Double grammy winning, chart topping DJ, Jazzie B, and UK disco, house and Ibiza legends A Man Called Adam are amongst the headline acts playing the traditional annual Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music weekend in Elmhurst Park on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 September.
The festival, in its eleventh year, will for the first time expand its annual Elmhurst event to two days in the park.
Friday in the park will celebrate top regional talent, with homegrown success stories, Caswell and US dance chart topper Nathan X, headlining. Further acts playing Friday include Ipswich alt. pop songstress Chloe (selected for us by First Light Festival), jazz funk dance act Latin Heat, live disco and soul band Head Funk, former Aswad and Jah Warriors trombonist Trevor Jones, local singer/ songwriters Kevin Pearce, Charlie Law and Ellie Tree and more TBA.
Acts playing Saturday include Jazzie B, A Man Called Adam, Ben Osborne, Chris Coco, Jimi K Tel, (Sancho Panza) and more to be announced.
Jazzie B, founder and frontman of Soul II Soul, is one of the most influential and celebrated pioneers in British black music. His hit singles, such as Back To Life and Keep On Movin', have won Grammys and topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic - as did the iconic Club Classics Vol. 1 album.
He returns to the festival having played Woodbridge in 2021. “I was talking with Jazzie in London earlier this year,” says festival founder and DJ Ben Osborne, “and he mentioned he’d enjoyed playing last time. So obviously I asked if he’d do it again. His DJ set last time is still talked about and is a high point in the festival’s story.”
Joining him is iconic multi-genre crossing band A Man Called Adam. The first act to sign to Acid Jazz, they became Ibiza icons when they starred in The Farm’s early Balearic doc ‘A Short Film About Chilling’. Moving on they became figureheads for both UK house and neo disco genres. Play listed by BBC6Music, their new LP, The Girl With A Hole in Her Heart, is described by The Guardian as “one of the most potent, bittersweet records”, while Crack Magazine says: “Fusing gorgeous synth-pop, ambient, house and electronica this is all rather thrilling.” Woodbridge is one of only two festivals where you can catch them this year - unless you follow them over to Ibiza after our festival.
Jimi K -Tel is one half of the team behind Notting Hill’s legendary house music sound system, Sancho Panza, who celebrate their 30th birthday the week of our festival. Famous for ramming Middle Row to the rafters, the streets around their sound system became so road-blocked that people famously climbed onto surrounding building’s roofs to find dance space. With Carnival no longer hosting these kinds of things, they now host their Campo Sancho festival, although the only festival you’ll find them playing this year is ours.
With bands still being announced, amongst other headline DJs playing are Chill Out Tent’s Chris Coco, another regular Ibiza fixture, Ben Osborne, founder of both Noise of Art and Woodbridge Festival and Disappearing Dining Club’s Neil Thornton and Itchy Soul DJs. And there is lots more being announced.
Saturday in the park will also debut a new wellbeing area, as well as the traditional large Eco-Area, Kids Zone, Literary Zone, Art Area and local food and drink village - with craft beers and local wine tasting.
Woodbridge Festival has been able to expand to two days after being awarded new funding by East Suffolk Council, as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund initiative.