THIS WEEKEND, the rain is set to break (at least metaphorically) as Here Comes The Sun returns to one of Reading’s grassroots arts venues.
The Rising Sun will play host to a day of music, arts, and spoken performances, including up and coming artists from in and around Reading.
The festival sees acts spread across three stages, with the Sun Stage kicking off with Jackie Doe & The Uncertainty of Passion, folk outfit WolfNote, and Grae J Wall & Los Chicos Muertos.
Puma Theory, HööF, synth-pop stalwarts No Feathers, and Jopy will each take to the stage before headliners Corvid close the Sun line-up.
The Tree Stage will kick off with Colours & Fires, followed Jack & The Beanstalk, and sketches from the Zap! comedy troupe.
Steve Daniels will follow, with Reading’s own Empress of The Blue, Ma Bessie and Her Pig Foot Band, set to close the stage with their headline performance.
The Sky Stage sees Reading’s Dreading Slam Collective bring spoken word performance poetry from the town’s vibrant poetry scene.
JAEBEE follows ahead of the Artists Link-up Showcase, which brings fresh talent from those who attend the venue’s weekly music socials for rappers, singers, producers, DJs, dancers, and musicians.
The Scarlet Vixens will close out the stage with a number of assured cabaret and burlesque performances from Mojo Jones, Miss Sugar Rush, and Dutch-S.
Damien A Passmore, Sophie Sheehan, and Mojo Jones will compere.
The event is The Rising Sun Arts Centre’s key fundraising event, raising vital money to keep its performance spaces and outreach programmes running.
Among those playing will be No Feathers, whose guitarist, Jamie Larbalestier, said: “We’ve played the festival in various iterations before, and it’s a great local festival run by some lovely people.
“So we were thrilled when they asked us to play this year– last time we played the festival as No Feathers was 2019, but I played with my solo project last year and we’ve attended the festival in the years in between.
“The vibe is always great– the community aspect of The Rising Sun is really evident and you never know what you’re going to find there.”
He says also: “We cut our teeth in Reading, so it’s always a bit of a homecoming for us.
“We’ve seen a lot of venues come and go in our time, so it’s really important to support communities like the one that the team at the Rising Sun has grown.”
As for who they’re excited to share the bill with: “We’re looking forward to seeing Corvid again – we saw them at last year’s Readipop and they were great.
“Jopy are always amazing, so we’ll definitely be there for their set.
“We’ve heard great things from HööF, so we’re looking forward to catching them, too.”
Here Comes the Sun Festival takes place at the Rising Sun Arts Centre, Silver Street, from 2pm-11pm on Saturday, August 12.
Full details about the festival and access to tickets are available via: risingsunartscentre.org/hcts23
