Lichfield Fuse Festival attracts 20,000

Lichfield Arts have hailed their yearly event, Fuse Festival as “an unbelievable success” after 20,000 people passed through the gates over the weekend.

The event, now in it’s tenth year, was themed ‘Dance Your Socks Off’ and involved a range of music, workshops, performances and events from Friday through to Sunday. We were there to cover the whole weekend, running around taking plenty of photos and video which you can see below.

Friday

Starting at 6pm, Friday kicked off with young local band Fountain of Youth in the main tent followed by Muddy La Fete and then The Shooters. There was comedy from Comic Rehash as well as a performance from the Lichfield Garrick Youth Theatre. As always the acoustic tent was packed with many local acts appearing including The Elderlys, Alice & Jono, Stunts, Chris Elliot, newcomers Chloe and the Tomcats with meberob headlining.

Saturday

Saturday’s events started from noon with the main tent hosting The Switch, The Dirty Cheats, Blast, Riven and PBS6. Finishing off were African band Chimanimani who had the whole tent up and dancing.

There were also workshops throughout the day including morris dancing, comedy, salsa and belly dancing. Plus sock monkey making and a silent disco. Strictly Come Dads Dancing entertained the crowd in the main tent during the afternoon too. Outside, North Lichfield Initiative held their environment day and the mysterious Calvos Dos wowed people with their illusions before FlameOz rounded off the day with a spectacular fire show to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fuse. Again the acoustic tent ran to packed out audiences with performances from Jof Walters, Influx, Chris & Kat, Cul D Sac, Roz Bruce, Nettle Wine, Maximum 90 and The Low Orders.

Sunday

Usually the calmer, wind down day of the festival, this year Sunday was by far the biggest of the three. Performances in the main tent came from The City of Lichfield Concert Band, Lichfield Gospel Choir, Funktional and Wildfire Folk after kicking off with a Church Service in the morning. A mega-Ceilidh was held at the end of the day too with many people getting up to join in.

There were more events throughout the site with a Craft Fair, Morris Dance workshop, Speaker’s Corner event, street performer Dan the Hat and storyteller Julie Ann. The afternoon also saw the field flooded with over 2,000 onlookers as 300 people from schools, community and dance groups from across the district took place in the Dance Your Socks Off finale.

Festival Director, Tim Perks said, “Lichfield Arts is delighted that Fuse has been such a huge success this year. My thanks go to the very hard working team of volunteers and everyone else who made Fuse happen. We also want to thank the crowds that came along and created such a friendly relaxed atmosphere.”

To see all the pictures from the weekend, simply watch the slideshow below or view the Lichfield Fuse Festival group on Flickr.