Hastings is the Life of the Mardi
By Ben Cornwell
Dust off your masks, feathers and colourful brollies as the UK’s largest Mardi Gras festival, Hastings Fat Tuesday is only weeks away. Hastings’ answer to Brazil’s Carnival and New Orleans’ Mardi Gras parades is back for its twelfth year and will be taking place between 25 February – 1 March.
Kicking off the five-day celebration is the Un-Convention industry showcase as well as the hugely popular Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball headlined this year by internationally acclaimed DJs, Horse Meat Disco. With more than 60 artists playing over 300 gigs across the afternoon, enjoy incredible performances by the plethora of brilliant artists Hastings and St Leonards has to offer, and some from further afield, during Saturday Unplugged. Sunday’s events are always a family favourite, from the bright and colourful Umbrella Parade to the Preservation Sunday at St Mary in the Castle, featuring a host of second-line brass bands including Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, Dende and more.
CREDIT: Mark Richards
Finally, the main event: a night of fancy dress, fabulous feathers, beads, masks and music. Twelve venues host The Fat Tuesday Tour, where 24 bands play 20-minute sets in three venues. Already announced are Will Varley, Ese & the Vooduu People and Miss Melody. For all the reggae lovers out there, the Reggae Room Party ─ now in its third year at the East Hastings Sea Angling Association ─ is back and bigger than ever. And to ensure the festival goes out on a high, the infamous After Party at The Brass features high-calibre live music from locally renowned Buddha Triangle, DJ set from Kid Kapichi and many more.
While much of the schedule is similar to what residents have grown to know and love, there are some new elements to look out for.
Following the success of introducing five venues in St Leonards into the 2020 Saturday Unplugged tour, the organisers have decided to expand the tour further by bringing ten brilliant artists to venues in the Hastings Town Centre (La Petit Balcon, Pig, Trinity Townhouse, French’s and The Carlisle). The Fat Tuesday team have also arranged a headlining act to close the Unplugged tour on Saturday night. This year, indie rock band, The Magic Numbers will be performing at The Brass to wrap up the day’s proceedings. The band have just celebrated the 15th anniversary of their debut album with an extensive autumn tour across the UK.
Hastings Fat Tuesday has become an integral and popular event in the local and southeast calendar in recent years and even received the reputation as one of the ‘12 best places to party in the World’. With last year’s festival being unable to go ahead, Fat Tuesday Co-director Adam Daly told HIP he was absolutely delighted that this year’s celebration will be able to proceed with its usual diverse line-up of events.
“If you have never attended before, you have been missing out. There is so much fun to be had across the five days,” he said.
“We try to provide a really broad spectrum of events and cross over many different genres so that we appeal to the very young with events such as the Umbrella Parade and Preservation Sunday, right the way through to the more mature audiences. We work hard every year to make sure the programme is as diverse and inclusive as possible across the five days.”
• Tickets and further information about the Fat Tuesday events are available on their website, www.hastingsfattuesday.co.uk
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