Festival’s bid to showcase best of acoustic talent

Aug 14 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Merseyside Woman of the Year 2008 - Lizzie Nunnery _100

ABOVE the Beaten Track is a weekend of live acoustic music, DJs and visual arts presented by city collective Mellowtone.

Billed as an antidote to the Mathew Street Festival, the event hopes to bring together different styles of music from across the city.

It takes place over this Saturday and Sunday at the View Two gallery, on Mathew Street, from 2pm until late.

Saturday night will feature music from Lizzie Nunnery, Neil Campbell, Ragz, Ernie’s Rhythm Section, Familiar Looking Strangers, and more besides.

The following night, acts including Kevin Critchley, Johnny Sands, Cap of Tea, Kaya and Rachael and the Red Socks take to the stage.

Mellowtone resident DJs will keep the music playing in between.

There will also be a chill out calm zone, a Saturday night ho-down and visual arts displays. The weekend also incorporates the second birthday of art and culture group Culturepool.

David McTague, of Mellowtone, said: “The Mathew Street Festival always focuses on a certain type of music, so we wanted to use the opportunity to get lots of different styles of acoustic and electronic stuff together.

“There will be about 30 live acts, and one of the points of it is to encourage cross-pollination between all the scene going on and get people together.

“View Two is the spiritual home of Mellowtone, and we thought we wanted to do something a bit different, and getting all those people together in that building is going to make a really nice atmosphere.”

Entry is £5 for a weekend pass, £4 for a day pass, and £3 concessions.