Penny Lane Weekender returns with three days of live music

Penny Lane Weekender festival is returning this weekend with three days of live music across four different venues.

Organisers are promising an eclectic line-up featuring bands, acoustic artists, DJs and comedians this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 2 to 4.

Altogether there’ll be more than 70 acts playing gigs at Fogherty’s, Tavern Co, Penny Lane Wine Bar and Dovedale Towers.

Now in its second year, the festival – supported by Culture Liverpool – was the idea of Sean, singer and frontman with post punk band Pleasure Island.

He wanted to create something in the local area and originally intended Penny Lane Weekender to be a single day event in one pub with about 16 bands.

Sean said:

“But a lot of people came onboard to help so it actually grew to become three days and it’s been snowballing ever since,”

“In a short time we’ve got a lot further than we thought we would so now we’ll be upstairs The Dovey with electro, dance and acoustic artists, upstairs at the Tavern, and we’ll have bands in the back room at Fogherty’s and comedy in the front room on Sunday.

“We’ve also got Penny Lane Wine Bar with acoustic acts on from 5-10pm on Saturday and Sunday.”

Sean says he wanted a festival that would appeal to a mix of ages and fans of various genres, and to have live music in spaces people wouldn’t necessarily expect.

“We’re trying to take over places that aren’t normally venues like upstairs at the Tavern. That’s going to be fun because they’re known for their breakfasts so we’re about to put on something totally different.

“All the venues are a short walk from each other, they’re mostly on Penny Lane or just off and it’s over a couple of days so it feels like a proper festival.”

Penny Lane Weekender will have something for all music tastes covering electronic, rock, punk, post-punk, and garage rock and more.

The most recent wave of artists to be announced included Sheffield-based Acid Klaus and Liverpool garage rock band YOBS. Sean’s own band Pleasure Island will be kicking off the festival at the opening party at Fogherty’s on Friday so he’s free to get on with organising for the rest of the weekend.

He hopes this second Penny Lane Weekender will create a buzz for something even bigger.

“Gigs in town are great but there are lots of spaces here where we can have live music and it feels like something we should have. If you go to Graceland or Beale Street or Nashville, they all have music on all the time whereas Penny Lane doesn’t so it just seems like a sensible idea.”