Let's Rock is an annual family-friendly, 1980s-oriented music festival held throughout the United Kingdom. Since the first festival in 2009, it has grown every year to become the UK's largest festival for 1980s music, expanding to 14 locations.
Let's Rock the Moor! 2009
The first Let's Rock The Moor! festival was held in Cookham Moor on 4 May 2009 and featured Nick Heyward.[1] It closed the Cookham Festival and was attended by 1,200 guests. Other acts on the bill were Soul’d Out, Temposhark, and The Plants and Burdock. Nick Beggs from Kajagoogoo played bass guitar.[2]
Let's Rock the Moor! 2010
The second Let's Rock The Moor! festival was held on 22 May 2010 and was attended by about 2,000 festival goers.[3] The headlined acts were Howard Jones and Haircut 100.
Haircut 100 reunited for this performance.[4] Other bands on the bill were High School Musical, Girls Alouder, Soul'd Out, The Quotes, The Mean Red Spiders, Burdock, RedRoots and Distant Origins.[5]
£7,600 was raised for local charities along with £6,000 for the Wooden Spoon charity.[6]
Let's Rock the Moor! 2011
The third Let's Rock The Moor! festival was held on 21 May 2011. The capacity of the event increased to 4,500 and was a sell-out.[7] Headlined acts for the festival were Rick Astley, T'Pau, The Real Thing and Curiosity Killed the Cat.
Other bands on the bill were The Mean Red Spiders, The Quotes, Who Are You?, The Stereosonics, Sintax, Izzi Stone and Hustle & Cuss.
Other bands on the bill were The Fortunate, Paul Child Band and The Mean Red Spiders.
The new larger site saw an increase in the amount of entertainment on offer for children which included a circus and indoor cinema, as well as rides such as bumper boats, bubbles of fun, chair-o-planes, banana boat, the big slide and dodgems. Dave Benson Phillips (CBBC/CITV/Disney Channel) performed his Guitar Music Set on the main stage. Pat Sharp introduced the evening headline acts.[11] Up to £20,000 was expected to be raised for the festival's nominated charities, Wooden Spoon[12] and The Link Foundation.[13]
The festival was listed at number 3 in The Telegraph's guide to The Top 100 music festivals of April–September 2012.[14]
Due to the Cookham and Bristol concerts being sell-outs in the previous year, the 2014 year of the Let's Rock festival added two more locations: Leeds and Southampton. The Bristol portion also moved to a larger venue–Ashton Court Estate–and increased to a three-day event.[17]
In Southampton Common on 12 July, the line-up was Billy Ocean, Bananarama, Howard Jones, ABC, Go West, Nick Heyward, the Real Thing, Heaven 17, Altered Images, Brother Beyond, Jaki Graham, and Then Jerico.
The line-up included Big Country, Alexander O'Neal, Then Jerico, Doctor and the Medics, T'Pau, Sonia, Nik Kershaw and ABC before Kim Wilde performed as the headline act.[17]
Let's Rock 2015
The seventh Let's Rock festival introduced concerts in Exeter and London.
Let's Rock the Moor 2017 took place in Marsh Meadow on 20 May.[30] The event sold out of its 10,000 tickets available. The line-up included A Flock of Seagulls, Howard Jones, Living in a Box, From the Jam, The Beat, the Blockheads, Go West, and Sister Sledge[31] before OMD performed as the headline act.[32] A portion of the proceeds went to the Link Foundation, Child Bereavement UK, and Wooden Spoon charities.[30]
Bristol
This event at Ashton Court Estate was a three-day event from 2–4 June. This was the first time a line-up included a day of only 1990s-oriented music.[33] The line-up was as listed:[28][34]
Powderham Castle featured Big Country, Toyah, Jaki Graham, Tony Hadley, Howard Jones, Belinda Carlisle, Jason Donovan, Chesney Hawkes, Imagination, From the Jam, Hazel O'Connor, Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves), and Level 42.[36]
Southampton
This location had the Human League, Living in a Box, Katrina, Tony Hadley, Howard Jones, Hue and Cry, Hazel O'Connor, Imagination, Belinda Carlisle, Nick Heyward, Chesney Hawkes, and Kid Creole and the Coconuts.[28][37]
London
The final date was in Clapham Common on 15 July. Performances were by the Human League, Chesney Hawkes, Boney M, Sister Sledge, Howard Jones, T'Pau, Roland Gift, Matt Bianco, Hazel O'Connor, Katrina, Jaki Graham, Toyah, and Heaven 17.[28][38]
Let's Rock 2018
The tenth Let's Rock festival introduced two new venues:Sunderland and Scotland.
Other performances took place in Cookham, London, Leeds, Southampton, Exeter, Bristol, Shrewsbury, and Norwich. Along with those listed above, performers also included Wendy James, Clare Grogan, Heather Small, Kim Appleby, Tom Bailey, and Adam Ant.
Let's Rock 2019
For the 10th anniversary, the Let's Rock festival introduced four new locations: Liverpool, Wales, Essex, and Belfast.
On 7 September, Hylands Estate will host Status Quo, Jimmy Somerville, Tony Hadley, Go West, Midge Ure, Nick Heyward, Nik Kershaw, Heaven 17, the Real Thing, Betty Boo, China Crisis, Sonia, Brother Beyond, Belouis Some, Jennie "Belle Star" Matthias, Owen Paul, Westworld, Black Lace and Musical Youth.[43]
Belfast
Located at the Boucher Playing Fields on 3 August, the performers held were Billy Ocean, Tony Hadley, Marc Almond, Tom Bailey, Midge Ure, Go West, Nick Heyward, Nik Kershaw, Heaven 17, Cutting Crew, Altered Images, Sonia, Brother Beyond, Owen Paul, Belouis Some, Jennie "Belle Star" Matthias, Owen Paul, Westworld, Black Lace and Musical Youth.[44]
