Fantastic summer of music for Shrewsbury

In what promises to be a summer of entertainment, lovers of all things music will be spoilt for choice with a line up of names whose hits are timeless.

From American superstars, to some of the greatest names in Folk via 80s hitmakers, there will be a definite buzz in Shrewsbury this summer.

Lionel Richie will be saying Hello when he takes to the stage at Shrewsbury Town Football Club in June in what is expected to be a sell out gig.

Following on from the huge successes of gigs by Elton John and Rod Stewart, bosses at the football club have negotiated with promoters to bring the American superstar, whose hits include All Night Long, Say You, Say Me, Three Times a Lady and Dancing on the Ceiling to the ground as part of his UK tour which takes in towns including Northampton, Perth, London, Lincoln, Leigh, Carlisle, Scarborough, Chesterfield and Hove.

Shrewsbury Town CEO Brian Caldwell is looking forward to seeing Lionel live at the Montgomery Waters Meadow: "Events like this help to put not only Shrewsbury Town on the map but also Shrewsbury and prove to be a major boost for the local economy. After the success of previous concerts at the stadium with Elton John and of course last year with Rod Stewart, we look forward to another successful show with Lionel Richie.

"Lionel is one of the biggest selling artists of all time and I am sure he will be a popular with the people of Shropshire who are in for a magical night listening to all the hits. It is good to be working with Marshall Arts again who we worked with previously on the successful Elton John concert."

Tickets for Lionel's concert, which is on June 13, go on sale on Friday morning at 10am. Tickets are available to purchase from ticketmaster.com, AXS.com, gigantic.com and alttickets.com.

Meanwhile, thousands of fans of the 80s will be in seventh heaven at the Let's Rock concert being staged in the Quarry in July.

The line up includes household names such as Kim Wilde, UB40 and Jason Donavon as well as Go West, Toyah and Imagination and follows on from the success of last year's event which was attended by thousands of fans of retro music.

Tickets are available from http://www.letsrockshrewsbury.com/tickets/

Headlining the Shrewsbury Folk Festival is Gretchen Peters, who, in 2015, was named one of the greatest 60 female singer-songwriters of all time.

She is just one of the dozens of bands including Show of Hands, Steeleye Span, Skerryvore and The Fitzgeralds who will be performing at the festival village at the West Mid Showground over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

And folk legend Richard Thompson is set to return to the festival after organisers announced a rare appearance by the musician with his Electric Trio.

The former Fairport Convention musician, named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, will headline the festival’s Bellstone stage on the Saturday.

More than half of adult weekend tickets have already been sold with over six months to go to the event that attracts around 7,000 people to the West Mid Showground.

Director Sandra Surtees said: “We are delighted to have secured this rare appearance by the Richard Thompson Electric Trio for Shrewsbury. Richard is a folk legend but he doesn’t often perform in this format so it’ll be a real treat for our audience.”

Tickets for the festival are available from http://sff.gigantic.com/shrewsbury-folk-festival-west-midlands-showground-2018-08-24-09-00

Shrewsbury Flower Show also promises to be an event not to be missed. Set to appear at the show, which is now in its 131st year, is Masterchef presenter and celebrity chef John Torode who entertained the crowds last year. So impressed was he with the event that he promised to return and will be in the Food Hall over both days on August 11 and 12. Other acts are yet to be confirmed by show organisers.