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Brightlingsea Free Music Festival, Hurst Green, Brightlingsea, Colchester (2026)

08/06/2026

Sunday afternoon on the 2nd August, Brightlingsea Free Music Festival would like you to put on your dancing shoes for one of Brightlingsea's very own, Loxley's Corner!

Loxley's Corner

Loxley's Corner brings together over 45 years of musical experience in a high-energy blend of funk, soul, and groove-driven live music.
Loxley is a singer, songwriter, producer, and performer whose work has crossed a wide range of genres, from blues and soul to orchestral music and even musical theatre. Throughout his career, he has enjoyed a wealth of professional experiences as a touring musician, songwriter, and recording artist, producing albums both for himself and for other bands and performers.

Alongside his musical career, Loxley spent nine years presenting his own radio show, Loxley's Corner, creating opportunities for musicians and songwriters to be heard. The programme regularly featured live performances and helped showcase emerging talent. Loxley describes providing these opportunities as one of the most rewarding parts of his career.

His passion for encouraging artists has helped many musicians develop their confidence and find new directions. Among those he is proud to have supported are award-winning blues-rock duo When Rivers Meet, who began their musical journey in the folk scene before discovering a new creative path.

Known for his love of infectious grooves and uplifting rhythms, Loxley has built a loyal following and earned a reputation as a respected and engaging performer on the local music scene.

His songwriting combines energy, mystery, and storytelling, often drawing on personal experiences and weaving them into songs rich with cryptic messages, metaphor and meaning.

This year, Loxley's Corner embraces one of his favourite musical styles: a vibrant blend of funk, soul, and feel-good live music.

Joining Loxley on stage are James Payze (bass), Paul Codling (drums), Steve Wilson (keyboards), Matt Burgess (guitar and vocals), and the fabulous backing vocal duo Jenny Nichols and Samantha Trickey — affectionately known as "The Gossip Girls".

Inspired by the success of last year's Food and Drink Festival performance, the band returns with an expanded line-up, fresh energy, and a set guaranteed to get audiences moving.

So, it's time to celebrate, put on your dancing shoes, and enjoy the sound of Loxley's Corner!

https://www.facebook.com/LOXLEYSCORNER

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=loxleys+corner

04/06/2026

A high energy set is coming your way at Brightlingsea Free Music Festival as we welcome The Broken Johnny's to the stage on Saturday 1st August.

The Broken Johnny's are a 1970s influenced punk band based in Colchester, Essex, Fever was the first album recorded by The Broken Johnny's throughout lockdown 2020 - 2021, Their Second Album " Stand In Line" was released in 2022, alongside playing shows with iconic bands such as Cockney Rejects, Subhumans, Special Duties, Menace, Peter & the test-tube babies, The Ramonas and many more. In 2024 John (Eddie) Edwards Co founding member of "The Vi*****rs" Joined the band in replacement of Charlie Mathieson

Members: Neil (Pipebomb) Dixon - Vocals Chris Whiting - Guitar / Backing Vocals Olie Johnson - Bass Guitar John (Eddie) Edwards - Drums.

02/06/2026

Brightlingsea Free Music Festival welcomes on Sunday 2nd August the very wonderful My Girl The River with their perfect vibe for a chilled Sunday afternoon.

Kris Wilkinson Hughes aka My Girl the River is a Louisiana native who is now based in the UK after a decade of songwriting in Nashville. She has recently released her third album, Songs About Space, to strong critical acclaim.

As a performer, she is funny, warm and fearless with a sackful of hook laden Americana/roots songs and a voice of sweet sugared espresso. You might find yourself singing along or shedding a tear on your journey. Love, loss, Louisiana and Hot Chicken are just some of the stops along the way.
MGTR’s first two albums ‘This Ain’t No Fairytale’ and ‘Cardinal in the Snow’ received critical acclaim gaining 8/10 from Paste Magazine and 8/10 from Americana-UK, to name a couple.

Their third and most recent album ‘Songs About Space’, brought together a collection of songs not a ‘perfection of songs’ - Kris says ‘these songs represent a unique situation, most of them recorded at home with different outcomes, this isn’t a week in the studio full band jam. These are songs that mean something to me personally, recorded over the last few years and deserve their day in the sun. The most recent singles ‘Information Highway’ and ‘Helpless’ have really resonated with audiences.

