Tramlines (photo: Tramlines organisers)

Thousands of music lovers from inside and outside Sheffield enjoyed a lineup of over five hundred performers at this weekend’s fifth Tramlines festival.

And Sheffield Live presenters and volunteers got stuck into Tramlines – through advance interviews, performing at and organising gigs, and getting along to enjoy and to interview, artists performing at the three day festival held across outdoor stages and over 60 venues throughout Sheffield.

The music extravaganza, formerly free to attend, this year introduced charges (£6 per day or £15 for the whole weekend) for access to the main stages, to cover reductions in council funding and falls in sponsorship. But the festival, which cost around £390,000 to organise in 2012, continued to offer a huge amount of free venues – including a large stage in the Peace Gardens.

DJ Cardiac, presenter of Sheffield Live!’s Drop the Funk Drop the Bass show (every Sunday, 1-3pm), said: “a good weekend and nice to see the whole of Sheffield out and coming together for good music and good vibes.” Check out DJ Cardiac’s new Tramlines Jungle & D&B Mix here.

Graham Marshall, co-presenter of Spirit of the Wapentake (Wednesdays, 5-7pm), said: “Jungle Lion in the Peace Gardens absolutely nailed it – we had a good old boogie to them. Firesuite at the Dove and Rainbow, and the Everly Pregnant Brothers playing the crowd at the Fat Cat were my highlights too.”

Payroll Union

Jamie Veitch commented “The Folk Forest at Endcliffe Park – organised for Tramlines by co-operative Regather – had a brilliant and family friendly vibe. The arts and crafts workshops and independent stalls added to the atmosphere.

“Weston Park, programmed by Big Live Event, was packed with families enjoying music, stalls and funfair rides too. Our Folk Forest and Weston Park highlights were Neil McSweeney, See Emily Play, Barrule and Payroll Union – all utterly superb.

“Sad to miss Wolf Alice, Jim Jones Revue and David J. Roch – but the downside of Tramlines is you can’t be in two places at once!”

Emily Ireland & the Stannington Brass Band (photo: Jamie Veitch)

Emily Ireland (See Emily Play) played on Saturday afternoon in the bandstand at Weston Park with the Stannington Brass Band (and treated the audience to a solo singing and piano playing encore).

Emily told Jamie after her performance:

“Tramlines is one of my favourite weekends of the whole year…everybody comes together and there’s a real feeling of community and everybody is part of making it awesome – and it’s so nice to play to.”

Neil McSweeney, who has played every Tramlines, told Jamie Veitch “I thought it was great…I’ve done Tramlines every year but I’ve never played the Folk Forest before and I’ve always wanted to because I’ve come down here and really enjoyed the vibe…and I really enjoyed doing it…to come down and play with a whole bunch of people was a nice thing to do.”

Carl Watkins, of Dimond Ranks (one of several bands in which Spirit of the Wapentake‘s co-presenter Sinead Rankin performs) and Jungle Lion, did 2 gigs on Saturday. Carl told Jamie that “the crowd just went absolutely wild, really good atmosphere…the stage was running really smoothly, the sound was really good…absolutely fantastic…really good Tramlines…I felt the vibe everywhere.”

Dale Le Fevre – playful advocate of New Games, and presenter of the Max Chance Show (Tuesdays, 5pm) – ran four New Games sessions as part of the activities within the Folk Forest. Dale said, “this year was fantastic and better than last year with many adults and children keen to participate in the New Games sessions.”

John Smith

Max Munday, presenter of Mouthpiece on Sheffield Live every Wednesday, 9-11am, commented: “There was a massive network of free gigs from pubs and bars to empty warehouses and even a ‘forest’! I spent a lovely hour bathed in the haunting vocals of John Smith, a singer/songwriter from Devon who headlined the Endcliffe Park, ‘Folk Forest’ stage on Sunday evening.

“My highlight though was an incredible audio and visual installation piece in the Millennium Gallery, titled ‘Sleep Walk City’ that combined the epic electronic talents of 65 Days Of Static with projected imagery exploring the city and the political currents of repression and protest that inhabit public spaces. Music from the installation will appear on the Sheffield band’s forthcoming album when it is released in November.”

Max interviewed John Smith for Mouthpiece – listen to it this Wednesday, 24th July at 930am on 93.2fm or through our livestream, or get the podcast afterwards here (24/07/2013 / 9am edition).

Young Music‘s Natalie and Oli (co-presenters on the Local Talent Show – Fridays 4-5pm) organised a special invite-only gig for under 19s as part of the Virtual Community Network. They put 3 young bands forward: Trust Within; The Indigos; and The Yellow Van Man Band. Streamed live online (and available here) with Tramlines branding, this was a fantastic opportunity for the young bands – who had a great time.

Oli’s other Tramlines top pics were Counting Coins in the Bowery (“absolutely loved them”), Scrim and Drop Dead Angus who played at West Street Live, and DJ Seb Wildblood.

South Yorkshire Police praised the tens of thousands of visitors to the festival after the weekend passed off without trouble. Superintendent Shaun Morley said “Thanks to the help of everyone in Sheffield this weekend, we have seen a reduction in an average weekend’s alcohol-related antisocial behaviour and fewer overall incidents of criminality.”

It’s estimated that this year’s Tramlines attracted an additional 70,000 visitors to the city.

Tramlines Festival Director Sarah Nulty said: “A huge thank you to everyone who attended and made it a truly wonderful event. The fantastic weather on Friday set everyone in a great mood which lasted across the site all weekend. Musically it was a great year for Tramlines with so many talented artists on the bill. Through Tramlines we get to showcase exactly what Sheffield has to offer and we’re very proud of it.”

What next?

• Tramlines TV on YouTube
• Tramlines on Facebook
• Pre-Tramlines interviews on Sheffield Live!