Win Tickets To Chilfest 2016
Chilfest 2016 will take place on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th July 2016, bringing two days of the very best sounds from the 1980’s to the leafy rural setting of Tring in Hertfordshire. Revel in live classic 80’s music from original acts in a lively but intimate festival atmosphere.
This years Chilfest is set to be the biggest and best yet with acts such as UB40, Heather Small (M People), The Human League, Tony Hadley, Nik Kershaw, Chas & Dave and many others take to the stage.
The Vine Magazine has family tickets to give away, admitting 2 adults and 2 children on Friday 8th July! To win answer the question below.
What is Chilfest?
Chilfest is a boutique music festival situated in the beautiful Chiltern hills,featuring original live bands from the 1980s.
With a capacity of 7,000 people for each day, Chilfest provides festival goers and acts alike with an intimate yet lively atmosphere which enhances the music experience for all involved.
The custom-built Chilfest arena comprises a top quality stage and sound rig, a wide variety of food and drink outlets and plenty of toilet facilities, providing all the ingredients for a great weekend of live music.
The story so far
Chilfest is the brain child of Steve Butcher who lives in Tring. As Managing Director of Universal Event Productions (UEP), Steve has provided event staging and rigs for a wide variety of top live events throughout the country, including many music festivals.
A keen 80s music lover, Steve first had the idea of bringing live music from original 80s bands to the local area whilst in the garden at a friend’s barbecue one evening and the seed for Chilfest was sown.
The first year
The 15th anniversary of UEP gave Steve the chance to bring his dream to life when he decided to stage a concert for the local community to celebrate his business achievements. Originally designed to be a one-off event, Steve set out to create a top quality music event for local people to enjoy and announced that the event would also support a local charity, Rennie Grove Hospice Care who provide specialist care for patients diagnosed with cancer and other life-limiting illness and support for their families.
The Inaugural Chilfest was staged at Pendley Meadow in Tring in July 2013 and featured a lively pop night on the Friday headlined by Little Mix and a show-stopping line up of stars from the 1980s on the Saturday, including Tony Hadley, Rick Astley, Howard Jones, Midge Ure, Hazel O’Connor and Carol Decker which saw the night sell out to its 7,000 capacity.
The quality of the production, which included some of the latest moving light and LED screen technologies, received many accolades and earned Chilfest a nomination in two categories at the 2013 UK Festival Awards.
Repeating the success
Although not his original intention, the success of the event encouraged Steve to consider running Chilfest again in 2014 and he began to look at acts and availability. This time plans evolved to stage two evenings featuring a wide range of 80s acts and a Sunday afternoon with a more contemporary line-up for a younger audience.
Once again Chilfest attracted top original acts with the Boomtown Rats headlining a night of rock on the Friday alongside Big Country, Heaven 17, From The Jam, China Crisis and Doctor & The Medics. The Saturday night welcomed Jason Donovan, Toyah, Imagination, Go West, Bad Manners and Boney M.
In a special Sunday afternoon performance aimed at the younger audience, ITV’s The Big Reunion super group 5th Story took to the stage with performances also from Union J, 911, Rough Copy and Amelia Lily.
Over 15000 people attended Chilfest 2014, once again enjoying a top quality production, a fantastic atmosphere and a wider range of bar and food retail outlets.
Chilfest 2015
For the third year running the Chilfest outdoor festival rocked Tring with two spectacular nights of top quality music.
Pendley Meadow was filled to capacity with festival goers intent on having a great weekend, and the Grammy award winning legend Billy Ocean topped the bill on Saturday night on a stage that also included The Real Thing, Bad Manners, ABC, Limahl, The Blow Monkeys and Sonia.
The opening night on Friday saw Sister Sledge, Shalamar and Jocelyn Brown rock the meadow alongside, Odyssey and Shakatak.
And for the first time at Chilfest a team of talented performance interpreters took to the stage with the bands and enthusiastically signed every single song for the benefit of the deaf community.
Festival organiser Steve Butcher was run off his feet, but found time for a quick chat. He said: “I’m blown away. It’s everything I wanted it to be and more. I’ve got an amazing crew and I think God’s on my side with the weather.”
He said: “I spoke to various promoters before starting with Chilfest three years ago and they said it would take three years to turn a profit and by god they were right.”
On Friday evening Jocelyn Brown had the crowd rocking as she belted out Enough Is Enough before Sister Sledge took to the stage looking incredibly stylish and glam dressed in black outfits with neon pink lettering and glitzy jewels to perform their hits He’s The Greatest Dancer and We Are Family.
Sonia was the opening act on Saturday afternoon, but had come down from her home in Cheshire for the whole weekend with her husband and their daughter and they were all there on Friday to feel the vibe and enjoy the show. From the artistes Green Room she said: “I wanted to come tonight to get a feel for it and to see Jocelyn. I’m looking forward to performing, I do a lot of festivals. I’ve just got back from doing concerts in Brazil.”
Dressed in a tiny white and purple jumpsuit and with a huge ponytail Sonia was a mini firecracker on stage on Saturday afternoon belting out Walking On Sunshine and Young Hearts Run Free before singing Hopelessly Devoted To You from the musical Grease, which she performed in on the West End stage some years ago.
Next up on Saturday was The Real Thing and what an apt name. Three of the original members, Eddie and Chris Amoo and Dave Smith had the crowd eating out of their hands as they performed all their greatest hits including Can You Feel The Force, You To Me Are Everything, Ladies Night, Celebration and Can’t Get By Without You.
Throughout the two day festival performance interpreter Marie Pascall and her team Paula Cox and Jacqui Beckford stood on stage using British Sign Language to sign every song to the audience. Ms Pascall said: “There is a huge gap in the music industry for providing interpreting access. Theatre has been doing it for some time but the music industry is behind. “Steve contacted me because there was a demand for it this year.
“There was a lady coming for her birthday celebration and she was bringing a lot of people and she asked if an interpreter could be here.”
Over the weekend social media was overflowing with praise for the festival, and the quality of the music and also included comments from the deaf community with one lady saying: “I was able to understand/follow what was being said/sung.”
Win Tickets To Chilfest 2016!
To be in with a chance of winning family tickets, admitting 2 adults and 2 children on Friday 8th July, simply tell us…