Lionel Richie, Westlife and Madness to headline first York Festival

The three-day festival will be held at York Sports Club between Friday June 19 and Sunday June 21, with Richie, a four-time Grammy award winner, the Sunday night headliner.

Opening night headliners Madness, who have chalked up no fewer than 15 UK Top 10 singles and seven Top 10 albums, will be joined by indie chart-toppers Lightning Seeds, Craig Charles with his Funk and Soul Club DJ set together with Leeds indie rockers Apollo Junction and York’s Violet Contours.

Westlife headline on the Saturday night as part of their UK summer tour.

The UK’s top selling album group of the 21st century will perform classic hits such as Swear It Again, Flying Without Wings and You Raise Me Up together with new songs from their new album Spectrum.

Joining Westlife on the night will be superstar pop group All Saints, Brit singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis Bextor, indie rock band Scouting for Girls and Take That’s Howard Donald.

Director Peter Taylor said: “To have Lionel Richie, Westlife and Madness as headliners – alongside many other brilliant chart-topping artists – is a real coup.

“We feel this is the perfect line-up for the first year of what we hope will become a major annual event in this wonderful and historic city.”

Promoters Cuffe and Taylor, who brought Britney Spears’ headline show to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in 2018, are behind the line-up.

Three-day passes are on sale now from www.york-festival.com. Tickets for each night go on sale on Thursday.