Last updated at 12:06, Thursday, 22 March 2012

Summer is finally on its way – it’s official! No, I’m not talking about the clocks going forward this weekend so we’ll all wake up an hour earlier than we thought and have even less excuse not to do the gardening/clean gutters/mend bikes/put up shelves/wash the car...

Adam Ant

It’s the fact that Solfest has announced the first headliners on its line-up, for this August.

It’s the usual pic ‘n’ mix approach, with acts covering a wide-range of musical tastes, which is how any decent festival should be organised.

Perhaps I’m a bit biased, but the roster this year looks better than ever, with the pomp and majesty of Adam Ant, the brilliance of Billy Bragg, the unstoppable dance force of Transglobal Underground, coolly clever singer songwriter KT Tunstall and the singalong hits of Big Country and the Beautiful South follow-up band, The South.

The music scene in Cumbria is definitely on the up.

As I wrote last week, it’s great to see big acts like JLS turning up on our doorstep, but it is more important for the region and the city for music lovers to get behind the Carlisle Music City (CMC) festival this June – and to support the many festivals that are mushrooming across the county.

It’s up to us to support them, but organisers have to make it easy for us – so why Solfest have you announced the bands, but not started ticket sales?

First published at 11:28, Thursday, 22 March 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk