Splendour Festival, Nottingham is Nottinghamshire’s biggest festival, and in 2022 have expanded across the whole weekend. Introducing artists such as Richard Ashcroft, Anne-Marie, The Vamps, Craig David, Becky Hill and so much more.
Set in the beautiful surroundings of Wollaton Hall & Deer Park, attendees enjoyed 5 stages of music that span all genres; from fast-rising stars to world-class performers, and musical icons, Splendour line-ups are always a mix of acts that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
After fourteen years of Splendour Festival, Nottingham has developed a proud history of bringing international artists to Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall with past lineups featuring Kaiser Chiefs, Jess Glynne, Billy Ocean, The Specials, James, Happy Mondays, Bananarama, Lawson, Jake Bugg, Madness, The Darkness, Pet Shop Boys, Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal, Paolo Nutini and many more.
This year, we can look forwards to headliner Richard Ashcroft and Anne-Marie along with additional flag-bearing acts such as Supergrass and The Human League.
The event, which began on 23rd July 2022, will be running for two days and is expected to be packed with interesting new acts, events, and huge crowds.
Saturday at Splendour Festival, Nottingham
Tori Sheard
Tori Sheard is an alt-pop artist from the UK, praised by BBC Introducing, Caffe Nero, and Laney Amplification. ‘Possessing the free-flowing aura present within Florence Welch and Maggie Rogers,’ Tori combines folky storytelling and contemporary production to capture and celebrate ‘human-ness’ and truth-seeking.
Described by Nusic as ‘emotive and resonant, whilst still having a heavy hint of ‘holy sh*t, she’s on the verge of being a mega-famous popstar,’ Tori is quickly making her mark in the UK music scene. After selling out two headline shows at Nottingham’s ‘Rough Trade’ and ‘The Bodega’ before turning 20, she was voted ‘Best Nottingham Solo Artist Of 2019’ by The Mic Magazine. In January 2020, Tori played the iconic ROCK CITY main stage, supporting Jake Bugg at Beat The Streets Festival. Tori’s success goes beyond her Midlands stomping ground- having featured twice as Caffe Nero’s Artist Of The Month, leading to a coffee shop tour and related festival performances. She recently joined Californian ‘folk-funk’ band Dustbowl Revival on their UK tour, as well as regularly touring in her own right.
Jerub
JERUB is a singer and writer based in Nottingham, UK. He began his journey as an artist in April 2019 when he released his debut single ‘Paint Me in Gold’. Blending a variety of genres from soul to alt-rock with Rnb/Pop influences, JERUB brings a combination of powerful vocals, heartfelt lyrics and magical melodies that resonate with a wide audience. Since then JERUB has garnered support from Dean Jackson with multiple first listens on BBC introducing East Midlands and National play on BBC6 Music.
With over 200,000 streams across all platforms, JERUB is definitely one to watch. Born in Nigeria and raised in Nottingham from the age of 10, with a wide range of musical influences from afrobeats, and gospel, to folk music and pop, JERUB effortlessly blends genres in a way that is to be expected from the emerging cohort of Gen Z artists.
Heather Small
Heather Small joined her first band Hot!House in the late 80’s. Then, as part of M People, she had numerous hits, including Moving on Up, One Night in Heaven and Search for the Hero. With albums like “Elegant Slumming”, “Bizarre Fruit” and “Fresco” achieving massive worldwide success, Heather became one of the seminal British voices of the 1990s. M People won the Best British Dance Act Award at the Brits in 1994 and 1995, as well as the 1994 Mercury Music Prize for “Elegant Slumming”. Heather has since released two solo albums – “Proud” and “Close to a Miracle”. The title track of her album Proud has gone on to become the soundtrack to a whole host of very special events, including London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid. As well as continuing to tour and appearing at festivals, Heather has starred in the TV shows: Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Wheels and The Pilgrimage.
