ALSO Festival announces first wave of heavenly line up for ALSO24

ALSO FESTIVAL MAKES FIRST LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ALSO24 INCLUDING:

NATALIE HAYNES – SIR MICHAEL MARMOT – NELS ABBEY – TIM MARSHALL – PHILIPPA PERRY

STORNOWAY – JESSICA WINTER – THE FONTANAS 

ADAM KAY – SARA PASCOE – ROBIN INCE – MARCEL LUCONT

AND ALSO: FOOD FESTIVAL IN A FESTIVAL, DJS & DANCE, WELLNESS, SPA & FAMILY ACTIVITIES

 

ALSO: The UKs most inspirational summer festival combining ideas, music and comedy alongside adventures in food, nature and wellness, has announced the first wave of speakers, performers and experiences for its upcoming 11th edition: ALSO24, taking place 12th – 14th July 2024 at Park Farm, Compton Verney, Warwickshire.

 

Curious, clever and creative, ALSO Festival collaborates with celebrated best-selling authors, revolutionary scientists and impassioned experts, allowing  ideas to run wild. Meticulously curated, ALSO24 promises to be nothing short of celestial as we dive into the theme of Heavenly Bodies creating a magical, immersive festival experience akin to heaven on earth. Set lakeside in 50 acres of Capability Brown landscaped surroundings in Warwickshire, ALSO Festival offers a unique opportunity to reconnect with yourself and the world around you with hundreds of inspirational events across 15 specially designed venues.

 

ALSO Festival’s Founder and Artistic Director, Helen Bagnall said ‘Coming together to go wild in the wild each summer is what we humans are built to do and an essential part of a year lived well. This year, in one of the most challenging for us independent festivals, we are determined to create a truly memorable weekend in our Capability Brown landscaped site. ALSO is the next generation of festivals; highly immersive, truly experiential, with ideas threading through everything that we do, we make it effortless for our guests to engage with big, life enhancing ideas and live a wild summer weekend in an extraordinary festival.  So we are leaning in hard to the beauty in ourselves, in others, in the joy of festivals, the beauty of the site with our 2024 theme of ‘Heavenly Bodies’.  As one of the few festivals to go ahead in 2020, even in this time of extreme adversity for the industry we will be creating magic in seemingly impossible circumstances.’

 

IDEAS: ALSO24 will be packed with transformative ideas from the likes of No1 Sunday Times Bestselling psychotherapist Philippa Perry (in her only UK festival appearance this summer), Professor Sir Michael Marmot who discusses Making Waves in a detailed look at longevity and rock-star classicist and bestselling writer Natalie Haynes who re-introduces us to the stories of Greek Goddesses the way they were intended. 

 

Join us to glimpse the divine beauty of space with quantum theorist Professor David Tong,  scream into the void with behavioural economist Dr Pragya Agarwal or learn how Hip Hop artists rewrote the rules of business with former banker–turned–hip-hop journalist Nels Abbey.

 

Discover the ways that astronomy has shaped civilisation with cosmologist Roberto Trotta, consider the next frontier (politics in Space) with journalist Tim Marshall, explore the world of spirituality with bestselling author and journalist Catherine Nixey or consider the science behind being social with award-winning journalist and author David Robson .

 

Other highlights include powerhouse of nature writing and New York Times bestseller Charles Foster, leading social philosopher Roman Krznaric, lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie, champion swimmer Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, best-selling children’s author Andy Stanton on his collaboration with AI and Steve Pretty’s hit podcast about the evolution of music The Origin of the Pieces.

 

MUSIC: ALSO24 is the perfect place to discover new music, providing the stellar soundtrack to your summer. Don’t miss the genre-busting live performances from extraordinary experimental musician Jessica Winter (‘The new face of outsider pop’ – Line of Best Fit) or indie-folk sonic adventurers Stornoway whose kaleidoscopic fourth album has connected with fans old and new, and get ready to dance as Latin & Brazilian influenced soul and funk collective The Fontanas take the stage. 

 

Other live music highlights include hotly tipped Welsh singer-songwriter Edie Bens, the ethereal melodies of Oscar Browne, hip-hop, funk and soul band Miya the Sun, retro-style blues-rock group Get the Water, energetic rock band The Dukes, Birmingham based indie rock band Jet Black Orange, captivating  multi-instrumentalist James Walker, Eastern European Ska/Celtic dance from The Balkaneers, a performance like no other from The Sea and I, lyrically intricate, folk inflected songs from Yoshika Colwell and America schooled vocal harmonies and intertwining melodies from The Self Help Group. 

 

Perfectly punctuating the live music, our exceptional DJs (DJ LIL, DJ Mash, DJ Steve Vertigo, DJ Nick Lawrence, Saturday Love with DJ Luke Taylor and lots more) will keep you dancing whether at our lakeside Rum Bar, truly transcendent late-night Woods dancefloor or our infamous even-later-night sustainably built straw bale Bunker.