My Girl The River has performed at Black Deer Festival, Isle of Wight, YNot Festival and toured with Laura Cantrell, Darden Smith and Suzanne Vega. She has supported other notable songwriters such as Kim Richey, Bill Morrissey, David Olney, Fred Eaglesmith, Boo Hewerdine, World Party, Lambchop and others. She also tours with the ARC Songwriters, featuring Anna Howie and Kate Ellis, all three singing harmonies a la Dolly, Linda and Emmylou
Wilkinson has a voice that ebbs and flows to fill all those pools of emotion.’ - Your Life In A Song

‘A lovely mélange of Americana-Roots music brings to mind works by other fellow alt-country musicians Jason Isbell and Lucinda Williams…. exceptional songwriting. ‘ - ★★★★ Paste Magazine

‘Like Lucinda Williams, folk legend Joni Mitchell or kd Lang, we are so impressed’ - Rootstime

‘Thought provoking lyrics delivered from the heart by Kris’s smooth, soulful voice’ - Belles and Gals

A masterpiece of listening pleasure. You Do Not Deserve My Tears is on my list of top songs for 2020. - ★★★★ Robsrawmusic

01/06/2026

Saturday 1st August and taking to the stage at Brightlingsea Free Music Festival we welcome up and coming Essex band Myopia.

Forming out of two small neighbouring towns in Essex - an ever-expanding hub for musicians and misfits alike - frontman Oliie Edgington and drummer Elliot Hawkins make up the two integral pieces of genre-defying alternative rock band Myopia. With influences including Muse, Radiohead and Pink Floyd, they released their debut album Living on Sixes in 2020, which they showcased at various note-worthy venues, including Camden's legendary Fiddler's Elbow. Following up with their ardently neurotic single Mad Song, the band paved the way for a brand-new era of dynamic sounds and aesthetics as they unleashed their second studio album Mind Party in August 2024. The developed project showcases “DIY music-making at its finest”, fusing alt rock and heavy metal with elements of shoegaze, indie, commercial rock, pop and even some intuitive acoustic moments.

Myopia's song writing is a rich musical tapestry, likened to Queen and The Beatles, with layers of meaning and emotion to be uncovered. The duo's new direction saw the beginning of Myopia's professional career in music with the band going on to win "NMG Rock Artist of the Year" 2024 as first-time nominees after opening the awards at The Apex Theatre, Bury St Edmunds. They later went on to win Transmission City Sound Radio's "Track of the Year" award and, in 2025, they took their place as Metal 2 the Masses Essex semi-finalists.

Since 2024, Myopia have worked tirelessly, creating and teasing new music, and as of May 2026, the band have released two brand new, innovative singles in anticipation of their next big project.

The band made their explosive comeback to live performance last year, as they headlined their hometown venue Three Wise Monkeys on the 21st of November, 2025, returning to the stage with fresher ideas and bigger sounds. Since then, Myopia have taken the stages of numerous cities around the UK with their punk-fuelled 2026 "What Happens Next?" tour, marking a clean slate for the band as they promoted their first single of the year "Two on the Ground".

27/05/2026

Sunday afternoon is really shaping up at Brightlingsea Free Music Festival where we will be pleased to have the wonderful M G Boulter taking the stage.

M G Boulter is a songwriter and musician living on the Thames coast in Essex, UK. Serving his apprenticeship in numerous bands in the hotbed of the Southed-on-Sea pub rock scene (the precursors of which were household names such as Procol Harem, Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hotrods), M G came to lead, as singer and guitarist, the popular country rock band The Lucky Strikes, who Q Magazine once likened to “The Waterboys on trucker pills”.

During the Lucky Strikes’s tenure (which produced 5 studio albums) M G met New York native and songwriter Simone Felice (The Felice Brothers) and formed a close collaborative working relationship with him from 2012 to 2015. M G featured on the lap steel and mandolin for the majority of Felice’s UK and US tours and became a fixture in the touring incarnation of Felice’s band project The Duke and the King. In 2013 M G released his debut album The Water or the Wave, which saw him fulfil a personal ambition to record with the legendary drummer, Pick Withers (Dire Straits, Bob Dylan & Bert Jansch). with Birmingham string quartet, The Froe. The EP was recorded in a Methodist fishermen’s chapel in the old seaside town of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex over just four days. The EP was hailed as a chamber folk masterpiece.
M G’s songwriting creates vignettes of ordinary life and seaside communities. This writing is no better shown than in his 2021 album Clifftown, a themed album based on his personal experiences and the wider hidden histories of his hometown, Southend-on-Sea . Working again with producer Andy Bell and a host of friends from bands as diverse as Bellowhead and Spritiualised, M G created a personal history of growing up in seaside suburbia which is both affecting and observant. The release was accompanied by a podcast series called ‘The Clifftown Podcast’ and the 2022 EP A shadow Falls over New Brighton. The psycho-geographical elements of the Clifftown project led to appearances at Melbourne’s Emerging Writers Festival (2021) and Focal Point Gallery’s ‘Sounds’ Project, an audio online only exhibition delivered from 2022.
2014-2017 saw a busy collaborative period for M G - he worked on long term projects with Scottish artists Blue Rose Code and Samantha Whates, as well as BBC Folk Award winner Emily Portman (as part of the Coracle Band). In 2015 he formed part of a new ‘supergroup’ featuring fellow songwriters Lucy Farrell (the Furrow Collective) and Neil McSweeney, contributing the song ‘Lulu the Bear’ to the subsequent EP Lulu the Bear and Other Songs. He also found time to contribute to projects by Rosalie Deighton, Vera Van Heeringen and wyrd folk luminaries, The Owl Service. In 2016 he was one of eight artists picked to join the Estuary Songwriting Project which sought to create a show’s worth of material inspired by the Thames Estuary.

