No Sleep for the Wick-ed
A new independent music festival is approaching the fields of East Sussex!
Spread across four roomy fields, two paddocks and close to the beautiful South Downs near Lewes & Brighton, Wick Street Festival will take place from 31st August to 3rd September 2023.
Inspired by their lifelong love of music and events Charles, Rebecca, Jake and Max Vine dipped their toes into festival revelry back in 2019 before the world changed dramatically. After opening up the fields around their farm, they hosted the first ‘Mucky Weekender’ – a festival pulled together by the help of their friend and main man of the Dub Pistols, Barry Ashworth.
With tickets selling out quickly, Charles knew that to continue the festivals on a larger scale, they would need more space, and began to think about the type of events they could host themselves.
Wanting to capture that nostalgic feeling of fun and enjoyment, they started to brainstorm how they could recreate that feeling in a festival. Accompanied by all of the team’s previous experience working with start-ups and being in front of new audiences, along came the start of the proudly small and independent Sussex music festival – Wick Street!
Dance like nobody’s watching
Sussex is well known for the incredible local town talent, and Charles made sure to incorporate that into the line-up for this year’s festival. Across the three days, you can expect to hear great tunes across a range of genres from bands such as:
- Turin Brakes – Million selling folk-tinged indie rock band,
- Don Letts – Ex-clash and much-loved DJ on BBC 6 Music,
- Too Many T’s – Rap and hip-hop band,
- Think Floyd – The UKs number one Pink Floyd tribute band,
- Dub Pistols Sound System – Electronic music band,
- ELO Encounter – Electric Light Orchestra ‘transporter’ act,
- Curst Sons – Stomping Americana (“Hillbilly Blues”),
- Lady Oracle – Soul-fuelled singer with grand ballads,
- Fat Belly Jones – A mixture of ska, soul, blues and feelgood music,
- Mudlow – Crunchy, grimy but joyous blues trio,
- Milton Hide – Elements & overtones reminiscent of the Moody Blues,
- Contraband – From infectious dance ceilidhs to jigs and soulful ballads,
- Miss Garbo – Soaring, funky melodies,
- Gumjuaka – A blend of dub, reggae, and Latin music,
- Bow – Singer/songwriter bringing a brand-new pop voice,
- The Wave Machine – Harmonious surfer dude acoustics.
À la carte
On top of the live music, there is so much more to enjoy with the food & drinks. Wick Street Festival are proud to support local Sussex food and drink suppliers that they know you’ll love! The festival is glass-free which means most drinks will be served in cans and almost all of the suppliers are based within a 15-mile radius. Delve into new tastes and flavours like:
Food
Drinks
- Ascension Cider
- Beacon Down Wines
- Burning Sky
- Folkington’s
- Gun Brewery
- Harley House
- Silly Moo
- Tigermoth Coffee Roasters
- Beak Brewery
Barking mad
If you would like to bring your dog to the festival, they’re more than welcome to join in with the fun! In fact, it’s encouraged with Lewes based grooming salon Dickie’s Dogs being on-site. Whilst you are out enjoying the headline acts, you can drop your dog in for a mud-free makeover to get them feeling festival ready. Once they’re all glammed up, the two of you can enjoy Jude’s Ice Cream served fresh from a trike – suitable for both humans and canines.
Some other unexpected elements you can find at the festival include a vintage tractor, a wagon mobile cocktail bar which will be delivering Bloody Mary’s to your tents in the morning, their very own grass-fed beef burgers, and a stunning light show courtesy of Think Floyd.
