CRAIG Charles makes a rare home visit, promising “the funkiest night of music the Liver Birds have ever heard” as one of the highlights of this year's summer beano on the river bank – the Mersey River Festival.
Tall ships, a pile of barges plus the Music on the Waterfront gigs will take place from the evening of Friday 13 to Sunday 15 June, described by Liverpool City Council as “a celebration of all things maritime and music”.
This time activities (all free) will take place across a wider part of the promenade – stretching from the area outside the Echo Arena right up to the end of Princes Parade by the Crowne Plaza.
Many in these parts remember Craig Charles larging it in his stand-up poetry days at the Everyman Bistro. Not forgetting Adams club, the Seel Street dive run by Roger Eagle in the early 1980s, a veritable college of knowledge for anyone keen to learn the arts of soul, RnB and funk at the hands of the master.
Ah, how far the Red Dwarf star has come since then with a regular role in Corrie and, of course, the radio show that leaves Saturday night's kitchen-bound population something to live for when Casualty threatens to do its worst.
But for this gig in Liverpool it is Friday night that is soul music night when BBC Radio 6 Music hosts The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Homecoming show, with little Lister displaying his funky trunk and wrapping up the night with his own DJ set.
In other events, Liverpool has a coup: the Dutch Barge Rally which will see around 12 to 15 barges in convoy on the Leeds Liverpool canal – the largest number of these vessels to be in procession on that stretch of water for decades, say organisers.
Tall ships make a return
This year also marks the 350th anniversary of the Royal Marines, so there will be a series of Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Sea Cadet displays during Saturday and Sunday.
Tall ships making land in Liverpool include Stavros Niarchos, Prolific, Mercedes and Golden Vanity. They will be joined by a brand new Royal Navy Ship – Type 45 Destroyer, Merchant Navy Ship Galatea, narrow boats and nobby boats, many of which will be open to the public.
Music on the Waterfront returns on Friday night (13 June) with a free concert, of which no details are known.
The music, still not yet known, continues during the Saturday and Sunday however, in the afternoon this year, rather than the evening.
What is known is that on Saturday, Smooth Radio will once again provide the turns and on Sunday there will be a big band theme with performances form the Royal Marine Band of Scotland, a Bollywood brass band and a Rat Pack tribute act.
Liverpool City Council’s Director of Culture, Claire McColgan, said: “The River Festival has become a much loved part of the city’s events calendar and it’s no exaggeration to say the 2014 return is massive!”
“And on top of this, to have a series of free concerts taking place means there really is something for everyone. It’s the perfect weekend for all the family.”
