Roots Up!, Soundwaves Festival and Mayflower 400 Four Nations Ceremony all to take place in Plymouth.
Plymouth is gearing up for an unforgettable weekend with three major large-scale events happening in quick succession across the weekend of 10-11 July 2021. Taking place on Plymouth Hoe, Roots Up! and Soundwaves Festival will encompass two key events, a hip hop festival and an evening of live music. Free to attend, it promises entertainment and excitement, and tickets are available to book now.
The following day, the Mayflower 400 Four Nations Ceremony, marking 400 years since the Mayflower ship sailed to America in 1620, will take place. Having been postponed from the original anniversary date of 16 September, due to the pandemic, this major event will now take place on Sunday 11 July on the biggest stage Plymouth Hoe has ever seen.
Roots Up!, a hip hop festival by the award-winning group Street Factory, part of the Mayflower 400 commemorations, will feature a mass community dance challenge and a spectacular hip hop stage performance, literally making a huge song and dance of the Mayflower story, examining its relevance to the way we live today with a programme fuelled by the core values of freedom, humanity, imagination and the future.
The programme includes a thrilling two-hour production showcasing the multiple core elements of hip hop, including breaking or b-boying, MCing, DJ-ing, graffiti, rapping, poetry and spoken word. A series of hip hop theatre pieces will feature the skills of current members of the Street Factory family as well as those who have gone on to reach professional level in the wider world of hip hop, dance and production, plus original music and words with Mayflower themes.
At the heart of the Roots Up! production lies the fundamental question of what we would do if the Mayflower story was happening now, 400 years on.
Following the hip hop extravaganza is Soundwaves Festival, running from 3pm to 10.30pm. The festival has been created thanks to a partnership between Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Culture, the Grassroots Music Alliance Plymouth and the Plymouth Music Collective.
The amazing line-up includes a brilliant range of South West-based bands and singers, with genres ranging from indie pop and funk to hip hop and ska. The night is headlined by ‘From The Specials’, starring Neville Staple who’s famous for his 2-Tone legacy.
The full line-up is:
• Lily Ward (3-3.30pm)
• Eliza Shaddad (4-4.40pm)
• Scribes (5-5.45pm)
• Badcore Horns (6.15-7pm)
• Malavita (7.30-8.15pm)
• From The Specials (9-10.30pm)
Tickets to the one-day event on Plymouth Hoe are free but must be booked prior to entry. Attendees only need one ticket, which includes access to both Roots Up! and Soundwaves Festival. www.visitplymouth.co.uk/plymouthpresents
