Lightning Seeds, Ella Henderson and Heather Small to headline Preston Live 2025

L-R: Ian Brodie of Lightning Seeds, Chris McCarthy, Scott McCarthy

Lightning Seeds, Ella Henderson and Heather Small will headline each of the three nights of Preston Live 2025.

The family-friendly music festival will take place at The Show Field, Wharles, on Friday 25, Saturday 26, and Sunday 27 July.

The first Preston Live took place at Preston Cricket Club in 2022, before the festival moved to Moor Park for 2023. A decision was taken to skip a 2024 outing due to the arrival of Radio 2 in the Park.

Now the festival is in its third year, and it promises to be bigger than ever thanks to the organisers and brothers Scott McCarthy and Chris McCarthy securing private investment.

Speaking to Blog Preston, Scott said: “Chris and I wanted to set up in business together and decided to do a festival. We figured Preston needed a big event for families.

“The first festival attracted about 750 people each day, with tribute acts and local bands on the bill. The next year the event tripled in size and we had 2,000 attendees in one day to see 90s acts including Abs from 5ive, Lola, and Oceanic.

“We were definitely happy with the progress we made. We learnt a lot and made more contacts across those two years.”

After looking at what has worked well and where the festival could expand, Scott and Chris decided to incorporate camping for 2025 – hence the move to The Show Field, which is located just off the M55.

“Camping is niche around here for families for a full weekend,” said Scott. “There will be pitches for caravans, camper vans and tents, and we’ll have full facilities with showers, toilets, food, etc.

“We’re targeting families, with a lot of children’s entertainment, and are working with schools and colleges to encourage local people to come along.”

As well as a dance stage featuring DJ sets, the lineup features a host of artists covering pop, indie, RnB and soul:

Friday

Lightning Seeds
The Hoosiers
Dodgy
The Sherlocks
Casino
Afflecks Palace

Saturday

Ella Henderson
Aston Merrygold
Tinchy Stryder
The Clause
Toploader
The Cases
Blazin Squad
Jamie Grey

Sunday

Heather Small
Lemar
Honeyz
Shola Ama
Kevin Davy White
Ben (Phats & Small)

Scott and Chris are keen to spread the word about the festival to ensure a decent sized crowd so they can reinvest in growing the festival again next year.

“We want Preston to have another Radio 2 style event, but annually. It’d be great to build something big that takes place at the same time every year. Our dream is for Preston Live to be like Kendal Calling, or a mini Glastonbury.”

For more information, visit the Preston Live website.

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