Barnsley Folk Festival took place here last month, and saw us bring back a festival of the same name that took place at Barnsley Civic over other local venues in the late 1980s. It was a massive success and saw over 1500 attend. Now we start to plan for 2027. We’ll announce the first wave of acts, including our headliners later this summer. In the meantime, take a look at these photographs taken across the festival.
On the Friday night, we hosted a hometown concert by Barnsley Nightingale and the UK Queen of Folk Kate Rusby. She was supported by local Indie Folk Duo, Eletto. I was very warm in the theatre, but those that attended got to see Kate in an smaller setting as you’d ever see Kate these days.
Events of this type will always attract photographers and so we wanted to use this opportunity to highlight some of their work. First up is Bryan Ledgard, who has been photographing events and folk music for a number of decades, so it was a pleasure to have him here.
These photos were taken at our outdoor family event, which saw folk dancers, musicians, crafts makers and storytellers entertain both locals and many that had traveled into town for the festival.
On the Saturday evening, we welcomed five local bands into our theatre, for a showcase of music influenced by the folk tradition, and other genres including grunge, prog, punk and traditional Brazilian. The acts on the line-up were Gabriela Y Antony, Common Culture, The Rolling Down Hills, Parson’s Lot and Passion Killers.
These photographs were taken by Seth Rose. www.instagram.com/seth.rose_photography
On the Sunday, we closed our festival with a ceilidh hosted by caller Chris McShane, the Penistone Folk Ensemble and the Barnsley U3A Ceilidh Band. There was definitely an appetite for dancing in Barnsley, as it was a full house of both hardened dancers and those trying it out for the first time.
Keep up to date with all things Barnsley Folk Festival over at www.instagram.com/barnsleyfolkfestival