Often touted as an ‘artist’s artist’ M G set about releasing his second solo album, With Wolves the Lamb will Lie, in 2016. Produced by Andy Bell the album drew upon the pastoral Sheffield setting where it was recorded to create a sublime mixture of classic singer songwriter material with a rich chamber folk backdrop. The album was picked as one of the top folk albums of the year in it’s end of year round up by The Daily Telegraph and R2 magazine referring to M G as “a weapon’s grade songwriter”.

The success of With Wolves led to M G signing with folk and roots label Hudson Records, which led to the collaborative EP Blood Moon, recorded 2021 saw M G join The Remnant Kings, Jon Boden’s solo touring band as a regular member, as well as collaborating with Shetland artist Jenny Sturgeon which resulted in the 2022 single ‘Flint Knapped’ (Hudson Records). In 2024 M G released his fourth record, Days of Shaking (Hudson Records), which continued his exploration into modern suburbia; a collection of songs about urban myths and the magical thinking we all use to bring shape to our lives, expectations and hopes.

25/05/2026

Saturday 1st August and Brightlingsea Free Music Festival are very pleased to anounce that we have Essex's very own Jarvis Cocker.... David Woodcock and his band The Fixtures playing.

David Woodcock, formerly signed to Blow Up Records, is a
singer-songwriter based in his hometown of Southend-on-Sea. A pianist and prolific writer, with a strong local following, he has been building up a solid songbook of sharp lyrics and great melodies that have been distilled into his self-titled debut album, released in August 2014 to huge critical acclaim.

His self-titled debut album included the singles, ‘Same Things’, ‘Beggars Can’t Be Choosers’ and 'Open Secret’, all of which have had strong radio support from key UK tastemakers, Steve Lamacq – "A great little pop record" – (BBC 6 Music), John Kennedy (Xfm X-posure Hot One) and Gary Crowley (BBC London + Amazing Radio).
For more than twenty years, David Woodcock has been a tenacious troubadour, championing his own singular brand of original music. Comparisons inevitably surface for the uninitiated — Ray Davies, Jarvis Cocker, Elvis Costello, Damon Albarn, Ian Dury, Richard Hawley — but while those names hint at the territory, they don’t quite capture the man.
What binds those references together is a deep-rooted connection to the great British songwriting tradition — sharp observation, melody, wit and heart. David’s songs proudly share that lineage, yet he remains something of an outsider: carving his own path, following his own instincts.
First recognised as a pianist, David has since broadened his musical palette to guitar, often weaving in organ and synth to colour his sound. Since 2019, he has been joined by Mark Elliott (guitar), Joe Blamey (drums) and Wendy Solomon (bass, also of all-female Slade tribute Slady) as David Woodcock & The Fixtures. Despite their years together, the band sounds fresher than ever, effortlessly blending new material with much-loved favourites from earlier releases.
A prolific writer with a loyal and growing local following, David has steadily built an impressive catalogue of songs defined by sharp lyrics and memorable melodies. These have been distilled into five solo albums: David Woodcock (2014) and Normal Life (2019) on Blow Up Records, followed by Pictures of Me (2023), DW40 (2023) and Readjusting (2024) on his own Thank Dog Records.
His lyrics are rich with poignancy, humour and wry observation — tales of lost love, lust, jealousy, memory and regret; of living life to its messy limits and facing whatever consequences follow.
Now, he’s turning his attention to his next project: Science Fiction Kitchen Sink, a forthcoming concept album poised somewhere between the mundane and the surreal — where everyday reality collides with the strange and unexpected.

"Fabulous stuff. A very talented fellow"

- Marc Riley, BBC 6 Music -

"An English Pop masterpiece. Essential."

