Music festival to return to Delapre Abbey for third year this May Bank Holiday – and here’s what you can expect

Matthew Owen, who describes himself as a local lad with the aim of raising the profile of local talent, set up NN Festival back in 2023.

This derived from his work in the music industry supplying staging, audio and lighting to festivals across the Midlands and the South.

After the success of the past two years, Matthew decided to grow the event by bringing friends Cheryl Standford-Forbes, Simon Thomson and Shane Graham on board.

They have decades of experience to bring this event to life, with the shared goal of delivering a larger scale festival at one of the town’s most historic and iconic venues.

Talking about why he introduced the event two years ago, Matthew told the Chronicle & Echo: “I’ve run festivals for other people and had an itch I wanted to scratch by doing my own. I love seeing people happy and I love my town.”

The festival has this year been rebranded from NN Festival to Delasole, and has expanded from one stage on one day to four stages across two days. It is planned for the Saturday and Sunday of the May Bank Holiday weekend (May 3 and 4).

“We’re trying to focus on the family day on the Saturday, as that’s what it has always been about,” said Matthew. “I’m a family man and father of four. We’ve all got children and want to bring families together.”

The line up of acts on the family day includes Marvin Humes, The Wanted, Diversity and Billy Lockett, and there will be a variety of family-oriented activities on offer. This includes bouncy castles, rides, acrobats, stilt walkers and dinosaurs, as well as a musical stage just for children to enjoy.

Sunday is a dance event aimed at adults only, and there will be a variety of food and drink available to enjoy.

“I love our town and we’re very fortunate to have the wealth of talent that we do,” said Matthew. “I’ve worked the breadth of the country and people do not realise how lucky we are.”

For more information and to secure early bird tickets to Delasole Festival, visit the event’s Facebook page here.