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City’s Embankment will host three-day music festival for first time since 2014

A once-popular Peterborough music festival that has been absent from the city’s social scene for eight years is returning in 2023.

The Willow Festival has confirmed its comeback date as 21 July, when it will host 170 bands across seven stages over three days.

Unlike in previous years, the festival will not be free to attend. That said, organisers have stated on the official website that they are all for “keeping the entry fee to the bare minimum.”

Willow Festival founder and former event organiser Mark Ringer (L) played on stage with Burning Codes the last time the festival was held in 2014.

And so it is that the ticket price for this year’s festival will be £10. This will provide entry for all three days of the festival weekend and allow ticket holders to leave and re-enter the site as often as they like.

First launched in the summer of 1998 by Peterborough local Mark Ringer, The Willow Festival initially showcased around 25 bands and performing artists.

The response was good and the fledgling festival’s following steadily grew.

By 2001, the event was attracting more than 50,000 people and was extended to cover three days. In time it became the largest free event of its kind in the world, featuring over 170 bands and attracting a footfall of over 80,000 visitors.

At its height, Willow Festival was the largest free event of its kind in the world, featuring over 170 bands and attracting a footfall of over 80,000 visitors.

Unfortunately, spiralling costs and difficulties in keeping it a free-to-enter event saw the festival take its final bow in 2014.

However, with a new “well-funded” company taking over the reins from Mark, a new chapter in the festival’s history is set to begin.

Organisers are promising ticket holders they'll get to see “top-notch, new, emerging, unsigned and original live music acts, as well as bands and bigger name artists playing more ‘big hit’ material.”

The festival prides itself on not being genre specific in any way, so festival goers can expect to soak up everything from punk and jazz to rock and even some classical vibes around the Embankment site throughout the weekend.

Alongside the seven music stages, the family-friendly festival will boast fairground rides and attractions, fun workshops, and an alternative craft and shopping experience. A food village and several bars will also be on hand.Although the full line-up for the event has yet to be announced, tickets are already on sale. Visit www.thewillowfestival.co.uk/buy-tickets/ to find out more.

The Willow Festival set to return to Peterborough's Embankment - with seven stages, 170 bands and a fairground