One of West Lothian’s newest music festivals is all set to go ahead this weekend for its second ever full-capacity in-person event.
Live in Livi promises a line-up full of West Lothian talent for its first un-restricted event since the mini-festivals sell out debut in 2019.
The festival at Howden park Centre focuses on up and coming unsigned talent primarily from West Lothian, acting as a showcase for the county’s music scene and a springboard for smaller local acts.
Organisers for the event try to give their limited space on the line-up to acts in the middle of a release cycle - like new band Fawx who released an EP last month, or Ciara Watts who recently released a new track.
One such organiser, Ross Coutts, who founded the event alongside Trash Panda HQs Adrian McNab said: “We launched in 2019 with the hopes of hosting a mini music festival in Livingston - following the lead of events like Party in the Park in Bathgate.
“As a town we’ve got a lot of musical talent like the rest of West Lothian - but not a lot of real venues, so most bands starting out have to play random shows in pubs.
“It’s good to be back at full-capacity, we wanted to keep up the momentum and keep supporting local live music from our first festival in 2019, so we had a fully virtual event in 2020, and a socially distanced event for NHS staff from St Johns in 2021.”
All profits from Live in Livi’s events in 2020 and 2021 went towards supporting Edinburgh-based mental health charity, Tiny Changes.
The headliners for this year’s festival are Whitburn’s own Dead Sea Souls, and Edinburgh based band, Wrest.
Headlining at the first event in 2019 was Luke La Volpe, who has since seen critical and commercial success beyond West Lothian’s music scene.
Ross continued:”We’re really excited for this year’s headliners - Wrest have been doing really well recently, with two sold out shows at the Oran Mor in Glasgow and The Caves in Edinburgh.
“It’s great to have Dead Sea Souls as well - they were active in the scene from 2006-2013 and inspired so many of the West Lothian acts coming through now, people like Lewis Capaldi, Mark Sharp, The Snuts, and Luke La Volpe.”
Two stages will be in use for the day’s festival, the main auditorium for the main stage, and a smaller stage for the Acoustic stage.
Bands playing the main stage include the likes of Livingston band Dictator, and The Katuns - while gracing the Acoustic stage are acts like Mark Sharp of Mark Sharp & the Bicycle Thieves.
Tickets are available to buy online for the festival at the online box office skiddle, or at the door on Saturday.
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