Sleeper
After hibernating for twenty years (where did the time go!?) Britpop favourites, Sleeper are back on the road, performing live. Original members: Louise Wener (vocs, guitar), Jon Stewart (guitar) and Andy Maclure (drums) are newly joined by Kieron Pepper (previously of The Prodigy) on bass.
Sleeper enjoyed huge critical and commercial success in the mid 90’s: achieving 8 Top 40 singles across 3 Top 10 albums with well over 1,000,000 sales. The band also had two tracks featured on the era defining soundtrack to ‘Trainspotting’: named as one of the best film soundtracks of all time by the likes of Rolling Stone.
Sleeper garnered front covers across the music press and appeared numerous times on key music shows of the time like TFI Friday and Top Of The Pops: an episode of which Louise Wener presented.
Together, the band played the main stages of Reading, Glastonbury, V etc along with sold out touring across all of the UK and a support slot with REM at Milton Keynes Bowl.
The band’s first headline show in 19 years was a sold out date at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, followed by a sell-out UK tour. Their music is characterized by astute, observational lyrics and big, hook driven melodies. With a brilliant new album ‘The Modern Age’ breaking into the UK top 20 chart last year, we can’t wait to see them in action on our Confetti Stage at this year’s Splendour Festival, Nottingham!
Becky Hill
With her highly resonant voice and R&B-influenced style, Becky Hill first came to the public’s attention by competing in series one of The Voice UK. Ultimately reaching the show’s semifinal round, Hill emerged as a fan favourite and became the first Voice UK contestant to score a number one single when “Gecko (Overdrive),” her collaboration with Dutch EDM star Oliver Heldens, topped the U.K. singles chart in June 2014.
Born on February 14, 1994 in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England, Hill was no stranger to music when she first auditioned for the then-new The Voice UK in 2012. As a teenager, she had sung with the acoustic rock & soul group Shaking Trees, which created some local buzz and received several plays on BBC Radio. On The Voice UK, she made it to the semifinal with her powerful renditions of R&B songs by the likes of John Legend and others, before being eliminated. By her own admission, she was a novice in the music industry game and it took her 18 months to finally get a record deal. In the meantime, however, her sultry, soulful, older-than-her-years voice was highly sought-after by dance artists looking for feature vocalists. Her first recorded appearance, on British drum’n’bass artist Wilkinson’s single “Afterglow,” went to number eight on the U.K. singles chart. She then appeared on Rudimental’s single “Powerless,” singing with them at several U.K. festivals in 2013, including Glastonbury.
Following her success with Heldens, Hill worked extensively with London-based dance producer MNEK and issued her debut solo single, “Caution to the Wind.” It showcased a shift toward a more electronica-influenced sound, with twinkling melodies and production reminiscent of Four Tet. The Eko EP appeared in 2017, and included the single “Unpredictable.” The single “Sunrise in the East” followed a year later. In 2019, Hill issued a pair of upbeat singles, “I Could Get Used to This,” which featured Weiss, and “Wish You Well,” which featured Sigala. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi
Craig David
Craig David joins the Splendour Festival, Nottingham lineup with his ‘Presents TS5’ show for the Main Stage on Saturday and is currently enjoying a well-deserved comeback in a career that has seen the star sell over 15 million albums worldwide, scored 16 top ten hits and achieved multi-platinum status in over 20 countries. With his national arena tour selling out fast, this is a great chance to catch the artist who knows how to get the party started!
Belinda Carlisle
Rock stars come and rock stars go. In an ever-changing landscape of shifting musical trends, few artists stand the test of time. Belinda Carlisle is one of those rare talents who continues to remain relevant after nearly four decades in the business.
Amidst changing tastes, the gifted and glamorous singer-songwriter has indelibly touched the hearts of pop fans around the world with her unique blend of gutsy vocals, emotively charged melodies and picturesque lyrics. With a multi-dimensional, internationally acclaimed recording catalogue and countless tours showcasing her chameleonic musical prowess, the woman who began her career as co-founder and the lead vocalist of groundbreaking all-female new wave/rock band The Go-Go’s has amassed worldwide sales in excess of 15 million albums and singles.
