Summer in the City

Wednesday 6 September 2017

The last of the summer evenings are sadly upon us and autumn is heading our way, it’s been an incredibly busy summer at Cambridge Live with events all over the city. We thought we’d take a moment to look back at some of the fantastic things that our great city got up to this Summer and also look ahead to autumn and winter.

2017 marked the 52nd year of Cambridge Folk Festival and the first to welcome a guest curator. Former Bellowhead front man Jon Boden took on the role and curated 6 acts during the festival, his chosen acts included Lau, Kate in the Kettle, Belshazzar’s Feast and Martin Simpson. He passed the curatorship for 2018 onto Grammy award-winner Rhiannon Giddens, a founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, we can’t wait to discover the bands she programmes for next year’s Festival.

2017 headliners included Jake Bugg, Frank Turner and a memorable set by Shirley Collins, returning for the first time since 1965. Tickets for 2018 are due on sale this November so keep your eyes peeled for an announcement date.

Jake Bugg at Cambridge Folk Festival (Photo Credit: John Scott)

Find out more about Cambridge Folk Festival HERE

Our City Events also had a busy few months as they presented Midsummer Fair in June, an artisan market and fun fair took centre stage on the Common and once the traditional throwing of the pennies by the Mayor took place 6 days of one of the oldest traditional fairs went down a storm. The Big Weekend followed in July with ABC, T.REX and Wham!Duran headlining a weekend of fun activities on Parker’s Piece, which culminated with the Mela, an event that celebrates Asian music and dance. Jazz and Brass in the Parks have been running since early June with the final instalment to take place on Sunday 17 September. Looking ahead to autumn the final City Event of this year will be Bonfire Night on Saturday 4 November on Midsummer Common.

The Big Weekend (Photo Credit: Jordan Harris)

See what City Events are coming up HERE

The Guildhalls have also been celebrating one of Cambridge’s most famous sons this summer when it hosted the All The Young Dudes Art Exhibition. This free event saw a collective of artists coming together to exhibit work inspired by Syd Barrett, there were light installations, paintings and sculpture. There was plenty of other art work inspired by icons of Rock and Pop on display too with pieces being inspired by Amy Winehouse, Lemmy and The Beatles. Looking ahead into the autumn months The Guildhalls programme includes Tea Dances, The Earth Events Vegan Fair and Judy’s Vintage Fashion Fair.

Take a look at The Guildhall Events HERE

The Corn Exchange is heading into the coming months with an exciting line up of live music, dance and comedy. The new brochure for autumn 2017 is set to arrive imminently so make sure you head into the Box Office to grab the latest copy or you can find out about all of our events by signing up to our newsletter HERE. One of the most intriguing events we have in the Corn Exchange is Dear Esther, part of our Discover Series, a live orchestra plays a soundtrack to the acclaimed computer game Dear Esther. To find out more about Dear Esther click HERE

Above: Cambridge Corn Exchnage

Take a look at all of the upcoming Corn Exchange events HERE

There's going to be plenty to keep you entertained throuhgout autmn and winter - we hope to see you soon.