May Day Festival of Solidarity is BACK. The event which is put together by Tony Peter Wright of The Hurriers and myself was set up last year as a way of bringing together voices from music, poetry and politics to celebrate International Worker’s Day and establish an annual festival in Barnsley to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and Wigan Diggers festivals we both love so much. Last year’s event was an incredible day and I remember spending the whole time in awe of the incredible talent out there and how we’d managed to pull so many of them together. This year we’ve gone one better and we’re running TWO days, the weekend of Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of April. The venue is the same, The Old School House (formerly Polish Club), but this time round our acoustic stage has been enlarged to fill the whole bar area so no-one will miss a single note.

As you can see from the poster we have a bill to be proud of, from our incredible headline acts The Men They Couldn’t Hang and Steve Mason, through a supporting cast consisting of legends like Blyth Power, Robb Johnson, Interrobang, Naomi Bedford and Thee Faction, through soon-to-be legends like Efa Supertramp and Lilith Ai….this is two days you do not want to miss.

We have full weekend tickets available, or single day tickets if you’d rather; but we want you to stay the whole time and soak up the spirit of community and solidarity, listen to the music and the poems, cheer the speeches, and recharge those batteries for the times ahead.

Ticket info is at:

https://maydaysolidarity.wordpress.com/

…..and be quick. With a bill like this and a capacity of 200 you need to get moving sharpish.