Lethal Bizzle & Athlete to headline Coventry Godiva Festival Saturday! | Festival News

East London rapper Lethal Bizzle and South London Indie rock band Athlete are set to be the headline acts at this year’s Godiva Festival. The UK’s biggest and best free family music festival returns to the War Memorial Park from the 1– 3 of July.

Godiva’s “Rhythm Tent” will play host to a wide range of Commercial Urban music and artists, with a little bit of everything from 2 Tone to rap and reggae.

Rhythm Tent headliner:

Lethal Bizzle gained both success and notoriety in equal measures when he released the single “Pow (Forward)” aka “Forward Riddim” which was banned from many of the mainstream radio stations. As always in these cases the legend was born, and the single hit the charts at No: 11 in its first week and reached the top spot on the UK Dance Chart. Further critical acclaim followed when “Pow” was nominated for, and won, a MOBO award for best single, and the man himself received a Best Newcomer nomination.

In early July 2005, Lethal Bizzle appeared on stage at the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh and later was part of the NME Rock N Roll Riot Tour 2007 appearing along with Coventry’s own headliners The Enemy.

He has also appeared at some of the biggest and best venues and festivals across the UK at the Download, Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury Festivals and his status has been confirmed by playing alongside Rock, Soul and Rap royalty with the likes of Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, John Legend, Pete Doherty and Feeder. His brand of urban grime/hip-hop will have the Godiva crowds bouncing to the beat.

Throughout the day the Rhythm Tent will also have live music from some of Coventry’s very own artists. Legendary reggae stars Musical Youth will be transporting us back to the early ’80s, Coventry’s own 2 Tone legends The Selecter will be playing some of their greatest hits from the last 4 decades to their home crowds. Further support will come from Akala, King Charles and another local boy made good, rapidly rising star Ghostpoet. All in all, the Rhythm Tent promises to have something to suit everybody.

Main Stage headliner:

South London songsmiths Athlete have been playing to huge audiences and collecting critical acclaim along the way, since coming to prominence with the spirited electro-tinged indie pop and Mercury Prize nominated debut album Vehicles and Animals.

Their second album Tourist stormed to the top of the UK album charts in its first week, thanks in no small part to the phenomenal success of single Wires. A dramatic, haunting melody written by lead singer Joel Pott, following the premature birth of his baby daughter and her subsequent time spent in intensive care. The song went on to win an Ivor Novello Award for best contemporary song in 2006.

Athlete are, as singer and guitarist Pott states, a band who have refused to be pigeonholed, despite constant attempts to bracket them alongside Keane and Coldplay as kings of soft, melodic, post-Britpop rock. ‘People always want you to fit in with a scene’ he says, which is something many bands trying to make their own indentation on the music scene have suffered before. “Maybe we’d have done better if we’d become mates with all the bands we were compared to, but we never wanted to be part of anything like that.”

Athlete released the album Singles 01-10, bringing to an end to their first decade, as they now embark on the latest chapter of their story, a story which has seen them playing to the masses at Glastonbury, Guilfest and packed out venues across the country… and now Godiva.

The Main Stage will also welcome performances from a number of highly rated bands including Sunshine Underground, Jon Fratelli and Young Knives.

Home grown talent will also be represented by the likes of Shackletons and The Tones, both of whom will be very keen to play in front of their home crowd, in addition to live performances from local bands that have won through from the Godiva Unsigned competition.

In recent years’ the Main Stage has played host to a number of top international artists including: Idlewild, Toploader, The Enemy, The Human League, Kasabian, Super Furry Animals, The Fratellis, Shed Seven and Biffy Clyro to name but a few.

Lee House, Festival Director for Coventry City Council said:
“We are delighted to offer such a strong and diverse line up for Saturday at this year’s Godiva. As usual, we have a great variety of acts on offer including local talent, up and coming artists and established bands all topped off by Athlete and Lethal Bizzle.”

“Godiva Festival isn’t just about the music, it’s also about family entertainment. This year sees the return of the Comedy Tent, the Human Circus, the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory Roadshow , the Kid’s Tent and a fun fair".

Saturday also offers a stunning Carnival entitled “Dawn of Godiva”, which is based on the Godiva Awakes project, the region’s contribution to the 2012 Cultural celebrations. The best message of course is that the whole weekend is free!”

The Godiva Festival is produced by Coventry City Council and will run in Coventry’s War Memorial Park from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 July 2011. In addition to live musical performances the free and ticketless festival will also host the carnival, comedy and various family themed events.