With Carlisle’s string of the ‘80s and ‘90s hits recently coming to the attention of a new generation via Edsel’s much-lauded 18-track audio/video set The Collection, she is poised to retain her position as a prime purveyor of timeless pop. Her commitment to her craft and her well-rounded approach to life has kept her going strong throughout her career, and she shows no signs of slowing down.
Supergrass
Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Gaz Coombes, bassist Mick Quinn and drummer Danny Goffey, along with long-term collaborator Rob Coombes who officially joined the lineup in 2002, Supergrass have scored an unbroken run of five Top 10 albums (six, if you include the greatest hits), among them three platinum sellers generating millions of worldwide sales spawning ten Top 20 singles. The Brit and Ivor Novello-winning Oxford outfit may have made their name through the weekly rock mags but their faces made just as much sense in the pages of Smash Hits or on the cover of The Face; in the thirteen years between their first album and their last they were chased down the street by fans in Japan, scored the biggest-selling debut for Parlophone since The Beatles, helicoptered into Glastonbury, turned down a Calvin Klein pants ad, toured the world on their own and supported everyone from Blur and Arctic Monkeys to Foo Fighters, Radiohead and The Cure.
With a back catalogue of much-loved hits such as ‘Alright’, ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’ and ‘Moving’, Supergrass are bound to bring the party at their Splendour Festival, Nottingham debut!
The Vamps
The Vamps have been up all night, no sleep, they feel like they’re always dreaming…
The lack of sleep is nothing unusual for the hardest-working young band in Britain. Since they burst onto the scene in 2013 – debuting at Numbers Two, Three and Two with their first three singles (Can We Dance, Wild Heart, Last Night) – the four musicians have barely stopped. Their debut album, 2014’s Meet The Vamps, was another smash, followed 18 quick months later by their second album, Wake Up. Within a matter of months, the band had sold out London’s 20,000-capacity O2 four times.
Along the way, there were collaborations, with Demi Lovato (a duet on Somebody To You), Brooklyn Beckham (star of the video for the single Wake Up), Shawn Mendes (who featured on Cecilia) and 20th Century Fox (a cover version of Carl Douglas’s Kung Fu Fighting, for the soundtrack Kung Fu Panda 3).
They’ve also found time to launch a label, Steady Records, signing American band The Tide and British trio New Hope Club. And in between and all around there was touring. Lots of touring. Brad Simpson (lead vocals and guitar), James McVey (lead guitar and vocals), Connor Ball (bass guitar and vocals) and Tristan Evans (drums and vocal), are barely into their twenties but already they’ve undertaken multiple world tours.
Richard Ashcroft
Richard Ashcroft is an accomplished solo artist, who first shot to acclaim as the singer in The Verve, one of the most innovative and spellbinding bands on the British pop scene. After two successful records, “A Storm in Heaven” and “A Northern Soul”, the band truly captured the nation’s hearts with their all-conquering third album “Urban Hymns”, which spawned classic hits such as “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, “The Drugs Don’t Work” and “Lucky Man.” The album led to Ashcroft winning The Ivor Novello Songwriter Of The Year Award and earned the band two Brit Awards and a front cover for Rolling Stone Magazine. Since then, Ashcroft has carved out an illustrious solo career, starting with 2000’s “Alone with Everybody” and hit single “A Song For The Lovers.” His most recent record, 2018’s “Natural Rebel” is an uplifting, melodious record, that demonstrates Richard Ashcroft’s music is more powerful than ever.
Sunday at Splendour Festival, Nottingham
Vicky McClure's Dementia Choir with Special Guest Tom Grennan
In 2019, Vicky presented the BBC One documentary Our Dementia Choir, exploring how music can help people living with the condition, which went on to earn a Bafta TV nomination. Now she will be bringing the Dementia Choir to perform for the thousands of people at Splendour Festival, Nottingham as part of the new/second BBC One series.
