Dan Donnelly to headline Knutsford Music Festival

Dan has toured extensively and become a summer music festival favourite, performing at the Glastonbury and Beautiful Days festivals and a variety of other festivals across the UK and Europe recently.

He has collaborated with The Levellers, Oysterband and The Wonder Stuff, whose lead singer Miles Hunt headlined the 2018 event.

Dan has also been the lead singer and guitarist for French super-group Celtic Social Club since 2018, who will be releasing a new album this year.

Performing alongside Dan will be his friend Ben Paley, a popular fiddle player who performs in a variety of duos as well as with Dan, including with poet, playwright and songwriter Nick Burbridge, with old-time banjo player Sara Grey and with dance band The Sussex Pistols, to name a few.

The duo will perform their headline set at new-to-2019 venue Vermilion Studios, which is located on Stanley Industrial Trading Estate, across the road from Knutsford Railway Station.

The studio serves as a showroom for the art gallery, which is based on Princess Street in Knutsford.

The venue boasts a large, versatile space stretching across two floors which is perfect for a music event.

K-Town Beer Band

Knutsford’s own K-Town Beer Band will kick off the show at 7pm, performing Irish jigs, drinking songs and crowd-pleasers from the 70s, 80s and 90s with a distinctly Celtic twist.

They will be followed by local lad Jack Woodward, a singer-songwriter who has played at Live at Leeds Festival, Warrington Festival and Manchester Academy 3.

Jack Woodward

Woodward has received airplay from BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio, and won a national competition to perform on the X Factor Live Tour.

Performing ahead of the headliners will be main support act Megan Dixon-Hood, a Cheshire-born singer-songwriter who has been busy on the festival scene, having performed at Rock the Farm, Great Escape Festival, Middlewich Folk Festival and more, as well as supporting Rag’N’Bone Man.

Megan Dixon-Hood

You can also catch local business and festival sponsors Dexter and Jones, who will be providing a beer and gin bar for the event, alongside staff from Vermilion, who will be running a bar providing wine and soft drinks.

Lisa Benskin from the festival organising team at the town council said: “We are really excited about the main event for Knutsford Music Festival 2019.

“We have an amazing selection of local talent lined up to support the headline act.

“This festival was launched in 2017 as a community festival to celebrate local talent, and this event highlights some of the incredible talent on our doorstep.

“We’re thrilled that Dan Donnelly will be performing as our headliner this year alongside Ben Paley.

“After the success of Miles Hunt from The Wonder Stuff in 2018, we thought who better to build on that than bandmate Dan Donnelly, who has also collaborated with other massive bands including The Levellers.

“We are sure this spectacular four-part line-up, combined with the really cool setting of Vermilion Studios, will make this the best headline event of Knutsford Music Festival so far.”

Doors for the event open at 6.30pm on Saturday, June 22. Tickets are £15, available online now via the festival website or from Knutsford Town Council offices on Toft Road. Tickets may be available on the door subject to availability.

To keep up-to-date with further announcements, festival information and news, as well as learning more about the events lined up for this year’s festival visit knutsfordmusicfestival.com or follow Knutsford Music Festival on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.