Tramlines 2016 will be biggest Sheffield has seen

Festival organisers announced the first wave of headline acts yesterday and promised this summer’s event will be the biggest and best yet.

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Genre-spanning headliners announced so far include: Dizzee Rascal, Dawn Penn, Goldie, Sheffield’s finest Toddla T, Norman Jay, Young Fathers, Amy Becker, Mumdance, Field Music, Hinds, Gwenno, C Duncan, Randall and many more.

Now in its eighth year, the award-winning inner-city festival, to be held this year July 22-24, is one of the most diverse events in the country, bringing a unique selection of international, UK and Sheffield talent to the city.

Festival director Sarah Nulty, who has been involved in the massive event since the beginning, said: “This year’s festival will be the biggest one yet. We’ve upped the capacity and organised tickets so more people can see their favourite acts.

“It is absolutely amazing to see how the festival has grown.

“In the first couple of years it was very hard for us to get the acts we wanted. But as we’ve grown, the festival’s amazing reputation has spread.

“A few years ago there was no chance the likes of Dizzee Rascal would have played. Now look at us. It’s great for Sheffield and there is so much more good news to come.”

Sarah said that, while the main stage will continue to be held at The Ponderosa, organisers have beefed up The Devonshire Green stage back to its glory years.

There are now more ticketing options – day, night and weekend – so party-goers can make the festival bespoke to their needs.

Sarah said: “We listened to feedback from last year and realised people needed more choice when it came to buying tickets to help them catch their favourite acts.”

She added: “There is a select number of tickets we are allowed to sell every day. And if they all went then we could not sell more – even if venues weren’t at capacity.

“This should help get round that. It will also be good for us to see how many people are after the day times and how many are about the nightclubs.”

For the 2015 event Tramlines moved its main stage, which meant more than 100,000 festival-goers descended to enjoy an unforgettable weekend with performances from Basement Jaxx, The Charlatans, Buzzcocks, Sugarhill Gang, Martha Reeves, Slaves, Billy Bragg and more.

After scooping awards for Best Medium-Sized Festival and Best City Festival at the Festival Baby Awards, and being shortlisted for Best Metropolitan Festival at the UK Festival Awards, Sarah said 2016 is set to be the ‘biggest and best’ Tramlines ever.

l To find out more, visit www.tramlines.org.uk.