The programme-makers will be at the festival filming for the final episode of the new series of Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure in what is sure to be a heart-warming performance. Tom Grennan will perform with the members of the choir who all have dementia.
Example
On the brink of releasing his eighth album, Example is beginning a new chapter. Having spent well over a decade in the game, the UK mainstay has crafted a career drenched in accolades: Platinum albums, chart-topping singles, headline festivals slots, and a lengthy stint releasing inescapable anthems that bridge the gap between electronic, rap and pop. Still, Example isn’t ready to hang up his boots just yet; rather, he’s preparing for the most important release of his career.
The first taste of that album comes via ‘Every Single Time’, a single that features one of Australia’s most acclaimed producers, What So Not. The release builds off Example’s rich history down under, a country that he now calls home. In past years, he’s headlined events like Stereosonic alongside Avicii and Calvin Harris, Groovin The Moo, Parklife and opened for Drake at the last ever Future Music Festival. Example was the first artist to bring Peking Duk on tour whilst going Platinum with his single ‘Changed The Way You Kiss Me’ in 2011. “There’s all this rich history of me being in Australia. I now live here, my kids live in Brisbane, my wife’s from here, so we want to retell that story,” he says.
Razorlight
The summer of 2002 was a strange time in East London. A time before social media, before so many of the grassroots venues had been shut down. Suddenly, rock ‘n’ roll exploded out of its late-90s, post-Brit Pop doldrums. Everywhere, kids were forming bands.
Most of the groups that burst out of this chaotic, creative melee flamed briefly then faded away. Razorlight was different.
Formed around singer/guitarist Johnny Borrell, their debut album, ‘Up All Night’ perfectly captured the incendiary energy of the squat parties and sweatbox venues of that original East London scene. It also carried a couple of breakthroughs, era-defining hits, including ‘Golden Touch’ and ‘Somewhere Else’.
The Human League
A legendary band with an outstanding back catalogue stretching back more than 40 years, The Human League formed in Sheffield in the late 1970s and evolved into one of the seminal 80s electro pop bands. The band has sold more than 20 million records and their classic pop masterpiece ‘Don’t You Want Me’ was a number one hit around the world. Led by enigmatic frontman Phil Oakey, we can’t wait to welcome them back to the Nottingham festival.
Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene’s rip-roaring live shows have long been one of the most extraordinary sights in modern rock – communal outpourings of hope and joy which boast the most life-affirming sing-a-longs you’ll ever hear.
OCS remain one of the most successful -and most loved- bands of the modern era. Having spent six years fine-tuning their sound, they lit up the Britpop party, chalking up three Top 5 albums- 1996’s Moseley Shoals, 1997’s Marchin’ Already and 1999’s One From The Modern and a run of nine successive Top 20 single’s including the immortal ‘The Riverboat Song’ (in total they have seventeen Top 40 singles and six Top Ten singles).
Anne-Marie
Anne-Marie, whose unique, striking voice first hit the music radar when she guested on tracks by Rudimental and went on to score a number one hit as the main vocalist on Clean Bandit’s worldwide number one single, Rockabye. A former three-time world Karate champion, Anne-Marie’s self-effacing attitude and anthemic, highly personal songs about being cheated on, body issues and gender-free love made an extraordinary connection with millions of fans. Her first solo album, Speak Your Mind – rammed with tracks to dance, laugh and cry to – was the biggest debut album of 2018 in the UK and it swiftly propelled her into a whole new level of celebrity – as a style icon, agony aunt and a woman fearless enough to tell the truth through exceptional tunes.
Splendour Festival, Nottingham will return with I'm sure yet another amazing lineup this time next year. Given how the music fans from across the country took over Nottingham, I definitely recommend booking tickets to this must-see weekend festival.
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