"Biting lyrics and catchy pop tunes: watch this space"
vive-le-rock1.jpg
"A debut brimming over with promise"

'New Favourite Band'
-STEVE LAMACQ, BBC 6 MUSIC-

“Cohesive, well recorded and keeps the attention. Good work!”
-M G Boulter

“WITH HIS KNACK FOR FINDING THE ROMANCE IN THE EVERYDAY, IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY WOODCOCK IS DUBBED SOUTHEND’S ANSWER TO RAY DAVIES. THIS, HIS SECOND ALBUM, IS BURSTING WITH BITTERSWEET POP VIGNETTES”
Sunday_Mirror.
"David Woodcock is a talent. Every observation is honed to perfection. Brilliant" ★★★★

"Part Stiff Records, part Brit Pop. A reckless Stephen Duffy or an Essex Jarvis Cocker"
-STEVE LAMACQ, BBC 6 MUSIC-

24/05/2026

🇦🇺 The Alan Fletcher Band is coming to Brightlingsea!
We’re thrilled to welcome Alan Fletcher — all the way from Australia — to Brightlingsea Free Music Festival on Sunday 2nd August, live on Hurst Green.

This year, his performance carries a powerful meaning.
Exactly 110 years ago, in 1916, ANZAC troops were billeted on this very same Hurst Green.
To have an Australian artist stand on that ground a century later feels incredibly special.

🇦🇺🎶 The Alan Fletcher Band —

The Alan Fletcher Band is a five-piece Americana and alt-country outfit fronted by Australian musician and actor Alan Fletcher, best known for playing Dr. Karl Kennedy on the soap opera Neighbours. Blending warm storytelling with a wry sense of humor, the band tours internationally, heavily focusing on the UK and Ireland.Musical BackgroundBefore shifting to Americana, Fletcher fronted the rock band Waiting Room. For over 12 years, Waiting Room held a weekly residency in Melbourne, Australia, and toured the UK. In 2020, Fletcher pivoted his sound toward a folk, storytelling style. He collaborates closely with producers Lachlan Bryan and Damian Cafarella.DiscographyBack to School: Released in February 2026, this Americana-focused album is his latest full-length release.The Point: A full-length album released in 2024 featuring fan-favorite tracks like "(I've Got a Crush on Susie K)" and "For the Love of Lager".Dispatches: An EP released in 2023.Live ToursThe Alan Fletcher Band plays frequently in the UK and Ireland. Following their sold-out, multi-date UK tour promoting The Point in 2024, they completed an extensive 34-date UK tour in 2025 and an even larger run kicking off in late summer 2026.

19/05/2026

Saturday 1st August Brightlingsea Free Music Festival welcomes....Emillia Quinn and band to our stage. 🎵🎶🎶

Whether she’s tugging at the heartstrings with raw vulnerability or leaning into rock-driven resilience, Emilia proves she’s not just riding the wave—she’s helping shape the tide. ” - Rock The Joint Magazine

Americana, Folk Rock and More...
Emilia Quinn is a dynamic UK-based artist known for her raw, soulful voice and genre-bending sound influenced by Americana, Folk Rock, Blues and more. With a background in classical training and a passion for storytelling, Emilia creates emotionally charged music that resonates deeply with her listeners. Her powerful vocals and honest lyricism explore themes of resilience self-discovery, heartache and love making creative observations of the human condition.

Emilia’s music quickly caught live music lovers' attention, leading her to perform at major festivals like Country2Country (London), The Long Road, Black Deer and share bills with prominent artists from the UK and USA. Her Award Nominated debut album 'Wanderlust & Breaking Rules" (2023) was described as 'a real mix of southern gospel, 70s Rolling Stones style riffola and heartfelt Blues/Folk/Country emotions' - EF Country. It was followed by a highly anticipated second studio album in 2025 titled 'Dented Halos'. Released September 2025 the album gained Number 1 in the iTunes Blues Chart and 27 in the all genres chart. Spell-binding and beautifully raw, Rock The Joint Magazine describe it as "an album that breathes, breaks, heals, and rises again."

Known for her captivating live performances, Emilia's on-stage energy and authenticity are solidifying her reputation as an excellent live performer as well as a high-quality recording artist.

18/05/2026

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3...... Sunday 2nd August and Brightlingsea Free Music Festival are pleased to announce "What A Waste"

The UK's most authentic Ian Dury & The Blockheads tribute act

Brought to you by six totally committed musicians with a love & respect for the music of The Blockheads & the poetry of Ian Dury
A live experience that faithfully recreates the humour, poetry and expert musicianship of one of the UK’s most original, diverse and unique bands. Made up of 6 seasoned musicians with a genuine enthusiasm for performing the most authentic show possible.

Brightlingsea Free Music Festival

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