Glastonbury heroes set for South Yorkshire music festival

Show of Hands will appear at the Montgomery Hall venue on Sunday, May 1, as part of the annual celebration of music, culture and arts.

These award winning performers, Steve Knightley and Phil Beer, who are widely acknowledged as the finest acoustic roots duo in England are taking a short break from their nationwide tour to visit Wath.

Dave Adnitt, chair of the Wath Festival Organising Team, said: “The band are in great demand, performing to sell out audiences in the UK and abroad.

“Knightley, who writes most of their inspired material and Beer, a dazzling multi-instrumentalist, have built up a huge following which has seen them sell out the Royal Albert Hall three times, played major festivals from Glastonbury to WOMAD and playing all over the world, from Europe to America, Australia and India.

“Voted Best Live Act by the public at the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, the jury is still out on just what kind of music they play.

“A genre defying mix of rock, roots, blues, country and trad, and often influenced by the music of other countries, it is played out on an array of instruments from slide guitar to fiddle, mandolin to South American cuatro.”

The four day music festival, running from Friday, April 29, to Monday, May 2, regularly attracts around 5000 visitors and features dozens of other performers including Jez Lowe, Rob Heron and the Teapad Orchestra, Billy Mitchell, Edward II, the Tom McConville Band, Jessica Simpson and The Willows across several different venues.

There will also be street dancing, comedy routines and a maypole dance on the Saturday, along with the popular throwing of the bread buns from the church tower at noon, a tradition which dates back around 200 years.

Details of the full line-up and tickets can be found at www.wathfestival.org.uk