Excitement builds as Tribfest returns after a year away

The good news is that the world’s biggest tribute act festival, which takes place over a long weekend of August 19-22 at Sledmere Hall, East Yorkshire will go ahead this year.

Festival organiser Ed Faulkner of Ed Entertainments has pulled out all the stops to ensure that the thousands of fans who rely on their annual Tribfest fix will not be disappointed for a second year.

And ticket sales are at record levels.

However, nothing is set in stone and Ed and all other festival organisers will be keeping their fingers crossed that there will be no further extension to the proposed lifting of lockdown restrictions on July 19.

He said: “Even if that is the case and lockdown isn’t fully lifted, we have been in contact with a couple of companies who can give us pre-event testing and there are various other systems which we can put in place to keep everyone safe.”

There have been reports that other festivals have been struggling to source equipment such as toilets, generators, fencing and marquees.

Ed said: ““Many of the mobile testing and vaccination sites have been utilising toilets, barriers and tents and we were worried we might struggle to get hold of them this year.

“However, we are now in our 14th year and many of our suppliers are loyal to us and we are confident that we have got hold of everything we need.”

Tribfest began in 2007 when a few hundred music lovers gathered in a rain-sodden field, now 14 years later, almost 200 acts will play in front of 5,000 people over four days and it is now very much entrenched in the festival calendar.

A cracking lineup has been put together for this year with plenty of regulars interspersed with new acts that Ed and his team have been signing up over the past two years.

Headlining the main stage are Oasis Maybe on Thursday, Meet Loaf on Friday, Kopycat Killers on Saturday and Tribfest favourites The Bohemians will be rounding off proceedings on Sunday.

All musical tastes are catered for. Over the weekend you can hear tributes to Neil Diamond, Bon Jovi, Abba, UB40, Adele, Frankie Valley and Dolly Parton among many others.

Sadly Blondie tribute Heart of Glass, a Tribfest regular for the past ten years, won’t be there. In 2019 Denise Danielle announced she was hanging up her elbow-length yellow gloves and her PVC cape and taking a break.

Many Tribfesters have made the pilgrimage each year and report it’s one of the safest, friendliest festivals on the circuit. The arena and campsites are spotlessly clean, there are helpful security staff and incredibly clean toilets that are emptied numerous times a day.

And, most importantly beer and food are cheap and there’s plenty to choose from with vegans and vegetarians catered for.

There are a few tickets still available, visit tibfest.co.uk

The last word from Ed: “If, for whatever reason, we are unable to go ahead with the festival due to COVID-19 restrictions then ticket-holders can choose a rollover to the next festival or a full refund.”

Family fun with fancy dress the order of the day

Thousands enjoy the music as the evening rounds of to a close

Crowds enjoying the music at Tribfest