The Hanwell Hootie is back and could well be the biggest yet. It is also a double celebration. Not only is it the free festival’s 10th anniversary – but it is also a big date for the music industry, too. And we have got 10 pairs of tickets to give away in a competition.
Marshall Amps opened its first shop in Hanwell in 1960 and then, in 1962, launched the revolutionary and now world-famous Marshall Amp for guitars, making this year its 60th anniversary. The shop’s early customers included Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Page and other now-legendary rock guitarists.
The Hanwell Hootie was started in 2012 by local people, with the support of the company, to celebrate the life of Jim Marshall (or ‘The Father of Loud’, as he became known) who died that year. And the first festival was held in April 2013 to mark the year anniversary of Jim’s passing – beginning with the unveiling of a plaque by the art deco Hanwell clock tower to honour him.
The 2013 Hootie showcased 13 bands in three ‘official’ pubs, but such was the enthusiasm for more music that the ‘Hootie Fringe’ was introduced and every bar or pub in Hanwell was involved. Over the past 10 years, the festival has grown and become an intrinsic part of the London music scene. It has showcased hundreds of new, young and emerging bands from across the UK, supported local musicians and also brought back some popular ‘oldies’.
This year, to mark the double anniversary celebrations, the Hootie will run across two days. And more than 25,000 people are expected to attend.
Friday night: The Marshall Hootie
On Friday, 6 May, there will be a ticketed evening of top music – including headliners Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, the high-energy punk rock band that released their fourth album last year. It is being called the Marshall Hootie and tickets to the night can be bought in advance online. Of the £15 cost, a fiver from each ticket will be donated to the charity YouthMusic that supports young musicians.
The competition
We have 10 pairs of tickets to the Friday night to give away. To enter the competition and be in with a chance of getting your hands on one of the pairs, you need to correctly answer the following question and then follow the instructions: In what year was The Hanwell Hootie first held?
Send your entries by email to aroundealing@ealing.gov.uk with the subject line Hootie Competition by the deadline of 11.59pm on Tuesday, 3 May 2022, and please make sure you include your full name. On Wednesday, 4 May, the winners will be selected at random and contacted with details of how to collect their prize – so please keep an eye on your emails if you enter, or you might miss out. Only the winners will be contacted. No monetary alternative is available.
Saturday: The main Hootie
On Saturday, 7 May the traditional day-night Hanwell Hootie will be in full-flow and it will be free for all to attend. More than 100 bands will play across 15 venues and the famous Hootie Busking Bus that will be found in the car park of the Viaduct pub.
You can take a look at the breakdown of where and when all of the bands will be playing using this fantastic graphic the Hootie team put together.
From 1pm until late, there will be music to be found at different times in pubs, St Mellitus Church and in two outdoor locations – Sandy Park and Viaduct Meadow (which features the main stage) opposite Ealing Hospital.
If you want to stick around for the duration, or just feel peckish at any point, a Fabulous Feasting food festival will offer all kinds of cuisines and tasty treats, with the businesses – and food – sourced as locally as possible.
From 8pm the Big Top in the Viaduct Meadow will host a series of top musical comedy presented by the Bearcat Comedy Club. Before then, it will have been the showcase area for young musicians in partnership with The Basement Door Youth Charity – giving them a more prominent platform than ever before.
Keeping plastic to a minimum
To keep it as plastic-free as possible, single-use plastic has been minimised across the festival – from straws to sachets and beyond And all venues will offer you a Hootie reusable cup for £1 when you buy your first drink. This can then be refilled when you get drinks in any Hootie venue.
You can keep it as a momento of the Hootie or put it back on the bar so they can be used again next year. There will be special bins put out for collections of these glasses in both of the outdoor venues, too.
Old favourites, new stars, Canadian bands and community spirit…
June Martin, director of Hanwell Hootie Music Festival CIC, said: “We are proud to be one of the UK Festivals that have launched so many careers in live music We have some amazing new music for you as well as bringing back some of our favourites from the past decade that got a great reception. RSVP Bhangra return to Viaduct Meadow stage to give us a Hootie Bhangra party, while we are thrilled to have much-talked-about acts like Anorak Patch (named by The Times and The Independent as ‘Artists of 2022’) and, of course, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, at the Hootie for the first time, too. You could argue that the Hootie – and west London as a whole – hasn’t had anything like this calibre of artists all in one place before.
“We have linked-up with a Canadian festival organiser and that will see some of their top acts coming over here to be part of the Hootie experience. It is going to be so exciting.
“We will draw in thousands of people and we are pleased about the positive economic impact it will have on local businesses post-COVID, when support is so badly needed. Pubs, restaurants and hotels should all benefit.
“We are a community event and so it is also fantastic to welcome a group of pupils and staff from John Chilton School, a special school funded by Ealing Council for children and teenagers with learning difficulties. We will be giving them a guided tour and helping the staff to encourage an interest in music among the students.
“Meanwhile, once again, we will be facilitating and supporting up to 100 students from the University of West London and Middlesex University. Students have worked with us over many years in roles that are normally unobtainable from sound engineering, venue management, artist liaison to MCs. We also form part of their music management and event management degree modules. Many students have gone on to successfully gain employment using Hanwell Hootie as an example of work experience.
“And, although it is free all day for anyone to attend, we decided to also respond to demand from local people for some priority ticketing to be available too. So, to enable families to come and avoid being put off by queuing with children, there will be a limited ‘priority ticket’ available for £10 between 1pm and 6pm that will allow an adult and a child to skip the queue. After 6pm, there will be no priority tickets operating.
“We can’t wait to see everyone.”
This year’s nominated charity is Dementia Concern.
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