The Sheffield Scenester

On 4th and 5th August, the best of Sheffield’s music, radio, sporting and event organisers will be taking over the Don Valley Complex with an event programme as lively, colourful and diverse as Sheffield itself. ‘Sheftival’ is the city’s biggest ever festival of sport and culture, timed to celebrate our own Jess Ennis's Olympic final. Sheftival is our take on an Olympics party, done festival style!

Priced to make everyone welcome, Sheftival will be hosting the city's biggest outdoor pop concert this summer in partnership with our good friends at Real Radio and Tramlines Festival.

Real Radio will be bringing some of the biggest acts in pop music to the Sheftival main stage. With a wealth of experience of presenting safe, high attendance events Real will give Sheftival goers a fantastic, fun filled and star-studded festival. Their Sony Award winning ‘Feel Good Breakfast’ team of Dixie and Gayle will be introducing acts from the stage as well as other presenters from across the schedule including Hometime’s Pete Edgerton. The famous Real Patrol also will be around the festival handing out freebees, taking photos and generally having fun. Real Radio will also be running special competitions on air and online at www.realradioyorkshire.com to win exclusive packages, ‘meet and greets’ with the stars to ensure Sheftival puts a real smile on everyone’s face

Meanwhile Tramlines Festival will present alternative music on The JuJu Club World Music stage or you can chill out and play games in the Sharrow Festival Family area. Music and entertainment is available all over the site at the Buskers Barge, acoustic stages, and at the Monkey Bump Dance Tent showcasing Sheffield's leading club brands creating a summertime party vibe. You can even arrive in style from Victoria Keys on the barge itself!

In true festival fashion, we will be filling the site with loads of other things to do. Enjoy mouth watering gourmet food, peruse Devonshire Markets, a real ale trail, crafts (and cupcakes no doubt!), and Jamaican jerk barbeque. You can join the carnival parade, hit the fairground or even go ice skating for free!

Festival Director Dave Healy explained:

“Most major towns and cities in England are celebrating the Olympics, but this being Sheffield, we wanted to give it a bit of a different flavour. We have invited some of the city's best festival and event promoters to come and put on a show, giving our Olympic celebration a true festival vibe. We expect to welcome people from South Yorkshire and beyond and have deliberately kept the pricing affordable. An Under 18s day ticket only costs £10 and if we do make any money, it will immediately be reinvested into the city's sporting and cultural events. It might not be the UK's biggest Olympics Party, but we reckon it will be the friendliest and the most fun!”

Real Radio Managing Director, Steve South added;

“Sheftival will be a fantastic event, not only for the people of Sheffield but for the whole of Yorkshire and beyond. We are very excited at the prospect of bringing some of the biggest names in pop to Sheffield in what will be ‘The’ family festival in our Olympic Summer. Sheftival's unique mix of music and culture, along with tickets priced to encourage family attendance, will create an environment where everyone can come and really drink in the excitement and atmosphere of The Olympics.”

A whopping one in seven GB athletes trained in Sheffield and many international Olympic teams have chosen our city as their pre-Olympic home in the build up to London 2012. At Sheftival, we will be broadcasting Jess Ennis, Usain Bolt and the rest of the Olympics, live on a 48square metre big screen in Don Valley Stadium where anyone can join us for free.

Steve Brailey, CEO of Sheffield International Venues said:

“Sheffield’s is famous for its sport and music events. Sheftival will bring together everything great about Sheffield and celebrate the sporting heritage of our region, bringing all communities together. What a fantastic party it will be watching the Olympics and enjoying great music.”

Dotted throughout the site and taking over the English Institute of Sport Sheffield will be Olympic sports, demonstrations and tournaments from Sheffield Eagles rugby league, table tennis competitions, Hallamshire FA Junior futsal tournament, judo, boxing, fitness classes including zumba and boxercise, and loads more beside. Armchair fans can join our Interactive Olympics in the technology zone.

