PREVIEW: Get ready for Lancaster’s Highest Point Festival

The Highest Point festival gets underway tomorrow in Lancaster’s Williamson Park.

One of the UK’s biggest outdoor music and art festivals is back! Featuring international headliners, plus a huge variety of artists, from chart-topping stars and indie legends to underground house heads, drum & bass superstars and funk groovers, set to take to the six stages in Williamson Park.

The event ends with the Big Family Fun Day on Sunday.

Hacienda Classical are the headliners of the opening night.

Hacienda Classical sees Tim Crooks from Manchester Camerata lead a collective of artists and musicians on stage in performing well-known favourites and new versions of club classics, all mixed continuously into one non-stop set.

The Highest Point organisers first bought Hacienda Classical to Williamson Park back in 2016, under their then ‘A-Wing’ brand, for what was at the time the collective’s first ever outdoor show. They also returned to close Highest Point’s debut year in 2018.

Bastille headline the main stage on Friday.

Bastille are best known for their 2013 number two hit 'Pompeii' and have scored three number one UK albums.

Their debut album 'Bad Blood' went triple platinum in 2013 and they were nominated for four Brit awards in 2014, winning Best Breakthrough Act. They were nominated for further Brit Awards in 2017 and 2020, and also for a Grammy in 2015.

Then it’s Anne-Marie who tops the bill on Saturday.

Anne-Marie shot to fame in 2016 when she provided lead vocals on Clean Bandit's hit 'Rockabye', which spent nine weeks at the top of the charts and became the Christmas number one that year.

She has had seven Top 10 hit singles as a featured artist, including 'Ciao Adios', ‘2002’, and 'Don't Play'.

Anne-Marie is also known as a coach on the ITV talent show The Voice UK.

Gok Wan, Sigma, Craig Charles, Friendly Fires and Freya Ridings are among the other names on the line-up for the Highest Point festival.

‘Lost Without You’ singer, Freya Ridings will be joining the Highest Point line up in time to debut her new album, ‘Blood Orange’, as well as the Funk and Soul presenter and Corrie Legend, Craig Charles, who will be headlining The Woods stage.

More new names on the line up include indie band, Friendly Fires, British Drum and Bass DJ duo, Sigma, Drum and Bass legend, Sub Focus, DJ Mag Breakthrough winners Girls Don’t Sync return alongside the legend that is Skream plus Manchester-based indie band, The Lottery Winners, known for their top 40 hits ‘Young Love’ and ‘Hawaii’, and set to return for their third year at the festival.

Other acts joining the festival line-up include TV fashion presenter and DJ Gok Wan, Radio 1’s Danny Howard & Charlie Tee, DJ Paulette,  House Gospel Choir, Elvis Fronted Nirvana, Toploader, General Levy and The Cuban Brothers with Guilty Pleasures taking over The Woods on the Saturday. Chris Hawkins (6 Music) will be hosting The Dell Inn, a pub in the woods, in collaboration with Manchester Union Brewery.

The Dell Inn, soon to be everyone’s favourite festival pub, will be the home of comedy, poetry slams and acoustic sets across the weekend, as well as opening its door, or branches, to some well-known stars. This is one of the many changes the festival has made this year as part of its ambitions to become bigger and better, as well as Bushrocker Hi-fi roots reggae takeover at the Waterfall and a new look to the much-loved Sundial stage.  

Highest Point, which began in 2018, has evolved into one of the biggest music and arts festivals in the UK and is now held over four days.

The 2022 festival drew 35,000 people to the park in Lancaster.

Stages and set times:

THURSDAY MAY 11 - Gates open from 4pm

Main Stage

9pm: Hacienda Classical

7:45pm: House Gospel Choir

6pm: K-Klass (DJ)

5pm: Dobbo (DJ)

The Woods

7pm: Matt Thiss

6pm: Summer Jenkins

5pm: Sam T Harper

4pm: Ryan Gould

FRIDAY MAY 12 - Gates open from 1pm

Main Stage

9pm: Bastille

8pm: Friendly Fires

6:30pm: Freya Ridings

5pm: General Levy

3:45pm: Phoebe Hall

2:30pm: Delights

Memorial

9:30pm: D.O.D

8pm: Girls Don't Sync

7pm: Bklava

6pm: Matt Thiss

Sundial

11pm: Binx

10pm: Sub Focus

9pm: Charlie Tee

8pm: AMA

7pm: Emily Makis

6pm: Nathan X

4:30pm: Lasko and T.Lee

3pm: Monika & NafroB

Dell Inn

8:15pm: Jamie McCool

7:30pm: Pub quiz with The Lovely Eggs

6:45pm: Lowes

5:45pm: Melanie Williams House Party

4:45pm: In Conversation with Gordon Raphael

4pm: In Conversation with DJ Paulette

3pm: Lois

The Woods

7:30pm: Craig Charles

6pm: DJ Paulette

5pm: Audiowhores

4pm: Sam Redmore

1pm: David Dunne

The Waterfall

7pm: North Fire Soundsystem, 19:00-20:00

6pm: Daddy1Love

5pm: Chris Holt

4pm: John Hayward

3pm: Jojo & Jnr Jahvis

2pm: Miss Chop

1pm: The Buddhakkan Headset

SATURDAY MAY 13 - Gates open from 12pm

Main Stage

9:30pm: Anne-Marie

8pm: Lottery Winners

6:45pm: Cuban Brothers

5:15pm: Gok Wan

3:45pm: Toploader

2:30pm: Elvana

1:30pm: Jamie McCool

12:30pm: The Native Cult

Memorial

10:30pm: Danny Howard

9pm: Ki Creighton

7:30pm: Arielle Free

6:15pm: Pirate Copy

5pm: Murphy’s Law

3:45pm: Matrefakt

2:30pm: Beth

1:15pm: Nico Balducci

12pm: Eldon

Sundial

11pm: Binx

10pm: Sigma

9pm: Goddard & MC XL

8pm: Turno & MC Dreps

7pm: A Little Sound

6pm: Binx

5pm: DJ Clumsy

4pm: Rek:law

3pm: Charlie Tee

2pm: Coded

1pm: Grimsey

Dell Inn

8:30pm: Vicky Radio 1 (pub quiz)

7:30pm: Sk Shlomo

6:45pm: Mike Garry

5:45pm: Andy Ellis / Thomo Turgoose

4:45pm: Cuban Brothers in conversation

4pm: Lowes

3pm: Rich & Jamie in conversation

2pm: Chris DJing

The Woods

4pm: Guilty Pleasures

3pm: Bucky

2pm: Les Croasdaile

1pm: Mark Hogg

12pm: Ginny K

The Waterfall

5:30pm: Jinx in Dub & Cheshire Cat

4:30pm: Catch a Fire & MC Dandy Dizzle

3pm: Matty Banton

2pm: Prof P

1pm: Impressa Soundsystem

12pm: Ranking Miss P

SUNDAY MAY 14 - Gates open from 9.30am

The Big Family Day Out

Main Stage – hosted by Beyond Radio – ‘The Kings & Queens of Pop’

Black Lace, tributes to Ed Sheeran, Adele, Queen, Harry Styles, Stagecoach Drama School

Memorial Square

Crafty Vintage

The Dell

Shlomo's BeatBox Adventure, a Poetry Explosion with Mark Grist, drum workshops with Off Beat, Brass Bands with Honk

Ashton Memorial

Craft Zone

Remaining tickets at www.highestpoint.co.uk