INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF COUNTRY MUSIC RETURNS TO LONDON
REBA McENTIRE
RICKY SKAGGS, LONESTAR,
LITTLE BIG TOWN & MANY MORE...
UPDATE 3 DEC , 2011 - Little Big Town are NO longer appearing at Wembley they are replaced by Asleep at The Wheel and Charley Pride fill in!
WEMBLEY ARENA, SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26th 2012
Tickets on sale Monday October 10th 2011
Nashville,TN (October 6, 2011) -After a 20-year break, the pioneering and much loved International Festival of Country Music returns to Wembley Arena on Sunday, February 26th, 2012. The stellar line-up features the very best in country, roots and bluegrass music.
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| Headliner The gorgeous Reba McEntire |
Reba will be joined by fourteen-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs, a country trailblazer who struck his first chords on a mandolin over 52 years ago. Ricky, who has collaborated with numerous artists including Bruce Hornsby, Emmylou Harris and Jack White, will be bringing his own inimitable take on bluegrass and roots music to the festival.
Feted country music band Lonestar, who first made their debut on the Billboard country music charts in 1995, are also featured on the bill. Lonestar have gained international respect and acclaim with ten number one singles on the
Cautionary Note: Added to this Press Release - The lead singer Richie McDonald (The Voice Of Lonestar) left the band in 2007 and apparently took with him the rights to play all the material ("No News", "Amazed" etc). He has been the voice behind a total of twenty-seven singles on the country charts, with nine of those singles reaching Number One and performs. "AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH RICHIE MCDONALD" features all of these dynamic numbers ones and more.
LONESTAR has a new singer Cody Collins but perhaps don't expect them to sing all the well known songs. ( See setlist from Sept 2010 )
Joining the headliners will be critically acclaimed quartet Little Big Town, who are also making their international debut at this event. As a band renowned for breaking new musical ground, Little Big Town have sold over 1.5 million records and garnered four Grammy nominations over the past twelve years. **** Little Big Town are NO longer appearing at Wembley **** (see Above)
In addition to the four headliners, the festival will host an impressive array of supporting acts including; country and rockabilly legend, Narvel Felts, the "King of Cajun" Jo-El Sonnier and Texas-born George Ducas. The full line-up also features George Hamilton IV, Will Banister, Raymond Froggatt and John McNicholl, with more acts to be announced shortly.
International Festival of Country Music founder and CEO of MM Events Ltd., Mervyn Conn said: "I'm bringing the International Festival of Country Music back after over twenty years due to popular demand. The regard for Country Music has grown significantly in the UK since the first year I promoted this event and I believe that now is the time to reintroduce this once hugely popular event to converted fans of country music and to a new and emerging group of country music lovers. I have also brought back Trisha Walker-(Cunningham) who worked with me for 10 years in the early days and is my Company President in the USA
Reba McEntire comments; "My band, crew and I are really looking forward to going back to Europe to play our music. The last time we performed there was in 1999! We have been very busy for the last 10 years doing the REBA TV show and concerts in North America . Now, we are so excited to be able to travel abroad and do both our new and old songs for our European audience, who has always been so good to us."
After the Wembley date, the festival will travel to Belfast , Zurich and Germany
*** Wembley Tickets will go on sale from Monday October 10th, 2011 ***
Tickets can be purchased via;
General Box Office: 0844 815 0815
Accessible seating: 020 8782 5629
Online: http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/International-Festival-of-Country-Music-tickets/artist/1645170
*** Please Note the Festival takes place on the same day as the Carling Cup Final at nearby Wembley Stadium (80,000 fans!) expect severe crowd and traffic conjestion when planning your trip ***
General Box Office: 0844 815 0815
Accessible seating: 020 8782 5629
Online: http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/International-Festival-of-Country-Music-tickets/artist/1645170
*** Please Note the Festival takes place on the same day as the Carling Cup Final at nearby Wembley Stadium (80,000 fans!) expect severe crowd and traffic conjestion when planning your trip ***
Additional dates and venues:
Belfast : Odyssey Arena - 29/02/12
Zurich : Hallenstadion - 02/03/12
Mannheim
Festival founder, Mervyn Conn is available for interviews
-END-
Notes to Editors
Full WEMBLEY Line-Up
Reba McEntire
Ricky Skaggs
Little Big Town
Little Big Town
Lonestar
Narvel Felts
Jo-El Sonnier - (Youtube)
Narvel Felts
Jo-El Sonnier - (Youtube)
George Ducas
George Hamilton IV
Will Banister
Raymond Froggatt
John McNicholl
George Hamilton IV
Will Banister
Raymond Froggatt
John McNicholl
# # #
MEDIA CONTACTS:
FOR TRISHA WALKER-CUNNINGHAM
Martha E. Moore
so much MOORE
615.746.3994
FOR THE FESTIVAL AND MM EVENTS LTD., U.K.
Laura McTurk
Taylor Herring PR
011 44(0)208 206 5151
UPDATES 20 Oct 2011
David Allan (Country Music People and Former BBC Radio 2 Country Club presenter) and country artist Steve Cherelle from BBC Radio Essex are to compere The Wembley Country Festival 2012 and BBC Radio Ulster’s Country aficionado, DJ Hugo Duncan will compere the Belfast festival
The Booking fees online - £98 plus £9.80 booking fee (£107.80), £78 plus £7.95 fee (£85.95), and £53 plus £7 fee (£60) and then a £2.75 for postage on top. Gulp !
In Mervyn Conn's interview with Lee Williams from CMR Nashville (14 Oct 2011)
Regarding Wembley 2012 Mervyn Conn said in interview
1) Doors open at 12:30 whereby the press/media will get access to the artists the music STARTS at 3pm2) Other names could be added
3) Headliners to play at least 45mins - 1 hour , Reba McEntire's set will be 70mins long4) Conn says he wants to give other "homegrown" acts "a fair crack of the whip" concerning set time
5) The reason it's an International festival with 4 European dates is that the American acts would not come over to do just ONE show
6) Its just one Wembley day this year because of logistics of the setting up the other 3 spin off dates
7) Conn has provisionally booked Wembley for a 2 DAY event in Easter 2013 (March 30 - 31st , 2013)
3) Headliners to play at least 45mins - 1 hour , Reba McEntire's set will be 70mins long4) Conn says he wants to give other "homegrown" acts "a fair crack of the whip" concerning set time
5) The reason it's an International festival with 4 European dates is that the American acts would not come over to do just ONE show
6) Its just one Wembley day this year because of logistics of the setting up the other 3 spin off dates
7) Conn has provisionally booked Wembley for a 2 DAY event in Easter 2013 (March 30 - 31st , 2013)
