Organisers of the multi-award-winning Stendhal Festival are inviting you to get lost in music this summer when R&B legends, Sister Sledge headline what promises to be a festival to remember.

Following a successful recovery year in 2021 where the team at Stendhal produced not only the first post lockdown outdoor music concert in Ireland but also two reduced capacity festivals, the organisers believe that the announcement of Sister Sledge as one of this year’s headline acts is a great start to their ambition in returning the 2022 event to pre-covid levels.

With post covid in mind, the festival has reverted to its normal one event format but has changed from its traditional August dates to earlier in the summer, with the festival taking place on June 30th, July 1st and July 2nd this year.

Sister Sledge have enjoyed one of the longest and most decorated careers any R&B artist has ever experienced. Number one singles all over the world, multiplatinum albums and a slew of awards have come their way thanks to timeless classic songs like ‘Lost in Music’, ‘He’s the greatest dancer’, ‘Thinking of you’ and of course, one of the most iconic songs ever written, ‘We are family’.

Also announced in the first wave of acts for Stendhal 2022 are Simon Fowler and Oscar Harrison, two of the founding members of Britpop legends Ocean Colour Scene, who perform all the classic Ocean Colour Scene hits as an acoustic two-piece, and Rockabilly legends Hayseed Dixie, the band who invented their own musical genre ‘Rockgrass’

Darling of the Irish Country Music scene, Lisa McHugh, has been off the road recently as she welcomed her first beautiful baby into the world, but she’ll have her jiving boots polished and ready for action come July at Stendhal. 

As ever, Northern Irish Music is high on the agenda at Stendhal, being the single largest showcase of Northern Irish Music at any event in the country and this summer they welcome some of the very best seasoned and brand-new indigenous acts to the farm. 

The Wood Burning Savages, Sasha Samara, Travi the Native, Foreign Wolf, BECAH, Lemonade Shoelace, SkiBunny DJ’s, Craic Pipe, Harley& The Wolf, TRÚ, Wild Heat, NI. Soul Troop and Strange New Places are the first of many to be announced.

Stendhal is also proud to be continuing with the tradition of bringing the very best of new and established Irish music from south of the border to northern Audiences and the likes of Tebi Rex, Makings, Grainne Duffy, The Fiddle Case and Lōwli are sure to provide some sensational summer memories at the festival.

Loads more music announcements along with the Family programme, comedy, poetry and much more is coming over the next few months.

Event Director Ross Parkhill said, “Stendhal, its team, its visitors and of course its performers are family, so there is no better way to celebrate that this summer than with a performance from one of the most iconic acts ever to grace a stage anywhere.

“We are so excited to welcome Sister Sledge to Stendhal and Limavady, they are without question icons in the music industry and are easily the biggest household name headline act we have ever had the privilege to present.

“They have hit song after hit song that will have everyone in attendance singing along and showing off just who is the greatest dancer on Saturday July 2nd.”

Ross continued: “We are also really excited to welcome Simon and Oscar for the first time, welcome back Hayseed Dixie and Lisa McHugh and welcome everyone else we are announcing in this first wave of the Line-up. Its varied, its high quality and of course packed with international and indigenous talent who will light up any stage that they appear on at Stendhal.

Ross added: “With lockdowns and social distancing protocols thankfully a thing of the past, our aim this year is to return Stendhal to where we left of in 2019, with over 10,000 people onsite, enjoying the largest outdoor camping festival in Northern Ireland.

Ross concluded: “We are absolutely buzzing about what we have announced so far and can’t wait to tell everyone what else we have in store for 2022 in the not-too-distant future.”

For tickets and more information visit www.stendhalfestival.com

 

Laura Caldwell

Author: Laura Caldwell

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 30 years old and have a degree in Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, Tegan and Sara, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like origami, reading, jazz, hip-hop, dubstep, anything acoustic and Food Network TV. I've written for The Big List, Culture NI, Chatterbox and The Echo, as well as writing for BBC Across the Line.