Evanfest 5 – Day and Night Charity gigs!
Ships and Giggles in Preston is normally a very calm atmosphere it’s a pub/music venue and it regularly holds different events. It was amazing to see it brought to life by a whole different crowd.
Evanfest is a charity event that has been held for 5 years now this year all proceeds have gone to a Bipolar Charity. Kate Jones set up the festival in remembrance of her friend Evan who sadly passed away.
“Evan was deeply involved in bipolar research and was a very compassionate man who always tried to help as many people when he could.” Kate Jones
They had gigs all day and night in order to draw a crowd in to raise funds, as I walked in to the venue I was astonished to see it getting busy so early, there were so many people in the beer garden throughout the day.
There were two stages set up, one indoor and one outside. In total 40 acts played throughout. I was also shocked to learn that the sound didn’t travel between too much either once you were inside you couldn’t hear the outside acts and vice versa.
Ships has a very interesting beer garden, a raised stage was at the end very front and there were serval benches and wicker chairs spread out. A table to the right of the stage held a table full of charity auction items which I thought looked brilliant. They had guitars. The bar was open all day and the majority of the night, the kitchen was also open too.
I did think to myself their were a lot of people with amazing bikes outside but I then got informed that Evans Bike Club come to show support.
I think it’s a brilliant idea and very thoughtful to raise money for such an important cause.
I managed to watch an assortment of jazzy, acoustic, alternative, rock, indie even pop style music throughout my time at Evanfest.
I was also very pleased to see such a range of ages and there was no trouble either. Nobody seemed to be too drunk and escorted off the premises, the different generations were mixing even from different sub cultures they all came together as one as a crowd to appreciate the music and the good cause.
The only thing that went wrong was a bench was broken during a performance because of the amount of people dancing around it, hopefully Ships and Giggles are able to replace it.
I was pleased to see that inside the venue there were a lot of smiles and in the left hand back corner a lady was doing glitter face painting for money towards the charity. I really wanted to get mine done but it always seemed a bit too busy.
Lots of people took it in turns to sell raffle tickets including myself. There was a women that looked like a pixie holding a bucket to put money in.
Many people had cocktails in their hands outside in the beer garden. It was amazing to see so many people smiling in the thriving atmosphere.
People were bobbing their heads outside and dancing a lot in the indoor sets as there was more space inside. I think the acts were well suited to the areas they were playing.
During the afternoon it was a really nice chilled environment to enjoy a beer to and then as the night went on the bands got louder and more lively and I found it so fun to watch.
There was even a celebrity appearance from Wagner off the X- Factor.
My one flaw of the night I would mention is a nice set outside being slightly ruined by a big cheer from some young men watching the Boxing on the outdoor television. I think that interrupted the music temporarily however the acts still carried on. They weren’t drowned out so that was good.
It was a very good environment full of exciting people from the community, some had travelled quite a distance to attend the event, others had walked down the road, but it was very refreshing to see a mix of different ages and different people interested in different music all come together for charity. I intend to go next year and I’m dying to know how much they raised.
If you want to check out any of the acts from that night keep reading EJWV MAGAZINE for some reviews from the day coming soon.
If you wish to find out more here is a link to the Facebook page on the event.