We are expecting to welcome over 50,000 people to the city's Olympics Party. To guarantee your place get your tickets early. The first set of line-ups for the music stages will be announced in June.

Sheftival is presented to South Yorkshire by Sheffield International Venues who operate one of Europe’s largest portfolio of sports and entertainment venues with 19 facilities, 4.5 million customers annually and an international reputation for managing complex elite sporting and entertainment environments, championing community participation and sport development. SIV was established in 1988 and is the wholly owned operating company for Sheffield City Trust - an independent charity that has partnered with Sheftival. SIV manages venues including the Don Valley Stadium, English Institute of Sport Sheffield (EISS), iceSheffield, Sheffield Arena, and Sheffield City Hall.

TICKETS

Family ticket admits four - day ticket £40 / weekend £70

Under 18s - day ticket £10 / weekend £15

Over 18s - day ticket £12 / weekend £20

Under 6s go for free

Tickets are also available in person at the Arena Box Office, City Hall or by phone on 0114 256 5567

A selection of artists as diverse as John Peel’s record collection will appear at summer festival, Sheftival on 4th and 5th August in Don Valley Bowl. Sheffield’s famous bowl is the idyllic mixing pot to blast out a rich recipe of reggae, indie, roots music and 2-tone, all weekend long.

We’re delighted to announce that ska and reggae legends, Toots and The Maytals, will be at Sheftival! They’ll be belting out tune after tune on the Juju Club stage on the Saturday including hit records Monkey Man and Pressure Drop. Saturday festival goers can also enjoy a set from infamous 2-tone band, the Selecter, featuring the First Lady of Ska, Pauline Black.

Sunday continues the pace with the sun-filled pop anthems of Liverpudlian band, The Lightning Seeds; alternative pop trio Dodgy; Sheffield’s own up-and-coming indie pop stars, The Crookes, as well as a headline set from more 2-tone legends in the form of The Beat. And yes, they still feature the legendary Rankin’ Roger!

Throughout the weekend, further soundtracks will be provided by the big Rastaman himself, Macka B; Congolese superstar Kanda Bongo Man; Sheffield Balkan brass and cabaret band, The Balkan Bandits; the awesome ska sounds of Jungle Lion, and a further feast of Jamaican music, sound system-style at the jerk chicken barbecue.

Adding rockabilly rebel swagger to the bill is the wonderful Carmen Ghia And The Hot Rods; The Renegade Brass Band who’ll shake their money makers; the Bollywood Brass Brand who’ll lead the Sunday carnival parade around the site; Tramlines People’s Choice band, Sour Cherry, and many Sheffield locals on the Buskers Barge floating stage.

But we’re not stopping there, oh no. Real Radio is set to bring an A-List line-up of pop acts across both days to stage Sheffield’s biggest outdoor pop concert this summer. Real Radio Breakfast’s Dixie and Gayle said:

“We are very excited to be part of ‘Sheftival’ and this first wave of artistes sound great. We're big fans of The Lightning Seeds and Dodgy at Real Radio so we're looking forward to seeing them play, but we are also looking forward to announcing the pop acts who’ll perform on the Real Radio main stage; soon people, soon! All we can say right now is roll on Sheftival; it's going to be a fantastic star-studded, fun-packed couple of days! Be there.”

In addition to the Real Radio line-ups, due to be announced late June, there will even more acts added to the bill. This includes an electronic dance line-up in the Monkey Bump Dance Tent showcasing Sheffield’s leading independent club brands, giving you even more variety and choice.

Mixing pop, alternative and international genres from around the world will be the ultimate sound clash. When reggae finishes on one stage, pop will begin on another. Unlike most other festivals, Sheftival will even entertain festival goers between the music acts. Expect to see anything from British Judo displays to a Zumba dance-off as Sheftival combines two of Sheffield’s greatest legacies: music and sport, like never before.