I think we can safely say that with over 90,000 in attendance, it trumped last year exponentially. We can’t wait to see what next year brings, and we hope each and every one of you who attended and supported the 2010 event will be back next summer.

We also have a very important survey going live shortly which asks various questions on this years event, and how it can be made even better with your all-important feedback, so please, keep an eye out for that and we will be offering £100 in HMV vouchers for your time.

Radin’s debut album, 2006’s ‘We Were Here’ drew critical acclaim. His favourite song is “You Got Growin’ Up To Do”. Radin has also had a number of well known musicians on his studio recordings, including Ryan Adams who played guitar on the song “Lovely Tonight”.

As of late Radin has achieved massive success in the UK and Europe, and has been there promoting his top 10 record “Simple Times” and his single “I’d Rather Be With You” which reached #2 on the charts. He has recently concluded a sold-out tour and will be back in the UK playing a number of festivals including Godiva, Glastonbury, Hard Rock Calling and Oxegen (Ireland), this summer. After the success of his first single, Radin has recently released the 2nd single off the UK release of Simple Times, “Brand New Day.”

CV One, The Belgrade Theatre and representatives from the local music community joined forces to create a new showcase event on Friday 2nd July. The Godiva Fringe will focus entirely on promoting local acts and artists within the CV post code area and will ultimately act as a platform to showcase the talents of homegrown acts to a wider audience.

Held at the City’s prestigious Belgrade Theatre, 15 Coventry and Warwickshire based acts will appear across two stages, The Godiva Fringe Main Stage in the B2 Arena featuring a selection of the finest bands the city currently has to offer and The Godiva Fringe Acoustic stage situated in the Belgrade Plaza featuring top acoustic acts from the local area.

The Godiva Fringe is a non profit making event with free admission to the general public, keeping it inline with the core ethics of the main Godiva Festival in the War Memorial Park, providing a full programme of entertainment free of charge.

Mick McLaughlin, Head of Marketing and Communications for CV One Ltd commented:

“We are absolutely thrilled to be able to extend this year’s Godiva Festival into the city centre; local music is and always will be at the heart of the festival and by introducing this fringe event we are able to give more local acts the chance to become part of this fantastic event. Our city is blessed by an abundance of musical talent spanning many different and diverse genres; the Godiva Fringe is the perfect way for these artists to showcase their talents to a wider audience.”

Mark Rigby, Chair of the Godiva Fringe Committee added:

“We are delighted to have been able to collaborate with CV One to produce the Fringe event and are really looking forward to the lineup. We have programmed a diverse selection of genres to suit a variety of musical tastes. All of us on the Fringe Committee would like to extend our gratitude to CV One for taking our comments on board and helping us to facilitate what will hopefully become a regular fixture for the Godiva Festival.”

Artists performing Godiva Fringe 2010 include: 91db / The Ripps / Charles Dexter Ward and The Imagineers / Reubens Cane / The Bellows/Wes Finch (Dirty Band) / Shockparade / The Kirkland Turn / Si Hayden / Simon Davies / Jack Blackman / Kristy Gallacher / Matt Lakey and the Whatever / Mothers Jam.

The Fringe event will take place from 5pm – 1am on Friday the 2nd of July, visit the Fringe page for full details

In first place was Idle Playthings, scooping the top spot with a momentous amount of votes from judges, online and public attendees. In second was Tempting Rosie, followed by OST in third and Black Fangs in fourth.

With such diverse, individual and talented acts taking part in this years competition, the Saturday night is now complete. The four bands will now kick start the nights live entertainment at War Memorial Park Coventry, alongside headliners ASH, Badly Drawn Boy and Senser to name but a few.

Godiva Unsigned Act 1  ………………….
Godiva Unsigned Act 2 ………………….
Godiva Unsigned Act 3 ………………….
Godiva Unsigned Act 4 ………………….

