whose first self-titled album reached number one in the UK album charts in 2012. Jake has since gone on to have five top selling albums and countless headline live performances across the world.
Joining the support bill for the Saturday evening concerts will be Tribes, a four-piece indie rock band, and local bands The Northern Threads and Danny Dunnery.
Justin Young of the Vaccines, said: “Nothing and nowhere beats playing festivals in the UK.
“It’s increasingly rare we get to go do it somewhere new for the first time, so we’re incredibly excited to come and lose our minds with the good people of Whitehaven in September and give them every last bit of blood, sweat and tears we have left!”
Oliver Hodgson, founder and executive director, said: “It’s brilliant to see our line-up start to come together for this year’s Whitehaven Alive festival, last year’s inaugural event was a great success for the area, and we’re really looking forward to building on that for 2023.
“The artists we’re pulling into the town across the weekend are incredible and will provide a much bigger platform for all the local talent that’ll also be joining headliners on the Mitie Main Stage.”
Executive director Danny Maudling said: “We’re thrilled with the line-up that we’ve put together for the Whitehaven Alive weekend, and to launch with some huge names in the Indie scene is setting the bar incredibly high.
“The Vaccines, Jake Bugg and Tribes are among some of the best names, and we’re excited to see them rock our festival, bringing so many people together this September. We’ve got even more massive names to announce for the Friday and Sunday shows.”
Liz Cannon, executive director, added: “Months in the planning, and an incredible team effort to be able to announce our first headliners this week, who will be rocking it out in our Quay Street Harbourside music arena this September, which we’ve just had the license approved for, exciting times.”
John Baker, chief executive of Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners added: “We are thrilled to be the venue for Whitehaven Alive 2023. The line-up that the team have put together is incredibly exciting. When we first discussed the event what we wanted to do was to reach as wide an audience as possible and make it a celebration that all our communities can engage with and enjoy.
“This eclectic line up will appeal to a wide variety of tastes and age groups and the overall offering across the whole festival ensures that we should all be in for a terrific weekend of fun for everyone.”
