THE line-up has been revealed for Rivfest 2018.

This year the Warrington festival, now in its third year, is taking a different form with an emphasis on showcasing emerging talent.

For the first time the event will take place across two days on July 13 and 14 featuring more than 50 artists in multiple venues around the Cultural Quarter.

In another first, Rivfest is teaming up with Manchester’s Scruff of the Neck Records to provide a platform for some of the north west’s hottest new indie acts at Parr Hall. The event, organised by the River Reeves Foundation was set up in memory of the Viola Beach guitarist River Reeves and his band mates Kris Leonard, Jack Dakin and Tomas Lowe along with their manager Craig Tarry who all tragically died in Sweden in February 2016.

The first day of the festival on Friday, July 13, will be held at Parr Hall and will be called the Breaking Through Showcase.

It will be headlined by The Lottery Winners who have spent a year perfecting their debut album for Warner Brothers’ Sire Records at some of the best UK studios.

Warrington Guardian:

Recently they supported We Are Scientists but the Rivfest show will be their biggest headline show.

Support comes from Manchester’s No Hot Ashes who have a busy festival season ahead with gigs at Dot to Dot, Sound City, Truck Festival and Kendal Calling.

The band also played a sold-out headline show at Manchester’s Academy 2 earlier this year.

Warrington’s own Kula Bay are also on the Friday bill.

Since forming in the summer of 2017 the band have self-released two singles and attracted a great deal of music industry attention leading to radio plays on BBC Radio 6 Music and live sessions for BBC Introducing Manchester.

And David Hindle, lead singer of the band won the Viola Beach Scholarship Award at Priestley College this year in recognition of his songwriting talent and potential.

The Bohos are the final band to be added to the Breaking Through Showcase. They played a sell out show at the Liverpool Academy followed by a hotly-tipped gig at Liverpool’s Sound City.

The band have also recently played dates with White Lies, Black Honey and Brighton’s latest breakthrough act The Magic Gang.

The Saturday event will be held in multiple venues around the Cultural Quarter and Palmyra Square with the Parr Hall again at the heart of the event.

Friars Court will host the Viola Beach stage which made its debut at Rivfest 2017.

Headliners Fickle Friends will be welcomed back to Warrington after opening the main stage at the Neighbourhood Weekender in Victoria Park.

The Brighton five-piece recently released their debut album, You Are Someone Else, on Polydor Records to critical acclaim.

Stockport’s Fuzzy Sun are Fickle Friends’ main support. They recently shared a stage with Blossoms on the UK leg of their tour and their EP, Want Love, continues to gain popularity on Spotify and has amassed more than 10,000 monthly listeners.

Warrington Guardian:

Other festival highlights include the hotly tipped young Liverpool band The Mysterines who have recently been on tour with Miles Kane. Liverpool’s Sunstack Jones play the Viola Beach Stage hot on the heels of the release of their self-titled debut album which comes out on June 29.

Other artists on the bill tipped for great things are Peter and the Werewolf, Ferris and Sylvester and Kashmere. Peter and the Werewolf is the latest project by Mark Sunderland. Previous releases from the musician including The Reason have attracted more than seven million Spotify plays.

Ferris and Sylvester were tipped by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the ‘top 10 country artists you need to know’ in 2017.

And Stockport’s Kashmere are following in the footsteps of Blossoms merging anthemic indie rock with synths.

Rivfest exists to provide support for talented young musicians and each year the River Reeves Foundation awards scholarships of up to £500 to struggling or disadvantaged young artists.

Proceeds from Rivfest 2018 will go to the ‘Future in Mind’ bus project with Arriva North West to provide mental health support in schools.

  • Day passes and weekend tickets are available at seetickets.com/event/rivfest18/parr-hall/1230763