With incredible weather in the weeks leading up to the 35th Ipswich Music Day, UK’s largest free one-day music festival, the excitement of an amazing day was in the air.
Although the rain certainly came for an extended visit the people came prepared and had a wonderful day enjoying six stages filled with fabulous talent.
As well as the stages: Grapevine, Pond, Rise, Suffolk Sound, BBC Radio Suffolk and Indian Summer Mela there were performances in Christchurch Mansion, Masonic Hall and St Margaret’s Church which lead to a wide range of genres and 57 musical performances, and this doesn’t include the many dance performances. With plenty of food and drink caterers, a fun fair and a mix of stall holders the day once again proved the huge amount of talent, culture and community spirit in the community. Well done Ipswich!
The Grapevine Stage had its busiest line-up to date, and the most-packed stage of the day with 13 acts playing back-to-back to entertain the crowds. Kicking off the day and to welcome early visitors to Christchurch Park were the colourful Samboomba Samba Band with their samba rhythms and Afro-Brazilian grooves which was getting everyone moving to the beat, warming up the joints for the rest of the day.
The programme for the stage ran almost smoothly and Grapevine teamed up with ICR FM and the team came down, took loads of photos and footage and Silky interviewed many of the acts across the day – check out their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/icr105.7fm)
The rest of the acts on the Grapevine stage were:
Quaynotes – with their delightfully delicate folk music and harmonies
Diana Costa – who was on The Voice Portugal 2022 and gave a good performance showcasing her amazing voice.
SKOJ – showed the audience the charms of traditional Irish folk music
Jess Davey – enchanted the crowd with her singer songwriter talent
The Lightning Club – brought catchy tunes to the stage with harmonies and a violin
Zero 2 Hero – the guitar strumming duo impressed with their personality as well as their performance
Briggs & Stark – brought a blend of Americana to the Grapevine Stage to the delight of the audience
Craig Lucas – impressed the crowd with his strong vocals
The King Street Combo – brought traditional jazz and blues to the stage
Painting The Silence – a piano lead fabulous duo with strong lyrics and vocals who also did a wonderful Elton John medley
Phoenix Jazz – entertained the audience with a lovely mix of jazzy numbers
Jackism – finished an amazing day with his original heartfelt songs
A big heartfelt thank you to all the acts who performed on the Grapevine Stage.
Ipswich Music Day 2025 was a brilliant day for everyone to enjoy and is an incredible free event, something we will always be thankful for. Looking forward to 2026 already!
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