Festival favourites, Blackbeard’s Tea Party, infamous for their frenetic fiddle tunes and thumping backline, celebrate their tenth birthday as a band in 2019 with a lengthy autumn-winter ‘Ten Yaar Anniversary’ tour across England and Wales and a special re-release of their best-known single, ‘Chicken On A Raft’.
Following a packed summer schedule of festivals, including Gate To Southwell, Sidmouth Folk Week, Moira Furnace Festival, Folk East and Whitby Folk Week, the tour will begin at Telford’s Warehouse in Chester, taking in Leicester, Manchester, Hull, Oxford and Southampton, amongst others, before finishing at the John Peel Centre in Suffolk on 14 December. Fans will be able to buy limited edition tenth anniversary merchandise at the shows. Charismatic front man and rabble rouser, Stuart Giddens, says: ‘It’s not every day your band makes it to ten years. We’re so pleased that we’re still here, playing gigs and festivals, getting people dancing. It’s a difficult business, especially for a band that plays the kind of music we do, so we’re delighted at the generosity and support of our fans.’
Over the decade, Blackbeard’s Tea Party have become known for their energetic performances, their innovative fusion of folk and rock – and their unusual giveaways, such as their branded teabags at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival. ‘We’ve had some brilliant moments in the band over the last ten years. At Cropredy in 2014, we were voted “best band” and the queue for our merch had to be moved because it was too long! In fact, 2014 was a particularly good year, as that was the year we were invited to perform at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo – ‘an incredible experience!’ Stuart recalls. The band has also been a popular artist on the BBC Radio Two Folk Show, under both Mark Radcliffe and previous presenter, Mike Harding. Blackbeard’s Tea Party have also become synonymous with Sidmouth Folk Week’s Bulverton Marquee and, in 2019, will be taking it over for a concert-ceilidh double bill.
Had to be done ….Aren’t they fun !!?
Confirmed Tour dates are as follows:
Fri 20 Sept – Telford’s Warehouse, Chester telfordswarehousechester.com
Sat 21 Sept Penallt Folk Festival, The Inn at Penallt, Monmouthshire theinnatpenallt.co.uk
Fri 27 Sept Hackness Music Live, Hackness, near Scarborough facebook.com/HacknessMusicLive
Sat 12 Oct The Cookie, Leicester thecookieleicester.co.uk
Sat 19 Oct Manchester Folk Festival manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk/blackbeards-tea-party
Fri 25 Oct Cafe INDIEpendent, Scunthorpe cafeindie.org.uk
Wed 30 Oct Red Lion Folk Club, Birmingham redlionfolkclub.com
Thurs 31 Oct The Crescent, York – Hallowe’en Show thecrescentyork.com (bet that’s going to be fun !!)
Fri 1 Nov Otley Courthouse Arts Centre, Otley, West Yorkshire otleycourthouse.org.uk
Fri 8 Nov The Adelphi, Hull theadelphi.com
Sat 9 Nov The Old Fire Station, Carlisle oldfirestation.carlisle.city
Fri 15 Nov The Isis Farmhouse, Oxford theisisfarmhouse.co.uk
Sat 16 Nov The Globe at Hay, Hay-on-Wye globeathay.org
Sun 17 Nov The 1865, Southampton the1865.com
Sat 7 Dec The Crescent, York – Christmas Show thecrescentyork.com
Thurs 12 Dec The Lantern, Halifax thelanternhalifax.co.uk
Fri 13 Dec National Forest Folk Club, Moira, Leicestershire nationalforestfolk.com
Sat 14 Dec John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, Suffolk johnpeelcentre.com
For more information on anything ‘Yaar’ visit http://blackbeardsteaparty.com