The Primitives
One of this city’s success stories along with The Specials and The Enemy, The Primitives are coming back home to entertain the people of Coventry. Morrissey of The Smiths fame quoted them in his top 5 bands so come and find out why.

Senser
For the last few months Senser bunkered down with their guitars, thrown together new riffs for a new album. The results of these sessions will be showcased at full blast at this year’s Godiva Festival.

Morning Parade
Childhood friends Steve Sparrow, Chad Thomas, Phil Titus, Ben Giddings and Andy Hayes craft dramatic, heart-on-the-sleeve anthems. Fusing electronics with guitar and keys with self-assured emotion, Morning Parade are making epic songs to soundtrack first kisses and last goodbyes.

Detroit Social Club
6 musical enthusiasts in one band can only mean one thing; exceptional music. Only formed in 2007, DSC haven’t had long to establish themselves, but with a spot on the main stage on Saturday, you can be sure of knowing who they are when the sounds start blasting.

TBA

ASH
With 4 out of their 6 albums going platinum ASH are what you would consider to be massive. The Northern Irish alternative rock band have truly mastered their trade since 1992 and will be playing every major festival this year from Glastonbury to Benicassim. They will headline Godiva’s main stage in what promises to be a monumental occasion for the band, the fans and the festival.

The Rules:

Each heat will see two bands go through the final on Sunday 6th June at the Kasbah in Coventry. One band will be selected by a panel of judges, the other by audience vote.

In total 8 bands will perform at the final with 4 going on to perform at the festival.

You can only vote for your favourite band if you turn up before the first band plays. Doors open at 1.00pm and the first band is on at 1.30pm. The band order will be decided on the day via a ballot.

Good luck to all bands involved!

Bands performing:

Circus Town, City Hero, OST, Tempting Rosie, The Amateurs

Venue: The Flapper in Birmingham (http://www.theflapper.co.uk/) B1 2NU

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&gl=uk&hl=en&g=Kingston+Row%2C+Birmingham%2C+West+Midlands+B1+2NU&q=flapper+birmingham&btnG=Search+Maps

1pm-6pm - Doors open to the public at 1pm and the first band goes on stage at 1.30pm.

Free entry

The second heat for the Godiva Unsigned competition took place on Sunday,  and we are extremely pleased to say that both the Black Fangs and Idle Playthings accumulated the most votes and inspired the judges on the day.

www.myspace.com/thisisblackfang

www.myspace.com/idleplaythings

Many thanks for everyone who turned up to show their support, and we look forward to round 3, when another two bands will make it through to the live final.

Friday the 2nd of July will kick things off for the Midlands biggest and best free family festival, the Godiva Festival. After last year’s out and out success of a themed retro evening  organisers, CV One ltd are pleased to team up with Heart 100.7 to welcome a variety of 80s legends to grace the main stage for all of those who are in the mood to relive the hedonistic days of the 1980s. Once again Coventry’s War Memorial Park will be awash with a sea of neon legwarmers, deeley boppers and Ra-Ra skirts as there will be spot prizes for the best dressed.

The Friday night lineup, which has been produced in association with Heart includes ‘Hazel O’Connor’, ‘Kid Creole and the Coconuts, ‘ABC’ and ‘The Christians’ promises to get the crowds up dancing and singing along to some spectacular retro anthems. As well as the impressive live sets there will also be some disco classics pumped out throughout the evening.

Hazel O’Connor is a local Coventry lass whose sensational career has spanned decades, arguably her most popular tracks include “Breaking Glass” and “Will You”. Hazel will be kicking off the proceedings on Friday at 6:30pm. Next on the bill is larger than life, Latin inspired legend, Kid Creole and the Coconuts whose impressive hits include “Annie I’m not your Daddy”, “Stool Pigeon” and “I’m a Wonderful Thing Baby”. ABC will bring some new romanticism to the stage with classics such as “Poison Arrow”, “The Look of Love” and “All of My Heart” before welcoming the headline act The Christians to the stage.

