Blackpool’s New Illuminations Festival Revealed

The first details of Blackpool’s new Illuminations Switch-On Festival Weekend are revealed.

Singing star Rebecca Ferguson is set to headline the closing night finale – and it has also been announced that weekend-long festival passes will go on sale for just £20 per adult.

Visit Blackpool has announced that the event, which will be staged on Blackpool’s Tower Festival Headland, will include three nights of top quality entertainment starting with a free Switch-On concert on Friday 29 August.

The Friday night event will be staged in association with media partner Rock FM and their breakfast presenters Hywel and Jamie, and will include a star-studded line-up of chart acts, culminating in the official celebrity switch-on of the 2014 Blackpool Illuminations.

To ensure that the weekend encourages staying visitors and appeals to all tastes and ages, this will be followed on Saturday night by a West End-themed musical extravaganza and a pop concert on the Sunday night featuring Rebecca Ferguson, with special guests including Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, 911 and Damage.

Rebecca, who was an X-Factor runner-up ahead of One Direction, sold more than half a million copies of her debut album and is currently coming to the end of a UK-wide tour.

Organisers Visit Blackpool say that more details of the Friday and Saturday night line-ups will emerge over the next few weeks.

Early bird tickets for the weekend are now on sale at £20 per adult, £10 per child, with the first 5,000 purchasers getting guaranteed free wristband to the Friday night Switch-On event.

Cllr Graham Cain, Cabinet Member for Tourism and Leisure for Blackpool Council, said: “I am delighted to be able to announce the first confirmed acts for the Switch-On Festival Weekend.

“The Sunday night features a fantastic line-up that will appeal to people of all ages. And this is only the start – over the next few weeks there will be more announcements for the Friday and Saturday nights that will make this a unmissable event.

“An early bird ticket giving access to both the Saturday and Sunday night concerts is only £20 for an adult which we think makes this accessible to everyone.”

Entrance to this year’s free Friday night Switch-On will be strictly by wristband only and there will be no wristbands available on the day. Wristbands will be allocated at random through an online ballot with a maximum of four wristbands per household.

A total of 6,000 of these will be allocated to applicants from the Blackpool area.

Wristband registration closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 23 July 2014 and successful applicants will be notified on Tuesday 29 July 2014.

To register, go to www.visitblackpool.com/switchon.

new blackpool illuminations festival

To purchase tickets and more info visit – www.visitblackpool.com