Award winning LIMF to be ticket only for 2018
Liverpool International Music Festival is set to be all-ticketed for the first time in its six-year history.
Music fans coming to the 2018 festival, which takes place over the weekend of July 21-22, will need to either buy advance day tickets for £5, or £10 per day close to and during the festival weekend itself.
Advance VIP tickets are £15, giving access to the luxury VIP area for over 14s only.
The move, which council chiefs say will off-set some of the costs of staging the massive event, was announced as the line-up for the 2018 festival weekend was revealed.
Saturday headliners will be Example & DJ Wire, while Hacienda Classical featuring the Manchester Camerata leads the Sunday night bill.
Godfather of grime Wiley, NME’s best new artist Stefflon Don and Brit Award nominee Jax Jones will also appear on the Saturday, July 21, while the Sunday line-up includes a return for Basement Jaxx.
Rae Morris, Aurora, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Tim Westwood and Trevor Nelson will also appear over the weekend of July 21-22, and all together 70 artists will play 18 hours of music in the surroundings of Sefton Park.
Example & DJ Wire. Top: Hacienda Classical. Photo by Anthony Mooney
An estimated 120,000 visitors flock to South Liverpool for the award-winning annual festival each year.
But this year the festival site will be fenced in. Other restrictions include no alcohol being allowed to be brought in, although alcohol will be available for sale on site.
Tickeholders will have access to four festival sites - Central Stage, True School Club House Stage, the itsliverpool Next Gen Stage and The Shubz DJ Tent.
Previously, elements of LIMF have been ticketed, including LIMF Presents, but this is the first time the whole event has been ticket only.
Assistant Mayor and Cabinet Member for culture, tourism and events, Councillor Wendy Simon, says: “Over the past six years we have seen LIMF grow and evolve and it’s the right time for the event to change and be taken to the next level.
“LIMF is a credible, mature music festival, and is one of the highlights of our events calendar, but due to government cuts totalling 68% of our budget, the council simply can’t continue to fund it in its entirety.
“Introducing tickets allows us to off-set some of the costs of staging a festival. And paying just £5 for nine hours of live music each day, performed by a top-quality line-up means that without a doubt LIMF remains one of best value music festivals in the UK.
Stefflon Don
“It’s also a responsible way forward – it’s now a very different climate in which to stage events, and our priority is to make LIMF a safe, enjoyable festival for everyone. Fencing the site means that we can carry out bag checks when necessary and reduce the potential for anti-social behaviour.”
Speaking about the 2018 event, LIMF curator Yaw Owusu says: “The line-up this year is really important as it not only reflects just how far LIMF has come in the past five years, but also showcases Liverpool’s bold contemporary musical voice and attitude.
“Our theme is Co-exist and Connection, so it was essential the festival represented a diverse music offer which mixes classic and new sounds, established and emerging names, covering a myriad of genres and styles - which is an honest reflection of what’s happening within music culture, not just locally, but on a global scale.”