Finding fame with anthems such as “Ideal World”, “Harvest for the World” and “Words”. The Liverpool band have had a lively career and are sure to ignite nostalgia and get the crowds singing along.

Mick McLaughlin, Head of Marketing and Communications Manager at CV One ltd said:

“This promises to be one the biggest Friday nights at Godiva yet, and we are really looking forward to the themed evening after the success and reception last year. We have some fantastic live acts booked which dominated the charts back in the day across a huge range of musical styles and genres to suit all tastes. We are in for an awesome evening of live entertainment.”

Vikki Webb, Brand Manager for Heart added:

“Heart are thrilled to be involved with the main stage for Friday night and we can’t wait for the performances. The Godiva Festival is certainly a highlight in the regional calendar with such a diverse range of family entertainment there really is something for everyone.”

The Godiva Festival is produced by CV One Ltd and is supported financially and in kind by Coventry City Council, Coventry University, Coventry Telegraph and Times Series, Heart 100.7, Mercia, Touch , BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, Harry Shaw Business Computers, Feel Alive, City College, Wilsons Amusements and Imagineer Productions.

I was hoping for a full reveal before close of play today, so fingers crossed that something will appear before the weekend.

It’s that time again, as the weekend fast approaches after what has been an extremely busy week in the world of politics, the Godiva Unsigned competition reaches stage 2 of the live heats, as the competition moves to Birmingham for the battle of the bands. Five bands are in the running for the second coveted spot for the Godiva Festival main stage; At The Zoo, Black Fangs, Martyr De Mona, Idle Playthings and The Arcadian Kicks.

It’s vitally important to make sure you turn up to the venue before the bands kick off to give them your full support! With a fantastic mix of styles and sounds, we wish all of our entrants every luck for this Sunday’s event at the Flapper and Firkin in Birmingham.

To read up on any of the bands taking part in stage 2 of the competition, click on each link below.

http://www.myspace.com/atthezooband

http://www.myspace.com/thisisblackfangs

http://www.myspace.com/martyrdemona

http://www.myspace.com/theamateursuk

http://www.myspace.com/thearcadiankicks

 
A regular element in the feedback from our annual surveys at the Festival has been that the same bands dominate the Godiva Unsigned Competition year on year. We therefore decided that for 2010 we would open the competition up to the West Midlands to give the region an opportunity to showcase its combined talent and to increase awareness of the Midlands largest Free Family Festival staged here in Coventry

This year, of the bands that entered the competition, only 19% of the original entrants lived in Coventry. The remaining 81% of entries came from across the West Midlands region. Everyone had the same amount of time and opportunity to enter, and the competition was promoted for several weeks on the Godiva Festival website, through the media, e-newsletters and on Facebook and Twitter. The tracks submitted by the bands were judged by a panel comprised of representatives throughout the region purely on the quality of the entries. The panel were unaware as to who the bands were or where they came from. This meant that the result of the vote was wholly objective and  resulted in a final shortlist of 20 bands whose origin and identity was unknown to the judging panel. It is wholly erroneous therefore to suggest that there is no Coventry representation in this year’s competition as some of the Facebook contributors seem to believe.

The Godiva Festival attracts over 85,000 people annually to Coventry and amongst them is a diverse mix of people who individually take pride in the city’s Free Family Festival; creating a fantastic atmosphere where families and festival goers can enjoy a eclectic mix of entertainment, including local musicians, top name bands, comedy performances , singer songwriters and family attractions. This is one of the most important and respected dates on our local calendar and one of which we are incredibly proud.

We are very disappointed by the Facebook campaign, as we responded to the public’s request to encourage a wider range of live acts to apply to the Godiva Unsigned competition.

We are also saddened that a proportion of these Facebook entries have resorted to personal criticism of CV One’s services, products and individual staff members. We appreciate that people can and should have the opportunity to voice their opinions but to single out individual staff members is, we believe, completely unnecessary and potentially libellous.

