CHAGSTOCK FESTIVAL organisers have announced two exceptional acts to headline in 2018.
Saturday main stage headliner Imelda May began her professional career in 2003, releasing No Turning Back. In 2007 she signed with Ambassador Records and recorded her second album. Love Tattoo, which reached No. 1 in Ireland and received wide critical acclaim. It caught the attention of Jools Holland, who she later supported on tour, leading to a critically acclaimed performance on his BBC2 show Later...
Her first two singles, "Johnny Got a Boom Boom" and "Big Bad Handsome Man", were released in 2009, and she subsequently won Female Artist of the Year at the 2009 Meteor Awards.
She released her third studio album, Mayhem in 2010, which reached No. 1 in the Irish Album Charts, and number 4 in the UK.
May's fifth album, Life Love Flesh Blood was released on 7 April 2017. On it, she collaborated extensively with American musician T Bone Burnett, who also produced.
Imelda May has also recorded with a huge variety of world-class artists, including Lou Reed, Jeff Beck, Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones, Meat Loaf, The Dubliners amd Sharon Shannon.
Imelda also has an extensive following in the USA, after a string of high profile performances. In 2010 she performed at the 52nd Grammy Awards with Jeff Beck in tribute to Les Paul. She has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and most recently performed the Irish national anthem at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, before the Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight.
Buzzcocks will headline the main stage on Friday. Formed by Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto in February 1976, the band were completed by the addition of Steve Diggle and John Maher.
In August 1977, Buzzcocks released the landmark ‘Orgasm Addict’ single. This was swiftly followed by ‘What Do I Get?’, the band’s first entry into the UK top 40 singles chart and the first of a string of chart singles. Over the next three years, Buzzcocks toured extensively and released a trilogy of outstanding albums: Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Love Bites and A Different Kind of Tension, as well as the hugely influential and popular Singles Going Steady compilation.
1989 saw a reconvened Shelley/Diggle/Garvey/Maher line-up tour the world again by popular demand. Since then, the Shelley/Diggle partnership has been the core of sustained and successful activity, punctuating the years of high profile gigging with six successful studio albums.
Few have had the longevity and sustained creative energy to produce the seemingly endless stream of original and fantastic pop songs that Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle have consistently delivered over the last four decades, and we can’t wait to welcome them to Chagstock 2018!
Imelda May and Buzzcocks join a high octane mix of incredible live acts already announced for Chagstock 2018, including The Correspondents, The Grahams, Show of Hands and King King..
The Correspondents consist of singer Mr Bruce and a producer, Chucks. Formed in 2007, within two years they went from house parties to festival main stages with a show that quickly established the duo as one of the best live acts in the UK.
Since their inception they have toured far, wide and relentlessly bringing their unique live show to huge crowds, earning themselves Telegraph?s ?Top Ten Glastonbury Highlights? two years in a row.
Alyssa and Doug Graham have spent nearly their entire lives exploring music together. Friends since she was 7 and he was 9, they became a couple in their teens, then husband and wife. Somewhere along the way, they also became The Grahams, a dynamic Americana duo who've married their love of adventure with a desire to build on foundations laid by their musical predecessors.
Show of Hands return for their third performance at Chagstock, including a magical headline set back in 2011. One of the UK's most successful acoustic acts (and local heroes to boot!) the talents of Steve Knightley and Phil Beer will be celebrating 25 years of magical music making.
Warming up for the main stage headliner on Friday night will be King King. If this is your first time discovering them, you’re in for a treat. They are simply the living, breathing, here and now of Classic Rock music. Since their live debut shook the Monaghan Blues Festival, King King have woven their magic across continents, hauling in a raft of fans, plaudits and awards along the way.
Saturday will be opened by (ultra!) local Okehampton 3-piece, Quorum. Taking influence from The Who to Blink 182 via Buck Cherry, expect an energy fuelled rock and roll party destined to make you jump, sing and dance.
CHAGSTOCK 2018
Taking place on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st July 2018, Chagstock will once again showcase the very finest music, food and entertainment from the Westcountry and beyond.
Set in 70 acres of farmland on the edge of Dartmoor, Chagstock is renowned for its stunning location, diverse line-up of artists and non-corporate, family friendly atmosphere. Chagstock showcases the very best music, food and entertainment that the Westcountry and the UK have to offer. Starting life as a small private party, Chagstock has now grown into a major fixture on the Westcountry festival circuit, selling out for the last five years in succession.
Simon Ford Chagstock Festival organiser says, “We can’t wait to welcome friends new and old to Higher Fields in Whiddon Down for Chagstock 2018! With world class acts Buzzcocks and Imelda May joining The Correspondents and The Grahams and an already fantastic line up we are pulling out all the stops for 2018! As always we are working hard to bring an eclectic and high quality selection of artists to the beautiful Devon countryside, and we look forward to seeing you in July. Do keep an eye on our website or social media for the most up to date news and announcements ”
Published on 27 January 2018 by Ben Robinson