 

COMEDY: ALSO24’s offering of smart comedy features performances from BAFTA winning, best-selling writer and comedian Adam Kay (This is Going to Hurt, Undoctored), brand new show Thoughts from the Night from acclaimed comedian and best-selling writer Sara Pascoe (as seen on QI, Taskmaster and Live at the Apollo) and international comedy legend (and Celebrity Mastermind winner) Rob Deering puts some of our comedians on the spot in his live music-based comedy pop quiz – Beat This! 

 

Other comedy highlights include compelling musings from the ever-active mind of Robin Ince, sublime spoken word from poet and novelist Salena Godden and gallic misanthrope (and TikTok sensation) Marcel Lucont who presents his cult hit Cabaret Fantastique in our newly redesigned cabaret style dining tent.

 

EXPERIENCES: Truly experiential, ALSO24 gives festival guests unrivaled opportunities to embark on weird and wonderful adventures, try something new and get creative. Offering a series of super stylish hands-on workshops and demos with makers and artists including lantern making , biscuit decorating and lots more yet to be announced. Journey through nature on our Bat Walk, try painting meditation with Liz Temperley, or delve into the mysteries of the cosmos at Astrology in the Orrery. Compete in the ALSO games (rounders, badminton, volleyball, boules, crazy golf), join us for boardgames or take an Intro to Poker class, How to DJ masterclass or join leading vocal coach Juliet Russell (ITV’s The Voice) to perfect your performance, breathing & vocal techniques before unleashing your inner disco diva in a Studio 54 inspired disco classic at our Saturday Night Spectacular.

 

WELLNESS: ALSO24 caters for your heavenly bodies just as much as your mind with our extensive and varied wellness programme. Immerse yourself in our sound baths, visit the ALSO Sauna or Zen Ten Spa and make the most of ALSO’s very own heavenly body of water with restorative wild swimming and paddleboarding. Get your heart racing with our main stage fitness workshops, join our Heavenly run and a session of Qi Gong, fire yoga, moon yoga, floating SUP yoga, or even Laughter yoga with Letween Maringisanwa, AcroYoga Yoga & Acrobatic Play or Handstands and Inversions with Rose Bird.

 

FOOD: James Whetlor (renowned James Beard award-winning chef, formerly at River Cottage, and founder of the ethical, sustainably conscious business Cabrito) joins us as ALSO Festival’s first ever Executive Chef in Residence. James will be cooking up exclusive menus throughout the weekend with a French Bistro inspired Friday night feast, Saturday Long Table Lunch, Saturday Night Asado-style dining experience and Sunday Lunch Curry Feast.

 

ALSO’s focus on adventures in food creates a food festival within a festival, bringing guests to the table in the wild and beautiful setting to cook, taste and share. Learn to Cheese like an Expert with cheesemonger, cheese maker and cheese awards judge, and author of ‘The Cheese Wheel’, Emma Young’s cheese tasting masterclass, Take a tour of wine writer and journalist Jane Parkinson’s most highly recommended sustainable wines or join Metropolitan chef Marie Mitchell, co-founder of the sell out smash hit Island Social Club Supper club, for a demo & tasting where you can taste your way around the Carribean island through its food and rum punch! 

 

Foodies can also look forward to our Street Feast Friday and world culinary delights from local legends In For a Penne, festival favourites Pat’s Woodfired Pizza, seafood and oyster bar Winkle Picker, sustainable local producers Red Banger, South Eastern flavours meet Californian surf food with bagels and bowls from Mojo Rising, vegan feasts with bold flavours from Honest Supper Club and so much more. Craft coffee and freshly made pastel des natas will be served up by Coffee Collectors, while local coffee celebs The Crafty Boys offer up artisan coffees and espresso martinis. 

 

FAMILY: Always family friendly, ALSO24 has an awesome array of activities for all ages with den building, a mini big safari, rocket workshop, raft building, messy play, woodland activities, dedicated under 4s play space The Stanley and so much more. Get your team together and explore the festival site on our scavenger hunt (planetary edition) and don’t forget to bring your dancing shoes for the family-friendly ALSO loves disco.

 

There’s also the opportunity to sign your little ALSO tribe up to join Patches Circus School, Playbox Theatre’s Musical Theatre workshop or our Character Comedy Workshop created exclusively for ALSO by award-winning comedian Alexis Dubus. And for the first time at ALSO24 we have a festival nanny service from leading Mortimer Nannies so you can leave your little ones in capable and experienced hands to enjoy a meal while it’s still hot or hit the late night dance floors in childfree style.

 

TICKETS: Tier 1 Weekend Tickets (priced £137.50 for adults, £60 for children) and Day Tickets (from £20-£65) are available at ALSO 2024 (also-festival.com). 

Under 5s go free and there are concessions for those under 30 as well as family tickets. 

Parking at ALSO is free but there are also a limited number of car passes available which allow vehicle access to the campsite. Campervan passes and Glamping options are also available.

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