CV One has a remit to put Coventry and Warwickshire on the map as a destination to live work and visit. We work extremely hard by producing events that not only residents can enjoy but that visitors will want to attend, thereby, increasing awareness of our local attractions, generating tourism spend and putting the money back into the city of Coventry.  

It is encouraging, however, to see that the members of the Facebook campaign are as passionate about the city as we are and we have invited some of the members in to discuss their concerns further.

After much deliberation a team of independent judges have managed to whittle down over 200 entries to a shortlist of 20 bands. The 20 shortlisted bands will take part in a live heat which will be held on Sunday 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd May, with 2 bands from 5 going through to the final on Sunday 6th June at Coventry’s Kasbah.

The shortlist can be found here

After an influx of requests from local music promoters all vying for a chance to programme a tent at this year’s Godiva Festival, organisers CV One Ltd have decided to open up the programming of the Rhythm Tent, which is sponsored by Harry Shaw Business Computers, to tender for Saturday 3rd of July.

Promoters will need to outline the genre and style of music and bands they would like to see at the festival in the tender application document (which can be downloaded here).  Applications will need to be submitted to CV One by no later than 12 noon on Monday March 8th and shortlisted candidates will be notified during the week commencing on the 8th March. Successful candidates who make it through the stringent judging panel will be invited to present their ideas on the 12th of March and the final decision will be made on the 19th March.  Funding will be supplied and full terms and conditions will be outlined in the tender application.

Mick McLaughlin, Marketing and Communications Manager for CV One Ltd said:

“This is something completely new and original to Godiva, we felt after being bombarded by requests through social networking sites, telephone enquiries and postal applications, opening up the Rhythm Tent to tender was the fairest way to ensure everyone who was interested got a chance in submitting their ideas.”

He added,

“Godiva has always been a community event and by inviting people to pitch us their ideas on who they’d like to see play really adds to the festival spirit and atmosphere. Depending on the response, this could become a permanent fixture in the festival’s programming.”

Chris Neal, Harry Shaw Business Computers commented:

“Once again we are delighted to be sponsoring the rhythm tent at Godiva and think that the tender opportunity is a brilliant idea. We are looking forward to hearing what the public would like to see at their local festival and think that it will add another dimension to this fantastic community event.”

If you would like to see a rock, jazz, hip hop, big band, drum and bass or something completely different at Godiva this year and think you have the knowledge and drive to make it happen you can obtain a tender application document from here.

The festival is produced by CV One Ltd and is supported financially and in kind by Coventry City Council and Harry Shaw Business Computers.

We’re starting to get that excited feeling around Godiva HQ that we get as things begin to build up to the festival.

Last night we launched this years Godiva Unsigned competition which gives 4 (YES FOUR) local bands the chance to play on the main stage at the festival. However this year we’ve opened the competition up to any unsigned band from the West Midlands and Warwickshire. That means Birmingham, Warwick, Solihull, Stratford, Coventry, Nuneaton and beyond! So come on…. are you in a band? Do you want the chance to play in front of thousands on a huge festival stage? Yes? Then click this link to complete an online application and submit a demo: ENTER HERE

In other news - we’re gearing up for our big office move in March which will see the whole of the festival team together under one roof. Exciting!

We’re also busy talking to agents and bands about the all important line up for the festival and we’ll bring you all the big news, right here, the moment it is announced!

The Shopping Village is an integral part of Godiva, so we’re looking for an array of top quality traders, selling everything from homemade crafts to quality cuisine, jewellery to fair trade produce to add to the festival experience.

If you believe in service with a smile and want to become part of one of the best trading opportunities of the year, don’t delay – book your pitch today.

For further information and details of our competitive rates, please contact Lucie Watson.

Download an application form

Lucie Watson
024 7660 7013
festivaltrading@cvone.co.uk