Live And Unlocked Perth Summer Festival Announced

Perth Concert Hall is bringing live performance back to Perth this July and August with the Live and Unlocked Summer Festival.

The six day family-friendly festival of music, theatre and kids' shows will run from Wednesday 28 July until Monday 2 August on Perth Concert Hall Plaza.

Music and laughter will ring out across the city once again with the light-hearted and entertaining programme that features both daytime and evening performances.

Highlights include the Olivier Award-winning improvised musical theatre show Showstoppers!, made famous through its Radio 4 series and West End runs and a sure-fire sell out every year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Audience members work with the performers to create an original musical from scratch based around suggestions ranging from the bonkers to the borderline impossible. Hamilton in a hospital or Sondheim in the Sahara, you suggest it and The Showstoppers will sing it!

Musical highlights include an evening of ferocious funk, raunchy R&B and searing soul from Bohemian Monk Machine and Lights Out By Nine; First Ladies of Country will bring fun to honky-tonk heartache with timeless classics by Dolly, Tammy, Loretta and more; popular Perth bands Wang Dang Delta and Mad Ferret will raise the Plaza stage roof with an evening of energetic blues and boogie and hard-hitting contemporary folk. Capercaillie/Session A9 fiddler Charlie McKerron will be joined by guitarist Marc Clement and Ross Ainslie on whistles and pipes in a rare trio performance. Grammy award-winning guitarist Martin Taylor and vocalist Alison Burns will perform songs from The Great American songbook and contemporary classics.

Top Scots performer and broadcaster Jamie MacDougall will entertain with a lively programme including popular show tunes and opera favourites; Scottish Opera will perform arias and ensembles from Bizet's Carmen, Rossini's Barber of Seville, Mozart's Don Giovanni and many others. Colouristic Canadian guitarist Tim Beattie will fill the air with the summer sounds of Spanish guitar music and virtuosic accordian player Ryan Corbett will show of the versatility of this under-represented instrument.

There will be a chance to help Shakespeare pen one of his masterworks in the fun and interactive Bard in the Yard. Musical theatre lovers will love Julie Madly Deeply, a cheeky and affectionate look at the life of Dame Julie Andrews with stories, anecdotes and, of course, legendary songs from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and more. Little ones and their grown-ups can rock out to the informal and interactive live music show Sprog Rock and connect with their inner unicorn in the totally jammin' Unicorn Dance Party.

Nick Williams, the chief executive of Horsecross Arts, the creative organisation and charity behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, said:

"As restrictions continue to ease, we are eagerly anticipating the day when we can reopen our doors to audiences. The Live and Unlocked Perth Summer Festival is a big step towards this and invites everyone to enjoy a taster of what we do through a series of outdoor shows. It's a celebration of summer, of survival and of the joy we all experience when we share live performance together. The whole team are looking forward to animating the city centre for six exciting days of family-friendly, fun al fresco shows."

Tickets for Live and Unlocked Perth Summer Festival go on sale on Friday 2 July from the Horsecross Arts website at www.horsecross.co.uk.

Live and Unlocked Perth Summer Festival will be operated within prevailing Scottish Government COVID-19 guidelines. All necessary procedures will be in place to look after artists, audiences and staff.

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