An exciting, eclectic music line-up is set to deliver the sounds of the summer as the UK's only free beach festival makes a welcome return.
Tens of thousands of people are set to flock to Lowestoft next month as international soul stars, folk favourites, prominent DJs and talented acts from across the region take centre stage.
With 35,000 people attending First Light Festival 2022 - more than the inaugural event in 2019 - organisers First Light CIC have announced that something for everyone will be available.
With First Light Festival returning to Lowestoft’s South Beach on Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18, a free feast of live music will entertain.
The packed programme will feature performances running from noon to 9.30pm on Saturday, June 17 and 10am to 4pm on Sunday, June 18, with Sundown events from 9.30pm on Saturday night to 2.30am on the Sunday morning and a free Dawn programme of events on the shoreline from when the sun rises at 3.45am to 5.30am on Sunday morning - with new collaborative music/dance performances showcased.
First Light Festival CEO Genevieve Christie said: "This year’s music programme really offers something for all tastes.
"From international soul stars to some of the brightest emerging talent in our region, we hope music lovers of all varieties will find delight in what we’ve got in store."
The festival’s main Sunlight Stage will be headlined by Berlin soul-jazz seven-piece Jembaa Groove - following a showcase performance at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.
DJ's Luke Una and DJ Paulette will bring feel-good rhythms to the weekend, while leading British folk performers - the Eliza Carthy Trio - will close off Sunday’s extended programme, presented by FolkEast.
This year’s festival also shines a spotlight on local and emerging talent - with First Light’s New Dawn programme featuring more than 30 performances from East Anglian musicians aged 16 to 25.
These performers were all selected by a panel of industry experts after an open callout that saw more than 80 acts apply.
New to 2023, the festival’s Playbreak scheme will platform musicians who work, gig and live in Lowestoft.
With Norwich rapper $ebbuku and Lowestoft-based The Manifest both selected to headline the New Dawn and Playbreak programmes, they will each perform a set on the Sunlight Stage in front of thousands.
Unique to First Light, the festival’s Dawn programme will return to the shoreline as the first light of Sunday breaks with a new collaboration between Ipswich-born, world-renowned violinist and dancer Kerenza Peacock and Hannah Rudd.
Marking it’s one year anniversary since reopening for First Light Festival 2022, East Point Pavilion will celebrate its birthday with a packed programme of live music and dance over the festival weekend.
This will include hosting the festival’s signature Silent Disco, which for 2023 takes on an intergalactic theme to match the Noon to Moon community installation which will hang in the Pavilion throughout June.
The Silent Disco is one of several ticketed Sundown Events - a series of late-night events in venues across Lowestoft that will keep the party going until Dawn once Saturday’s free beach programme finishes at 9.30pm Dusk.
Other Sundown Events include acclaimed jazz group Pangaea performing a special gig at Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club and Moonlit Soundscapes - an intimate evening of ambient classical music at St Peter & St John’s Church in Kirkley.
Taking centre stage in Kensington Gardens, June’s festival will see the return of the much-loved Gardens Stage, which will showcase local and regional talent alike.
This will include Spectacular Man, Murphy’s Lore and Sunset Bamboo.
For more information on the line up, visit firstlightlowestoft.com
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