Greenbelt organisers reveal festival line-up following two-year covid hiatus

Kae Tempest is among the acts playing at Greenbelt.

Musicians Kae Tempest, The Magic Numbers and Beans On Toast will join the likes of playwright Bonnie Greer and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins when the Greenbelt festival returns this summer.

Organisers have revealed the acts which will be performing when the festival returns after a two-year absence from Friday, August 26 to Monday, August 29.

Held in the grounds of Boughton House near Kettering, Greenbelt combines artistry and activism across a range of performing arts including music, comedy, literature, visual art, worship and spirituality.

In a blog post revealing this year’s line-up, Greenbelt Creative Director Paul Northup said: “We always get a thrill as we announce our festival line up.

“And that's heightened this time around, after two long years without staging the festival and having lived with many of these bookings through a double rollercoaster of cancellations.

“At the same time, we know that for many long-term Greenbelters, it's not really the line-up they come for primarily. It's the community, the connection, the vibe, the inspiration, the welcome, the homecoming.

“As passionate Greenbelters ourselves, this adds a curious dynamic to making our first line up announcements in more than two years.

“On the one hand we couldn't be more excited and proud and on the other we know that the line-up doesn't define what Greenbelt is.”

The music line up will include performances by Anaïs Mitchell, Anna Tivel, Ayanna Witter-Johnson,

BCUC, Beans On Toast, Ben Caplan, Billie Marten, Black Water County, Connor Fyfe, Dani Larkin, Daudi Matsiko, Guvna B, House Gospel Choir, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Huw & The Greater Good,

Jake Isaac, Jeffrey Martin, Jeremy Loops, Kae Tempest, Martyn Joseph, Ron Artis Ii & The Truth,

Simon Armitage, Stables, Stephen Lewis & The Big Band Of Fun, The Magic Numbers, The People Versus, The Reminders, The Young’uns and Wildwood Kin.

There will be comedy by Maria Shehata, Shaparak Khorsandi, Subhadra Das and Terry Alderton and talks by Angela Saini, Baroness Lola Young, Bonnie Greer, Brian Mclaren, Caroline Lucas, Cole Arthur Riley, Danny Dorling, Frances Crook, Gulwali Passarlay, Jane Shaw, Jeff Halper, John Bell, Leroy Logan, Linda Woodhead, Lucy Jones, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Nazir Afzal, Onjali Raúf, Paul Mason, Reni Eddo Lodge, Richard Dawkins, Robert Beckford, Roger Robinson, Rowan Williams and Simon Armitage.

The line-up also includes performing and visual arts performances and worship and spirituality talks, workshops, sports and activities for children.

Mr Northup added: “In artists and speakers like Kae Tempest, Jeremy Loops, Angela Saini, Bonnie Greer, Richard Dawkins, Shaparak Khorsandi and so on, we want to celebrate and platform the very best creativity and thought we can.

“We may not have the budgets some festivals do to parade an array of household names and global stars before you, but we work hard to bring you the very best and bravest we can.

“We hope you're as excited as we are by the names you see here.”

The theme of this year’s Greenbelt will be Wake Up.

Greenbelt was started in 1974 and aspires to be an ‘open generous community re-imagining the Christian narrative for the present moment’ with a mission to create an event ‘where art, faith and justice collide.’

Adult weekend tickets for Greenbelt cost £180 until the end of March, when prices rise to £195.

A range of discounts are available for different age groups and a number of volunteering opportunities are still available.

For full details, visit https://www.greenbelt.org.uk